Martin had been working with Joel and Tom at Switchplane since the early days, back when they were just a two-man team. He’d helped them grow the business and build a strong foundation. But as the company expanded, a new challenge emerged.

Both founders were deeply involved in software development, while also trying to lead the business, think strategically, and manage every other aspect of operations. As the team grew to more than 10 people, that balancing act became unsustainable.

That’s when I joined — brought in for my people and project management skills. But stepping into the internal workings of a fast-growing software company was completely new to me. Joel and Tom suggested I work with Martin to help get up to speed and shape my role effectively.

As the business continued to grow, we faced another familiar but critical challenge: maintaining culture at scale. Once you pass a certain size, more voices enter the room. Not all are aligned. Left unchecked, the energy of a growing team can start pulling the business in directions that don’t match the original vision.

Martin, Joel, and Tom could see this on the horizon — and much of the responsibility to address this was being handed to me.

Because Martin already knew the business inside and out — and had helped the founders develop their leadership skills over many years — he was the natural choice to support this next phase.

We started with one-to-one sessions, which helped me clarify my role, define my immediate priorities, and gain perspective on what was ahead. Martin gave me a handful of deceptively simple tools that made a big difference straight away — particularly in raising our game around how we hired, reviewed, and (when needed) let go of team members with care and integrity.

As we looked ahead, it became clear that we needed to grow our leadership capability across the business. We didn’t just want leadership from the top — we wanted a culture of leadership at every level. So Martin designed and ran a group leadership development programme for key team members.

This achieved two things. First, it helped us identify our future leaders — the high performers who were ready to step up — and equipped them with the same powerful leadership concepts and shared language already familiar to Tom, Joel, and me. Second, it brought to light where further alignment or support was needed. It helped us recognise who might need more time, encouragement, or clarity to fully engage with the direction of the business, and who was already fully behind the vision and driving it forward.

We then followed up with individual coaching sessions for key team members, giving them space to explore their own challenges, fears, and ambitions in a trusted setting — and helping them step into leadership with confidence.

Those early sessions with Martin gave me the clarity and structure I needed to step fully into my role. They helped us lift our standards in hiring and managing performance, and made it possible to shape the team around a shared culture — before misalignment became a deeper issue.

The group leadership programme laid the foundations for leadership at every level. It created a shared mindset among our high performers, and helped us identify both our future leaders and the people who weren’t fully committed to our mission.

The individual coaching that followed strengthened those foundations even further. It gave our emerging leaders the confidence to speak up, grow, and lead — while knowing they had support behind them.

Martin has long been a trusted friend and member of our extended team. Whether the issue is strategic, operational, cultural, or personal, people know they can turn to him. His support has helped us grow in strength and confidence. And for a long time now, we’ve maintained and developed a culture that we’re deeply proud of — one that’s earned the trust of our clients and the respect of our industry.