“If you really are committed to developing a higher-performing group of people, you need to engage in education and team development.”
When Neil Randall, CEO of Urban Gym Group, arrived at IMD’s Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) program, he did not come alone. He brought all six members of his management board.
For a fast-growing company expanding across multiple markets, the decision was deliberate. Urban Gym Group was looking not only for fresh perspectives, but also for a way to align its leadership team around the opportunities and challenges that come with rapid growth.
“What we liked about the OWP program is the variety of the streams,” Randall explains. “It allowed all of the different strengths and interests of my management board to be met.”
By attending as a team, they could divide and conquer. Executives paired up and attended different sessions throughout the week, giving the company exposure to a far broader range of ideas than any one leader could absorb alone. But the real value emerged after the sessions ended.
“We used the evenings and the early mornings to work on the business,” says Randall. “We attended the streams, we reported back on what we learned, and we then discussed: what does this mean and how do we change?”
The result was something closer to a leadership retreat and strategy sprint combined: learning from global experts during the day and translating those insights into practical actions for Urban Gym Group in the evenings.
Turning learning into action
OWP arrived at an important moment for the company. As Urban Gym Group continues to grow internationally, Randall and his team are thinking carefully about what the next stage of leadership and strategy should look like.
Several sessions challenged existing assumptions.
One of the most impactful focused on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), an area that plays a significant role in the company’s growth strategy. Hearing different perspectives on post-acquisition integration prompted Randall to revisit some of Urban Gym Group’s own approaches.
“It kind of reinforced the integration plan of M&A,” he says. “It made me rethink our integration planning around mergers and acquisitions.”
Another breakthrough came during a session on high-performing teams.
As the company expands, a layer of leadership is emerging beneath the executive board. The discussion helped Randall recognize an important distinction.
“The penny-drop moment is that the management team is still operating like a working group rather than a high-performing team,” he says. “Now we need to go through that process of actually forming them as a team, rather than a group of individuals working in different functions.”
The insight was immediately relevant and gave the leadership team a clearer roadmap for developing the next generation of leaders within the business.
An opportunity to sit back and think
For Randall, one of the greatest benefits of OWP was the opportunity to step away from the constant demands of leadership.
Like many executives leading high-growth organizations, he describes the challenge of being permanently “in the thick of it,” always immersed in meetings, inboxes, and operational decisions.
The OWP environment created something increasingly rare: uninterrupted time to think.
“I think the stepping away from your inbox, from the day-to-day meetings, when you’re in a session in learning mode, it naturally puts you into a different thought process,” he says.
Rather than pulling out laptops or responding to emails between sessions, team members found themselves reflecting on what they had heard and how it connected to their own challenges.
“You come away with one or two really key things that you say, ‘I need to note that down because that’s going to be a topic of discussion when I get back.’”
That pause for reflection became a catalyst for clearer thinking and more focused conversations about the business’s future.
Learning, contributing and connecting
While the learning itself was important, Randall was equally proud of how his team showed up throughout the week.
The Urban Gym Group executives participated alongside leaders from some of the world’s most recognizable organizations. Far from being intimidated, they became active contributors in discussions and group exercises.
“Our executive team is standing up beside some large companies,” he says. “Our team was a strong voice in those rooms and made a very valuable contribution.”
Watching his colleagues engage so fully reinforced the value of investing in people, not just processes or strategy.
The week also strengthened relationships within the leadership team itself. Shared learning, structured reflection, and informal conversations outside the classroom created opportunities to connect in ways that daily work rarely allows.
Even on the journey back to the airport, the discussions continued. Team members reflected on what they had learned, what surprised them, and how they would apply those insights moving forward.
Turning insight into impact
For leaders hesitant to step away from their businesses, Randall offers simple advice: make the commitment and fully embrace the experience.
“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, then you’re probably going to get what you’ve always got,” he says. “If you really are committed to developing a higher-performing group of people, you need to engage in education and team development.”
For Urban Gym Group, OWP was more than a week of executive education. It became a dedicated space to learn, reflect, strengthen relationships, and plan for the future together.
“You cannot replicate this in your own boardroom,” Randall says. “It’s really a time to go away and spend a good amount of time on your business rather than in your business.”
