Leading for Business Excellence

Curiosity separates good leaders from great ones. Are you asking the questions to truly understand how work gets done across your organisation?

Sue Thexton, Group Leader at Harris Computer is a seasoned business leader with decades of experience guiding teams and organisations across the UK, Europe, and beyond. 

Sharing her insights on the power of curiosity in leadership, Sue explains how asking the right questions, observing processes, and learning from every situation can uncover opportunities for growth and improvement. She offers the practical advice you need to engage your teams, understand your customers, and approach challenges with an open mind.

Curiosity is a tool. Discover how you can use it to better understand your teams, your customers, and the opportunities that will take your leadership further.

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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

In this minisode, Richard Best, Director of Improvement at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, shares  how standardising work across 42 admin teams unlocked not only financial savings but also happier teams, reduced stress, and faster patient outcomes.

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/inside-nhs-leadership-driving-everyday-excellence/

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

This minisode features Hayley Glasby-Ringham, Associate Partner at KPMG, as she shares how her organisation navigated a “Transformation with a capital T" - a full-scale, end-to-end change across processes, systems, and culture.

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/leading-transformation-in-the-age-of-ai/

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What happens when Continuous Improvement is led from the frontline, not just the boardroom?

In this episode, Alex Donaldson and Ben McCready, Process Improvement Managers from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) share how their BQF award-winning ‘Perform’ programme is equipping managers to lead change in one of the world’s fastest growing electricity networks companies.

You’ll hear how Perform helps teams build habits around daily huddles, structured problem-solving, and critical behaviours like accountability and empowerment, bringing to life a culture of ownership and Continuous Improvement. Alex and Ben open up about the early resistance they faced, the tools that helped shift mindsets, and the operational gains that followed, from faster response times to increased productivity and staff engagement.

If you’re looking to embed improvement across diverse, distributed teams - especially in high-pressure, high-change environments - this episode will give you practical, people-focused lessons that deliver lasting results.

Listen now to discover how behavioural change became the foundation for operational excellence at SSEN.

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

In this minisode, Richard Best, Director of Improvement at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, shares how his teams use improvement huddle boards to build skills, share learning, and boost coaching confidence - proving that with structure and respect for time, 15 minutes can be enough to make real progress. 

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/inside-nhs-leadership-driving-everyday-excellence/ 

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

In this minisode, Anu Kalia shares how Continuous Improvement has become part of the fabric at Tesco. From onboarding new colleagues to embedding CI in transitions and day-to-day operations, he explains how a culture of improvement is built from the start, and sustained through visible impact.

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/culture-by-design-how-tesco-made-ci-everyones-business/

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

In this minisode, experienced board director Helen Mahy shares practical advice on what non-executive directors focus on to understand an organisation’s health. From financial control to executive quality and early signals that a growing business needs a board, Helen offers candid guidance for aspiring and seasoned non-execs alike.

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/what-makes-an-effective-non-executive-director-steering-ftse-companies/

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

In this minisode, Tony Tielen, former Group Director of Operational Excellence at Smiths Group plc, shares how data-driven decisions, talent incubation, and inclusive behaviours are helping shape a more balanced future.

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/podcast-the-leadership-blueprint-for-a-continuous-improvement-culture/

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What does it take to embed improvement into the fabric of a global organisation?

Anu Kalia, Global Process Excellence Lead at Tesco, shares how a long-term commitment to Continuous Improvement is delivering impact at scale, earning them the 2025 BQF Award for Excellence in CI Culture (Service).

From onboarding and talent attraction to leadership behaviours and daily huddles, Anu explains how Tesco’s CI culture has evolved over seven years, and why it’s far more than a series of projects.

You’ll hear how the team has generated over 15,000 ideas, the strategic shifts that kept momentum high, and how performance boards, process mining, and AI are shaping the next chapter. Anu also shares his ambition to build Tesco’s best-in-class in-house consultancy, and the role of senior leaders in making improvement a non-negotiable.

Whether you're starting your CI leadership journey or scaling across a complex organisation, this episode offers real-world insights on sustaining improvement culture in every corner of the business.

Listen now to hear how everyday excellence is being brought to life at Tesco.

More from PMI:

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Welcome to our series of bite-sized episodes featuring favourite moments from the Leading for Business Excellence podcast series.

In this minisode, PMI’s Rich Seddon challenges traditional thinking on productivity, arguing that old models no longer serve today’s societies. From economic systems to resource scarcity, he explores the critical role of improvement in creating value with fewer inputs.

Listen to the full episode here: https://pmi.co.uk/knowledge-hub/maximising-inputs-fuelling-growth-balancing-value/

More from PMI:

• Dive into our Knowledge Hub for more tools, videos, and infographics
• Join us for a PMI LIVE Webinar
• Follow us on LinkedIn