National House Building Council (NHBC)
Strengthening and evolving the NHBC culture.
The Challenge
NHBC has been a leading force in the UK's housing industry since 1936, delivering warranties and insurance for new homes with a dedication to excellence. With over 1,300 employees, NHBC prides itself on safeguarding homeowners and setting construction standards.
Dragonfish partnered with NHBC, the UK's leading warranty provider for new homes, over the 15 months to October 2023.
NHBC recognised the need to strengthen its culture, align it with their goals, and improve organisational effectiveness. Therefore, dragonfish was tasked with strengthening the existing values framework and co-creating a compelling employee value proposition that would support current team members to feel valued and recognised and entice prospective employees to the company.
The Solution
Dragonfish took a holistic approach to NHBC’s needs, starting with an in-depth discovery phase; progressing through to strategic design and delivery of the culture framework and EVP; and culminating with culture activation, roadmap development, and a series of actionable recommendations around measurement and culture embedding.
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We conducted in-depth research to understand NHBC's current culture and EVP, involving 24 senior stakeholders and capturing the views of 59% of the workforce through 745 survey responses.
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We developed a culture ambition and overall culture blueprint, and created an EVP from future use - aligned to NHBC's long-standing values of Excellent, Progressive, Human, and Connected.
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We co-created a compelling, time-stamped, inspiring, measurable vision for NHBC's future, bringing the Executive Committee into alignment on the long-term direction of the business.
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We created a live digital roadmap for culture activation, with activities including online learning modules and workshops to support NHBC leaders, culture champions, and cross-functional teams.
"In partnership with Dragonfish we were definitely able to take our culture to the next level. We were very impressed by their creativity and data driven approach which really assisted us in being able to embed our vision and values across the whole business."
Craig Pocock, HR Director
NHBC
Our Impact
In April 2023, NHBC successfully launched its new culture framework and EVP, with full support from the Board and Executive Committee. Utilising an existing event within the NHBC calendar, a country-wide roadshow was the setting for the launch. These events generated excitement around the strengthened culture and the future of NHBC, both from a visionary perspective and an employee experience perspective. The culture framework is now being actively embedded into day-to-day roles, processes and ways of working across the organisation.
The partnership between NHBC and Dragonfish UK has driven impactful changes:
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Culture alignment: The introduction of a culture framework, incorporating new behaviours and a culture ambition narrative, has increased employee engagement by 25%, aligning with NHBC’s strategic goals. Clearly defined EVP pillars have been developed to support future talent engagement.
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Visionary leadership: A data-informed vision and narrative have enhanced connection to and understanding of the long-term direction.
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Operational integration: The framework has been integrated into roles and processes, empowering employees to innovate and improve continuously.
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Sustainable transformation: The development of NHBC’s culture governance structure and champion network has ensured the sustainability and adaptability of culture initiatives.
These initiatives have evolved NHBC’s culture, laying a strong foundation for sustained growth. Guided by its strategic blueprint and forward-looking vision, NHBC is well-placed to strengthen its position as a market leader.
With a compelling future vision now activated and embedded, NHBC is ideally positioned to attract and develop top industry talent in its commitment to excellence.
"Collaborating with Dragonfish to develop our EVP had a meaningful impact on NHBC. By leveraging our existing talent data and incorporating new insights from both internal and external focus groups, their team helped us gain a detailed understanding of our talent audiences. Dragonfish assisted us in clearly defining what matters to our current and potential employees, highlighting the factors that attract them and encourage them to stay at NHBC. The result is a powerful and customized People Promise that effectively communicates NHBC's 'employee deal.' Consequently, our people team is now well-equipped to convey this employee deal. We are in a strong position to continually enhance our employee experience and to attract and retain the talent necessary to achieve our strategic goals."
Wendy Carr, Head of Talent, Learning & Inclusion
NHBC