Building an award-winning, evidence-based leadership programme for 90,000+ people at BAE Systems 

How Hemsley Fraser designed a two-tier leadership architecture for BAE Systems, built on interviews with 70 of its own leaders, reaching 96% participation and rated extremely valuable by 100% of participants on its core modules. 

90,000+

employees across 40 countries 

96%

participation rate 

100%

of participants would recommend the programme 

93%

of learners say they have implemented what they learned 
Top_20_Leadership_2026

The organisation

BAE Systems is a global security and aerospace company, the largest defence contractor in Europe and the biggest manufacturer in the UK, with a workforce of more than 90,000 spread across 40 countries. Providing critical capabilities to governments demands leaders who are aligned with the business's commercial strategy, effective as people managers, and agile enough to adapt to an uncertain future. 
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The challenge

BAE Systems' leadership learning had historically been classroom-led and focused on technical skill development. The pandemic sharpened the need for people-focused leadership behaviours at exactly the point when traditional, in-person approaches became harder to deliver.

With more than 1,000 new managers joining every year, any new programme needed to do more than train, it needed to assess learners' existing skills, formalise the leadership behaviours the business actually wanted, and support learners consistently across multiple time zones and a genuinely global, matrixed organisation. Leaders needed to be able to lead change, develop their own teams, challenge the status quo, and make autonomous decisions, not just manage technical delivery.

The solution

Before designing a single module, Hemsley Fraser interviewed 70 leaders across BAE Systems to understand what effective leadership actually looked like inside the organisation, and how learners would engage with and apply new content. That analysis shaped every part of the programme that followed, rather than starting from an existing course catalogue.

Leadership development options
  • A two-tier leadership architecture, developing people management skills and future leadership capability separately, rather than treating all leaders the same way

  • A four-module Managing People programme for less experienced managers, delivered over 22 weeks through facilitated webinars, self-directed learning and structured implementation

  • A six-month Leading the Future programme for senior leaders, starting with self-assessment and covering leading change, setting strategic focus, and leading courageously

  • Delivery packaged into three-hour modules combining digital content playlists, webinar participation, self-reflection, one-to-one coaching, network group coaching and peer-led breakout sessions

Results

  • 96% participation rate, achieved despite the programme being deployed during the peak of the pandemic

  • 100% of participants said they would recommend the programme, with 90% of modules rated very or extremely valuable

  • Modules on leading business change, collaborative leadership and the coaching elements of the course were rated extremely valuable by 100% of participants

  • 93% of learners say they have regularly implemented what they learned, reporting improved engagement with senior stakeholders, better understanding of change management, and greater conviction in challenging poor behaviours

  • More than 90% of participants said they still intended to be at BAE Systems in 12 months' time, with an average eNPS score ranking as good

  • The programme has won multiple industry awards, including Best Leadership Development Programme, Best Development Programme for Frontline Leaders, and Best Use of Blended Learning

What made this work

  • Starting from structured interviews with 70 of BAE Systems' own leaders, not a course catalogue, so the programme reflected what leadership actually required inside the organisation

  • Treating less experienced managers and senior leaders as genuinely different audiences, with a two-tier architecture rather than a single programme applied to everyone

  • Executive Committee endorsement that tied the learning strategy directly to business strategy, rather than running learning as a separate initiative

  • A blended design, expert content, digital playlists, coaching and peer breakout, that gave BAE Systems a genuine alternative to its historically classroom-led approach

FAQs

Building a leadership programme at enterprise scale is a significant undertaking. Here are the questions organisations most commonly ask us before they start.

Leadership development options

Scale like this needs a structured, evidence-based starting point rather than a generic course. For BAE Systems, that meant interviewing 70 of the organisation's own leaders before designing a single module, then building a two-tier architecture so less experienced managers and senior leaders each received development suited to where they actually were, not a single one-size-fits-all programme.

Building leadership capability at enterprise scale?

If you're looking to develop leaders across a large, complex organisation with an approach built on real evidence rather than assumption, we'd love to talk. Get in touch to find out how we can design and deliver a programme built around your organisation's specific challenges. 
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