Success Story: NATO

Inspiring Participative Leadership

Leading in a Consensus-Driven Environment

Leadership at NATO looks very different from leadership in most organisations. It is not about giving orders but about building agreement. Every major decision requires consultation, persuasion, and often compromise. To succeed, senior leaders need presence, confidence, and the ability to bring others along without relying on hierarchy.

NATO wanted to strengthen this style of leadership across its senior ranks — from ‘push’ to ‘pull’, and to ensure that equal weight was given to business responsibilities versus leadership responsibilities to be an effective leader at NATO.     

The challenge: design a programme that was both engaging and flexible, capable of attracting a critical mass of senior leaders who wanted to join out of excitement, rather than obligation.

A Blue Ocean Approach to Leadership Learning

NATO partnered with The Blue Ocean Company because of its unusual approach to leadership development. Using its innovative Strategic Design Framework — based on a selection of Blue Ocean Strategy tools traditionally applied to create market breakthroughs — The Blue Ocean Company worked together with the NATO team to come up with breakthrough design elements that were fully focused on value creation.    

Dr Eric Welch, the programme sponsor and Former NATO Head, Talent Management and Organisational Development, explains:

“We chose The Blue Ocean Company because of their innovative design, their top-notch facilitators and coaches, but also because of their emphasis on co-designing the whole learning journey together with us.”

Eliminating the Old, Creating the New

Using one of the Blue Ocean Strategy tools, the Four-Action Design Canvas, The Blue Ocean Company asked: What should we eliminate, reduce, raise, and create to deliver more impact—without increasing cost?

• Eliminate: External models and definitions of leadership, or team performance, or change management. Instead, use the wisdom in the room — the participants’ own experiences as leaders.

• Reduce: Participant stress about being away from work. Every exercise connected directly to real workplace challenges. Workshops were reframed not as “time away” but as time invested in performance and well-being.

• Raise: Ownership of learning. Participants chose their own leadership topics, “buddies,” and individual coaching track, ensuring high relevance and motivation.

• Create: Memorable and unusual hands-on experientials—juggling, team competitions, drumming—that made lessons stick long after the programme ended.

Real Challenges, Not Case Studies

A cornerstone of the design was that participants worked on their own real-world challenges rather than generic case studies. Before each workshop, leaders identified a pressing issue aligned to the workshop topic—whether leading themselves, leading others, leading teams, or leading organisational change.

This meant that when participants entered the room, they weren’t just learning about abstract models. They were solving problems that mattered directly to them, with tools they could take back immediately. Workshops became an extension of their work, not a distraction from it.

“I will be applying what I learned to my own team. I’m currently mapping out who is in my core team and who our key external stakeholders are.” – Programme participant

Experiential Learning That Sticks

The programme also stood out for its use of high-impact experiential activities that made learning memorable and “sticky.”

In one workshop, participants learned to juggle—a metaphor for coaching others when facing a seemingly impossible task. What felt impossible at first became doable once broken into smaller steps. Each leader left with a set of juggling balls as a reminder of how this coaching skill could lead to better performance.

In another, African drumming brought the group together into one rhythm. The experience demonstrated how alignment and collective energy can power organisational change more effectively than individual effort alone.

“The juggling session showed me that what feels impossible at first becomes doable when broken down step by step—exactly what coaching others is about.” – Programme participant

Ownership Through Choice

Another innovative feature was the level of ownership given to participants. From the start, they were encouraged to shape the journey themselves.

• Each chose a “buddy”—a peer to reflect with, exchange feedback, and hold one another accountable. Because buddies came from the same environment, these relationships felt natural and sustainable, often continuing beyond the programme.

• In between workshops, participants voted on leadership topics to be discussed during virtual Leadership Forums. Instead of following a fixed agenda, participants selected the topics most relevant to their context, which Blue Ocean facilitators then facilitated virtually.

Putting the participants in the driver’s seat built engagement and ensured the programme remained anchored in the participants’ real work.

“My take-away was how powerful it is to ‘lead from behind’—to step back and let others take the initiative.” – Programme participant

Lasting Impact

Across the eight-month journey, leaders completed 360-degree assessments, attended four workshops, received individual coaching, and participated in virtual forums. Evaluations averaged 4.6 out of 5.0, but the true impact was seen in changed behaviour.

Participants reported using a coaching style more often in daily conversations, making more time for reflection, engaging their teams differently, and collaborating more closely with stakeholders. These shifts helped embed a culture of leadership that was less directive, more collaborative, and more effective in NATO’s unique environment.

Dr Eric Welch reflects:

“This special partnership exceeded our requirements: a fresh and unusual approach to leadership development so that our senior leaders remained engaged and committed to the journey.” 

Reimaging Leadership Development

For HR, L&D, and OD leaders, the NATO case demonstrates that innovation in leadership development doesn’t come from adding more content or more cost. It comes from reimagining the experience itself.

Learn how to apply The Blue Ocean Company’s innovative Strategic Design Framework to your own initiatives. Create programmes that are groundbreaking, in demand, and deliver a leap in value — without increasing costs.

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