The Challenge

The behaviours were defined. The gap was activation.

Heineken's HR and Talent function came to us with a clear picture of what they wanted their leaders to do differently. The leadership behaviours existed. The ambition was there. What was missing was a delivery model that could reach enough people, often enough, to actually shift culture rather than demonstrate intent

Running an external provider-led programme 30 times in a year is logistically complex, commercially prohibitive, and creatively flat by the fifth iteration. They needed something built to scale from the inside.

The Approach

Train the trainers. Not as a shortcut - as a strategy.

Explore Performance partnered with Heineken's HR and Talent function to deliver an intensive Train the Trainer programme built around our For Those Who Dare Everest simulation. Three of their internal team went through a rigorous TTT process - not just learning how to run the session, but understanding the facilitation principles behind it: how to hold a room, how to connect the simulation to Heineken's specific leadership behaviours, and how to sustain impact across repeated delivery.

The output was a half-day workshop, fully owned by Heineken, ready to run up to 30 times across 12 months.

Grant Rawlinson completing the Tasman Sea world record 1

The Outcome

More reach. More consistency. More impact.

Thirty workshops in twelve months, delivered entirely by Heineken's own people. The Everest simulation gave their internal facilitators a vehicle that is experiential and memorable by design - leaders engage with it differently to a conventional workshop. And because the content is grounded in a real expedition, the emotional resonance holds across every cohort, not just the first.

Heineken now have a living capability inside their organisation. One that grows stronger with each delivery, rather than depending on external resource to keep it alive.

Programme Used