--- title: A People Strategy That Listened to Every Shift | Case Study description: How a multilateral organisation heard 247 voices on 2 continents, then took its 2026–2031 people strategy and investment case through approval. image: https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation#main-content) [![PeopleCentrix](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/assets/images/peoplecentrix-logo.svg "PeopleCentrix")](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/) [LET'S CONNECT →](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Insights](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) Show submenu for Insights - [Our Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Insights](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) Show submenu for Insights - [Our Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) People Strategy case study # A People Strategy That Listened to *Every Shift* **35**interviews **63**survey respondents **25**focus groups **2**continents Snapshot Client A multilateral organisation (anonymised) Sector, size, geography International Public Sector; 500–1,000 staff; headquartered in Europe, with operational sites in South America Engagement People Strategy · Definition Our role Led the full definition of the 2026–2031 people strategy — consultation design on 2 continents, capability survey, strategy sprints with HR, 3-wave roadmap, investment case and approval materials; co-created with the client’s HR leadership Mode of engagement Led Timeframe 2026 Project duration 6–12 months · Empathise, Strategise, Realise (2-stage approval and launch) and Analyse (indicator framework); delivery by the client’s own programme from late 2026 The situation ## The question behind *the question.* When it is morning at the European headquarters, the operational sites in South America are finishing the night. The organisation runs on both clocks, with teams on rotation at remote sites and a move under way to process-based operations that would change roles, careers and what is asked of leaders. HR wanted a people strategy for 2026–2031 that staff at every site would recognise as theirs. The risk was specific: a strategy drafted where the offices are, heard mostly by the people who work office hours. As it was asked “Give us our first people strategy, practical and usable for everyone.” As we reframed it Who has to be heard for a strategy to hold at every site? We treated reach as a design requirement: every directorate, job family, seniority level and duty station, heard before a single priority was written. How we worked ## Four moves, *one loop.* This engagement ran on the [People Centricity Methodology™](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work): four moves turning what people say and do into insight, insight into choices, choices into measured impact — and impact back into evidence. 01 ### Empathise Data → Insights Understand before prescribing. We started outside in: the organisation’s strategic direction, its move to process-based operations, its workforce data and the trends in its labour markets. Then 247 voices, over 5 months in 3 formats. 35 interviews reached every director, the HR team, programme leads, the ombuds and the staff representatives. 63 people rated the organisation’s people capabilities in a survey. Then 25 focus groups brought together 149 staff and group heads, at headquarters and at the sites in South America, timed around rotations, with evening sessions for shift teams. The problem statement was agreed where the survey’s widest gaps met the focus groups’ first choices. 02 ### Strategise Insights → Strategy Turn insight into choices. We drafted in strategy sprints with the HR team, then mapped each group’s priorities onto the draft separately: directors, staff representatives, managers and staff, so that no group’s voice was averaged away. The result: 5 priorities, 10 objectives, and 3 enablers written as mutual commitments: for staff, for leaders and for HR, what the organisation asks and what it commits in return. The survey sorted the organisation’s capabilities in 2: 13 to strengthen, 11 to sustain. Some topics raised in the consultation, from pay and recognition to employee relations, were placed outside the strategy on purpose, and the document says so. 03 ### Realise Strategy → Impact Make it real, and make it yours. Approval came in 2 stages: direction first, money second. Each director had a 45-minute one-to-one before the orientation was decided in January; the staff committee and the unions then worked their comments into the text and endorsed it in February. The second stage carried the cost: a full investment case, with quantified benefits and the cost of inaction, and 3 waves to 2031, each defined by what staff, leaders and HR would gain by its end. The governing council approved it unanimously in June, and we took it back to every site: town halls, a roadshow, the intranet and a brochure. We were then brought back to set up the delivery programme. 04 ### Analyse Impact → Data Measure, learn, return. Progress is read on 2 clocks as well, a leading one and a lagging one. The attitudinal side takes the last engagement survey as its baseline, mapped to each priority, so staff experience can be measured again on the same questions. The operational side sits in the dashboard of the new HR system and tracks structural change. Above both, 20 programme indicators, from each wave’s deliverables to spending within the approved envelope, are reviewed as each wave closes. None went in unless it was relevant to a priority, within the programme’s control and measurable with data the organisation already holds. The instrument ### Importance against capability, 24 times over **24 capabilities, 2 questions each.** The survey took respondents through the PeopleCentriX HR Capability Framework™, across Run, Grow and Shape, and asked 2 questions per capability: how important it will be in 3 to 5 years, and how strong the organisation is at it today, each on a 1-to-5 scale. **The gap is the signal.** Importance minus capability gives every capability a gap score. Gaps of 1.5 points or more were flagged for action; the rest became candidates to sustain rather than rebuild. **The staff view on top.** In the focus groups, each participant chose the 3 employee-experience themes that mattered most, out of 9, so the survey’s gaps could be read against what staff live day to day. The outcome: 13 capabilities to strengthen and 11 to sustain, each linked to the objectives it serves. What moved ## What changed, *and what didn't.* **247**voices heard on 2 continents before a line of the strategy was written Evidence Decision taken Adopted in practice Measured impact What moved **247** people shaped the strategy before it was written, on 2 continents, from the directors to the teams on evening rotation. The directors approved its direction in January 2026 and its investment case in April; in June, the governing council approved the funded, 3-wave plan unanimously, and the strategy went back to every site. What didn't move The consultation surfaced recurring pain points and needs that sat outside HR’s mandate, some of them calling for immediate attention. We raised them with the directors, but could not win the traction to act on them. The strategy covers what HR can move; the rest is still waiting for an owner. What we'd say to a peer A strategy heard only during office hours at headquarters will be read as headquarters’ strategy. Schedule the listening around the way people work, by site, rotation and shift, map each group’s priorities separately before you merge them, and take the result back the same way. Reach is what lets a strategy travel to every site, around the clock. [Let's talk](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) [Discover People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) [Read more cases](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) **Method note:** Outside-in scan; PeopleCentriX HR Capability Framework™ survey (importance against capability); 25 focus groups on 2 continents; 2-stage approval. ## Keep reading [![A People Strategy Boards Could Fund, Not Just Approve](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution.jpg?width=300&name=case-people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [A People Strategy Boards Could Fund, Not Just Approve](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) [![Ask HR’s Users and HR’s Providers the Same Questions](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg?width=300&name=case-post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [Ask HR’s Users and HR’s Providers the Same Questions](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [![Treat Hiring Managers as Customers: A Recruiting Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company.jpg?width=300&name=case-talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [Treat Hiring Managers as Customers: A Recruiting Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company) WeAreHuman@Work One piece of evidence on sustainable work, every Sunday. 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PeopleCentriX name and logo are registered trademarks of PeopleCentriX SARL. - [Privacy statement](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/en/privacy-page) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization", "@type" : [ "ProfessionalService", "Organization" ], "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "CH", "addressLocality" : "Founex", "addressRegion" : "Vaud", "postalCode" : "1297", "streetAddress" : "Chemin du Lac 19A" }, "alternateName" : [ "PeopleCentriX Consulting", "PeopleCentriX SARL" ], "areaServed" : [ "Worldwide", "International organisations", "Private sector", "Public sector" ], "audience" : [ { "@type" : "Audience", "audienceType" : "Chief People Officers and Chief Human Resources Officers" }, { "@type" : "Audience", "audienceType" : "Chief Talent Officers and Heads of Talent Management" } ], "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "availableLanguage" : [ "English", "French" ], "contactType" : "sales", "email" : "tanguy.dulac@peoplecentrix.eu", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us" }, "description" : "PeopleCentriX is an evidence-based people-strategy advisory founded in Switzerland in March 2022 by Tanguy Dulac, PhD. 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