How the University of Brighton’s Finance Team Built Alignment, Confidence and Better Ways of Working
The University of Brighton’s Finance team has taken a deliberate, whole-department approach to strengthening leadership, collaboration and day-to-day ways of working under pressure.
What began as an opportunity for senior leaders to reflect on their own leadership practice has grown into a structured, strengths-based programme supporting managers, teams and specialist functions across Finance. The focus has been clear throughout: improving how people work together, not adding complexity or competing priorities.
The Challenge: Sustaining Performance in a High-Pressure Environment
Like many Finance teams across higher education and the wider public sector, the University of Brighton operates in a demanding context. Tight resources, financial scrutiny, complex organisational change and rising expectations place sustained pressure on both leaders and teams alike.
While the function was delivering technically, Finance leadership recognised that long-term performance and resilience depended on more than expertise alone. They wanted to:
- Strengthen relationships across roles and specialist teams
- Improve collaboration and reduce friction under tight deadlines
- Create a shared language for feedback, performance and support
- Build leadership confidence and consistency across the department
They were aware of the challenges, but less familiar with a practical, people-focused approach that could be embedded without disrupting delivery.
Why Strengthify
The University of Brighton Finance leadership team chose Strengthify because the approach aligned closely with what they needed:
- Practical, evidence-based method grounded in positive psychology
- A clear link between individual insight and team performance
- Experience supporting higher education and public sector teams
- A structured programme that moves from awareness to everyday application
Crucially, the approach focused on strengthening what already existed, rather than introducing another layer of process or abstraction.
Implementation: A Whole-Finance Strengths Programme
Rather than a single intervention, the University of Brighton’s Finance team adopted a staged, whole-Finance approach that allowed insight to turn into sustained change over time.
Leadership Sponsorship and Early Adoption
The programme was championed by Sue Owen, Director of Finance, who first experienced Strengthify through the inaugural Strengthify Live event and subsequently completed the first Management Development Programme (MDP).
This early engagement helped shape the ambition for a consistent, people-first leadership approach across Finance, focused on practical behaviours rather than theory.
“What appealed to me about Strengthify was its practicality. It wasn’t about adding another framework to an already busy environment. It gave us a shared language and tools that helped us lead more effectively, especially under pressure. Taking a whole-Finance approach meant strengths didn’t sit with individuals or managers alone – it became part of how we work together.”
Sue Owen, Director of Finance, University of Brighton
Building Leadership Capability
Six Finance managers then attended a Discovery Workshop and completed the MDP themselves. This created a strong core of leaders with shared language, confidence and capability around:
- Leading people consistently
- Having better-quality performance and development conversations
- Understanding how strengths and blind spots show up under pressure
Many described this as a shift from managing by habit to leading with greater intention.
Building Leadership Capability
The next phase brought the entire Finance department together for a dedicated Discovery Workshop. Colleagues from payroll, income, procurement and financial planning and analysis explored their strengths and reflected on how differences could work together more effectively.
The focus was on:
- Introducing a shared strengths-based approach
- Building openness and rapport across teams
- Strengthening team identity and alignment
Engagement was high, with most participants rating the session as very or extremely valuable and describing the insights as accurate, relevant and immediately useful.
Targeted Leadership and Team Application
With a shared foundation in place, the programme moved into deeper application:
- The Finance leadership team explored their collective strengths, decision-making patterns and leadership blind spots using real scenarios.
- Six team-specific workshops supported the sub-teams to apply strengths directly to workload allocation, collaboration and communication.
This ensured the approach was not leadership-only, but embedded into everyday team practice.
Impact: What Changed in Practice
Across leadership and team workshops, several consistent shifts emerged.
Stronger Leadership Confidence and Consistency
Managers reported greater confidence across core leadership skills, including delegation, feedback, performance conversations and supporting development. MDP feedback showed:
- 100% felt confident or very confident across all core management areas
- 100% rated the programme as very or extremely valuable
- Strong endorsement of the programme's practical, applied focus
Improved Team Understanding and Collaboration
Teams reported:
- Greater understanding of colleagues' strengths and working styles
- More constructive conversations about workload and priorities
- Increased confidence in individual contributions
“Using a strengths-based approach should be helpful in integrating sub-teams and understanding better how colleagues work and the challenges they face.”
“Found the workshop helpful in identifying other team members’ strengths and spending time investigating how to take this forward.”
Louise Roberts, University of Brighton
From Insight to Everyday Practice
Strengths are now being used as a practical management tool, not a one-off activity:
- Managers reference strengths in one-to-ones and development reviews
- Teams are more deliberate about how work is allocated and supported
- Blind spots are discussed more openly, reducing friction under pressure
“We’ve moved from strengths being an interesting workshop to something that genuinely shapes how we lead and organise the work. Leaders are using the language in check-ins, teams are more aware of each other’s styles, and conversations about capacity and priorities feel more open and constructive.”
Ian Childs, Chief Finance Officer, University of Brighton
Realistic, Sustainable Progress
The Finance team has been clear that strengths are not a quick fix. Embedding new ways of working takes time, consistency and leadership commitment, particularly in a challenging operating environment.
However, the programme has provided:
- A positive, credible way to discuss performance and pressure
- Practical tools for sharing work more intelligently
- A stronger foundation of trust, civility and collaboration
As one participant noted, it is “a useful exercise to complete and use” when teams are under strain, not just when conditions are easy.
A Stronger Platform for the Future
For the University of Brighton’s Finance team, the journey from insight to action has created a shared framework for leadership and team development.
Future conversations about change, service delivery and improvement can now build on that foundation, asking not only what needs to be done, but who is best placed to lead it and how they can be supported to do so well.
Ready to Strengthen Your Team?
If you are looking to build confident managers, strengthen collaboration, or create a shared language for performance and feedback across your organisation, Strengthify can help.
Get in touch to explore how our tailored workshops and management programmes support sustainable change across higher education and the wider public sector.