CASE STUDY - GENERATION MEDIA
A three-part programme with independent media agency Generation Media, helping a newly formed leadership team build trust, hold each other to account and step up from managing to leading.
SECTOR:
Media and advertising (Independent Media Agency)
DURATION:
Three months, February to April 2026
FORMAT:
Three 3.5-hour face-to-face workshops, with pre-work, between-session reflection exercises and an evaluation report
PARTICIPANTS:
10 Directors and Business Directors
Pauline Hughes, founder of Gains, with the Generation Media leadership team.
The setup
A new leadership structure. A newly formed team. A business ready to grow.
Generation Media is an independent media agency going through a period of change. A new leadership structure was taking shape, with Business Directors stepping up to join the senior leadership team, and the group needed to find a new way of working together.
Many of these leaders had built their reputations on being hands-on and close to the work. Now the business needed them to think bigger picture, delegate with confidence and make decisions without fear of pushback. Some difficult conversations were being avoided, and back-to-back meetings left little time to think strategically.
The question was how to build trust across the senior and more junior members of the group, and create a fearless culture the rest of the agency could follow.
What we did
FEARLESS TEAMS: LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME -
Three workshops, one leadership team
Each workshop built on the last. Between sessions, leaders worked through reflection exercises and nudges, and every session opened with a check-in on the commitments they had made to each other, so the learning carried into day-to-day work.
Building the Foundation
The team explored their individual values, leadership styles and how they come across to others. They scored the trust in the room, looked at the four foundations of a fearless culture, and agreed new ground rules for working together.
The Art of Empowerment and Constructive Challenge
A focus on accountability and delegation, moving from hints to clear expectations. Leaders looked honestly at their conflict styles, learned a model for difficult conversations and practised the real conversations they had been putting off.
From Managers to Strategic Leaders
Anti-fragility, adaptive leadership and adaptability quotient (AQ) prepared the team for uncertainty, including the arrival of AI. A boundary decision matrix gave them a shared language for saying no, and they worked through real agency scenarios before setting one-day, one-week and one-month commitments.
At the close of each session, every leader named one thing they would do differently and what they needed from the group to make it stick. Coming back to those commitments next time turned holding each other to account into a team habit.
What changed
People left with a new, practical toolkit, and the confidence to put it into action.
100%of leaders now better understand what it takes to be an adaptive leader
75%said the programme changed their ability and willingness to delegate and hold others to account
8.2/10average confidence in creating a more fearless culture
75Net Promoter Score, where anything above 70 is considered exceptional
Leaders described tackling difficult conversations head on instead of sitting on them, explaining the business impact when they delegate so their teams understand what to prioritise, and asking more questions to empower decisions instead of telling people what to do. They pushed for greater autonomy and reported increased trust, better communication and a clearer understanding of each other's objectives and style. The programme broke down barriers made them more committed to staying at the company.
“I really struggled to not be in the day-to-day as I always wanted to showcase my value to my team. But that has impacted what I do on the transformational side of the business, and potentially stifled team growth. The sessions have really made me feel justified for stepping back and operating as a leader rather than a manager”
Participant, Fearless Teams programme
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