Partners
How a financial institution's internal management group used adaptability science to rebuild stakeholder trust, and measure every step.
AQ® Adaptability Assessment deployed across 225 FM professionals to establish a shared language for adaptability.
Focused 60-person cohort across six teams in the AQ® Intensive phase.
Phase 3 delivered a 21.8-point NPS gain in under nine months.
Two assessment cycles (2021 and 2024) provided a longitudinal view of adaptability development.
The Financial Management group of a major U.S. financial institution recognised a gap between how they were perceived and the strategic partner they wanted to be. Over a multi-phase engagement led by The Renegade Leader Coaching & Consulting Group, an AQai® Certified Partner, using AQme individual reports, AQteam assessments, and a science-based customer service survey, the group drove a 70-point NPS improvement across the full engagement. Phase 1 alone produced a verified 162% ROI in 90 days. The final phase produced a 21.8-point gain in under nine months and a measurable shift in how the institution's internal clients experience and rely on FM.
The Financial Management (FM) group is a division within a major U.S. financial institution, overseeing procurement, financial planning, supplier diversity, and vendor management. Serving as an internal function to departments across the organisation, FM's effectiveness is measured not just by technical accuracy but by the quality of its partnerships with the people it serves. Leadership recognised that closing the gap between FM's current standing and its potential as a trusted internal resource required a deliberate, evidence-based investment in how the team understood and applied adaptability.
In 2020, FM conducted a structured internal customer survey that surfaced a clear picture of where the group stood. General satisfaction was at 68%, the NPS was -31.3, and nearly 44% of internal clients were classified as detractors. The preference to consult with FM voluntarily was below 50%. Rather than treating this as a performance failure, FM leadership used the data as a starting point. Client interviews identified four consistent themes that the group committed to address: understand specific business needs and goals; clarify roles and responsibilities; build accountability around agreed timelines; and help us be strategic, anticipate future trends and support better decisions. These themes became the foundation of a multi-phase development programme designed to close the gap between where FM was and where it wanted to be.
The survey data made the opportunity concrete. With nearly 44% of clients as detractors and voluntary engagement below 50%, FM had significant room to increase its impact across the organisation. Left unaddressed, the gap would continue to limit FM's ability to contribute strategically, reducing its influence on decisions where financial oversight mattered most. The data provided both the mandate and the baseline for a structured, measurable response.
The Renegade Leader Coaching & Consulting Group, operating as an AQai® Certified Partner, designed and led a multi-phase programme using AQme individual reports, AQteam assessments, and a science-based customer service survey. Micro-learnings delivered by The Renegade Leader throughout the engagement kept development active between formal sessions, building capability over time rather than relying on single-event training. The phased structure unfolded across Foundation (2020-2021), Broad AQ® Deployment (2022-2023), and AQ® Intensive with the Core 60 (2024-2025).
The engagement began with structured customer and employee interviews that confirmed and deepened the survey themes. Three targeted programs followed: Change leadership assessment and training built the team's capacity to navigate change with greater confidence; "Creating Win-Win Conversations" developed the collaborative skills clients had requested; and Action Focus Teams were established in Procurement, Supplier Diversity, and Vendor Management.
The AQ® Adaptability Assessment was deployed across 225 FM professionals, establishing a shared language for adaptability across the group. Between formal phases, NPS continued to grow from 0.0 to 16.7, evidence that Phase 1 capabilities had been internalised by the team and were actively shaping how FM showed up for its clients.
The final phase focused on 60 professionals across six teams. The AQ® Adaptability Assessment was redeployed using AQme individual reports and AQteam reports, providing a longitudinal view of how adaptability had developed since 2022. Seven structured two-hour sessions per team, supported by micro-learnings between sessions, translated AQ® insight into executable plans using the Stellar Agile Canvas Design.
NPS told the Financial Management group where they stood in 2020: -31.3. It didn't tell them what to change. AQ®'s Adaptability Assessment turned that gap into a measurable, multi-dimensional view of how the team engaged with change, ambiguity, and client expectations across Ability, Character, and Environment. Two assessment cycles (2021 and 2024) made progress visible, and the science-based customer service survey linked AQ® data directly to client-facing behaviour. The result: a 70-point NPS gain over five years, a verified 162% ROI in 90 days during Phase 1, and a final-phase 21.8-point gain in under nine months.
Each phase of the programme produced documented, measurable improvement. NPS moved from -31.3 in 2020 to 0.0 by 2021, to 16.7 by 2022-2023, and to 38.5 by 2025: a 70-point gain across the full engagement. Phase 1 produced a verified 162% ROI in 90 days, with validated cost savings confirmed independently. Phase 3 delivered a 21.8-point gain in under nine months. Across the full engagement, strong preference to consult FM more than doubled from 41% to 84%; detractors fell from 43.8% to 11.5%; promoters rose fourfold from 12.5% to 50%. 82.8% of final survey respondents were repeat participants, confirming the change is sustained rather than survey-driven.
Baseline survey in 2020 with nearly 44% of internal clients classified as detractors.
Phase 3 final reading, a 70-point gain across the full five-year engagement.
Below half of internal clients said they preferred to consult FM voluntarily in 2020.
More than doubled by Phase 3, with FM operating as the trusted internal partner.
Nearly 44% of internal clients were classified as detractors in 2020.
Detractor share fell to 11.5% by Phase 3 · 2025.
Only one in eight internal clients was a promoter in 2020.
Promoter share rose fourfold to 50%, confirming FM as a trusted internal partner.
2024 Phase 3 entry-point survey reading.
Customer satisfaction rose 54% during Phase 3, with neutral sentiment falling 77%.
NPS improved 70 points across the full engagement, from -31.3 to 38.5.
Phase 1 produced a verified 162% ROI in 90 days with validated cost savings confirmed independently.
NPS moved from -31.3 to 0.0 by the end of Phase 1.
Phase 3 delivered a 21.8-point NPS gain in under nine months with a focused 60-person cohort.
82.8% of final survey respondents were repeat participants, confirming the gains were sustained rather than survey-driven.
Strong preference to consult Financial Management voluntarily more than doubled across the engagement.
Internal-client detractors fell from 43.8% to 11.5% across the five-year engagement.
Promoters rose fourfold across the engagement, from 12.5% to 50%.
NPS improved from 16.7 to 38.5 in Phase 3, a 131% percentage gain in under nine months.
The AQ® framework gave us a shared language for something we had always felt but never been able to measure, and that gave us the tools to show up differently for our internal clients.
Debora J McLaughlin is a highly experienced and dynamic leader who is dedicated to helping organizations build change-ready leaders and teams. With her extensive background in leadership and consulting, she has developed a keen understanding of the skills and qualities that are essential for success in today's rapidly changing business environment. She is an Amazon bestselling author of Changeability How to Navigate Change with Clarity, Confidence and Certainty, Invisible Brakes, and the upcoming Momentum Makers. As an Adaptability Consultant, Executive Coach, and Momentum Strategist, she has helped over 300 leaders in the past two years elevate their adaptability, agility, and execution speed—delivering measurable impact in today’s fast-changing business environment. With a career that bridges technology innovation and human dynamics, Debora brings a unique perspective to organizational transformation. She has worked with high-performance leaders across tech, banking, healthcare, and government, including organizations such as the Federal Reserve Bank, NetApp, Oracle, Dell, Kaiser Permanente, Homeland Security, the VA, and many others. Known for her sharp insight and inspiring energy, Debora empowers leaders and teams to uncover the Invisible Brakes™ that silently stall performance—then helps them remove those barriers to gain visibility, influence, and momentum. Her clients value her blend of strategic thinking, adaptability expertise, and results-oriented coaching. When she isn't supporting leaders to gain traction, a competitive edge or to leap frog their career, Debora lives in New Hampshire with her husband and their three golden retrievers, enjoying life at their peaceful lake house retreat.
View partner profile →AQ® gives internal services teams a measurable view of how they engage with change and stakeholder expectations across Ability, Character, and Environment. In this Financial Services engagement, the Financial Management group moved NPS from -31.3 to 38.5 over five years (a 70-point gain) using AQme, AQteam, and a science-based customer service survey.
In Phase 1 of this engagement (2020 to 2021), AQ®-led interventions delivered a verified 162% ROI in 90 days, with cost savings confirmed independently. The full five-year engagement produced sustained behavioural change with 82.8% of final survey respondents being repeat participants, confirming the gains were not survey-driven.
Results compound over time. In this Financial Services engagement, Phase 1 produced a 31-point NPS gain over roughly 12 months. Phase 3 delivered a further 21.8-point gain in under nine months with a focused 60-person cohort. The full longitudinal view across 2020 to 2025 showed sustained progression with each phase building on the last.
Debora McLaughlin and her team at The Renegade Leader Coaching & Consulting Group, an AQai® Certified Partner, designed and led the multi-phase engagement using AQme individual reports, AQteam assessments, the Stellar Agile Canvas Design, and a science-based customer service survey.
It is a structured measurement of how internal or external clients experience a team's service across specific behavioural dimensions, validated against research. Pairing it with AQ® lets you connect adaptability data to client-facing outcomes. In this engagement, the survey was deployed in 2020, 2021, and 2025, producing the NPS progression that anchors the case study.
Browse the directory of certified practitioners and find a partner suited to your sector.
AQ® Level 1 Foundation is the ICF-accredited starting point for becoming a Certified Partner.
Copyright adaptai Ltd. All rights reserved. AQ® and AQai® are registered trademarks of adaptai Ltd.
.png){kind=small}
.png)
