Lucy Allen & Sinéad Millard: Winner of the 2024 Great Companies International Women Entrepreneur Award

Name: Lucy Allen & Sinéad Millard

Business Name: theMakings

Location: London , United Kingdom ( UK)

Establishment (Year): 2020

Category: Training & Coaching

Profession/ Specialty: Leadership Coaching

Website www.themakings.com

Social Media: Linkedin

Company Detail:

The power of one-on-one coaching is undeniable, yet traditional corporate coaching largely relies on antiquated models that carry high costs and focus primarily on long sessions aimed at senior leaders. Digital platforms that democratize coaching are fueling rapid growth in the industry. However, digital platforms only go so far in modernizing the offer. The next generation wants personalized development served in the way that suits them best.

Introducing theMakings: on a mission to build Future Leaders for a Better Society.

An intelligent coaching platform designed specifically to meet the needs of the next generation.

theMakings 1:1 coaching maximizes individuals’ unique power to lead and contribute to something bigger than themselves while enabling employers to customize programs, at scale, that align to organizational culture and behaviors.

Delivered at scale through proprietary technology that facilitates and models behaviors we want to develop.

Global business built for scale serving organizations across Europe, NA, the Nordics, Asia Pacific.

Delivering programs across 60 countries, 20+ languages delivered by a global diverse team of expert coaches.

Unique Selling Proposition or Competitive Advantage:

theMakings exists in a league all of its own in cutting the fat out of the traditional coaching session to optimize for the needs of the next generation of leaders.

High Impact, High-Frequency 23-minute sessions: theMakings 23-minute sessions take the best bits from the traditional coaching model to deliver an optimized experience designed specifically to meet the needs of the next generation and accelerate leadership development.

Customizable and Scalable: Fully customizable to organization needs and scalable to the size of cohorts.

Curated Bench of Coaches: Handpicked for each business and their goals.

Technology-Driven Platform: Intelligent coach matching, session themes, data-driven progress reports, and more.

Challenges Faced During the Journey:

They are a challenger brand in a competitive market. Competitors like Ezra, CoachHub, and BetterUp have huge investment and big budgets for marketing, scaling quickly. Their challenge has been to market their point of difference in a smart way with a small budget to gain a share of voice in the market.

The below areas are how they’ve differentiated themselves and retained 100% of their clients like Kelloggs, L’Oreal, SSP Group, Formula E, Harlequins Rugby as a few examples.

They leverage theMakings proprietary tech platform and data to build embedded relationships and support HR and People teams to develop industry-leading and innovative L&D strategies that are targeted and personalized, at scale. theMakings provides organizations with highly targeted coaching programs for their future leaders across the following areas:

Elevate leadership capability next gen/middle managers.

Develop and sustain diverse talent pipeline.

Accelerate high-performing employees.

Accelerate performance for new starters.

Integration and transition for parents and returners.

Supercharge performance in a specific business division.

They work with behavioral scientists, high-performance athletes, and thought leaders in the space to continually push their thinking about how to move people forward, faster using their platform, coaching team, and data. Their Head of Performance, Leon Taylor - Olympic Silver Medal Diver, Executive Coach, Athlete Mentor, Speaker, and Commentator, co-developed their 23-minute coaching model and uses his ongoing and current experience from the world of sport to push their thinking forward.

They embrace a test and learn approach to all the products they build and listen to the emerging leaders who are living it so they can leapfrog their competition.

Advice for Women Entrepreneurs:

If they are persistent, believe in what they’re doing and have emotional intelligence, they’ll find their way. Use everyone around them and be direct and specific in asking for their advice and help. Create a support network and be thoughtful about who to bring into it. A team of advisors is invaluable and a business partner makes the whole thing more fun and less stressful. Be honest with themselves about their emotional awareness, behaviors, and where their gaps are. A coach is a must. Obviously