At a glance
Global consumer goods organisation
Three international locations across the USA and Europe
Seven employee focus groups
Six business functions represented
Challenge: declining engagement, trust and communication identified through a global employee survey
Approach: facilitated employee listening sessions, executive insight workshops and leadership development
Result: organisation-wide actions agreed to strengthen communication, trust and leadership effectiveness ahead of the next engagement survey
The challenge
Following its annual employee engagement survey, a global organisation identified several themes emerging consistently across its international workforce. While individual sites faced different operational challenges, employees were expressing remarkably similar concerns.
Common feedback included:
- A lack of clarity, consistency and transparency in communication.
- Changing priorities and uncertainty around organisational direction.
- Declining trust in senior leadership and reduced psychological safety.
- Complex ways of working that made collaboration more difficult.
- Concerns around career development and future opportunities.
The executive team recognised that the survey results highlighted what employees were experiencing, but not why. They wanted a deeper understanding of the issues before deciding where to focus their efforts.
Our approach
Between March and May 2026, The Fruitful Group designed and facilitated a programme of employee focus groups across three international locations.
Seven sessions brought together employees from six different functions, creating a safe environment for open and honest discussion. Rather than validating survey results alone, the conversations explored the experiences, perceptions and day-to-day realities behind the data.
Following each session, we analysed the discussions, identified recurring themes and presented clear, evidence-based insights to senior functional leaders and the executive team. Together, we explored practical actions each leadership team could take to improve communication, strengthen engagement and create a better employee experience.
From insight to action
The findings were shared at the organisation’s global leadership conference, attended by senior leaders and General Managers from North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Despite geographical and cultural differences, the themes emerging from employees were strikingly consistent across the organisation. This enabled leaders to move beyond local solutions and agree a coordinated set of actions that could be implemented across regions and functions ahead of the next global engagement survey. Perhaps the most important insight was that almost every challenge traced back to communication. Whether employees were talking about trust, strategy, change or career development, effective leadership communication sat at the heart of the solution.
Building leadership capability
To support leaders in putting these commitments into practice, The Fruitful Group designed and facilitated an interactive leadership development session during the global conference.The workshop focused on helping leaders communicate with greater clarity, confidence and authenticity, particularly during periods of change.
Using Everything DiSC®, leaders explored:
- how different behavioural styles interpret communication
- practical ways to build trust and psychological safety
- delivering feedback that strengthens performance
- handling difficult conversations with confidence
- responding constructively to resistance and conflict
Realistic workplace scenarios gave participants the opportunity to practise new approaches and develop the confidence to apply them with their own teams.
The outcome
The project helped transform employee feedback into meaningful organisational action.
Leaders left with:
- a deeper understanding of the experiences behind the engagement survey
- clear priorities informed directly by employee voices
- agreed actions to improve communication and leadership effectiveness across the organisation
- greater confidence to lead open, honest and constructive conversations
- a shared commitment to strengthening trust across teams and regions
The agreed actions were implemented ahead of the organisation’s next employee engagement survey, providing a clear opportunity to measure progress and assess improvements in engagement, communication and trust.
Why it mattered
Listening to employees is only valuable when it leads to meaningful action. By combining facilitated employee listening, behavioural insight and practical leadership development, The Fruitful Group helped this global organisation move beyond survey data to create lasting organisational change. The result was a more aligned leadership team, clearer communication across regions and a shared commitment to building a stronger employee experience.
Every organisation has its own challenges, but communication, trust and leadership are themes we see time. If your employee engagement survey has highlighted challenges around communication, trust, leadership or organisational culture, we can help you uncover the real issues and turn insight into meaningful action.
The Fruitful Group works with organisations to facilitate employee listening sessions, leadership development and organisational development initiatives that create lasting behavioural change.
Get in touch to discuss your organisation’s challenges or arrange an initial conversation about how we can help.
