The British Library

Client Profile
The British Library is a national institution with over 1400 employees based at two main sites
in London (St Pancras) and Boston Spa in Yorkshire. 5 years into their 8 year transformation
programme, Living Knowledge, the client was facing significant cultural and staff
engagement issues as it sought to move into the latter stages of change including significant
property and location investments.

Client Requirement
The British Library were seeking a Head of People to design and drive the people strategy to
underpin the next 3 years delivering the Living Knowledge strategy. Having a track record of
strategic transformation, OD and HR functional leadership was essential for the role. The
successful individual would oversee a cultural transformation to a more inclusive and
engaged organisation, overcoming entrenched behaviours and divisions. Resilience,
communication skills and the ability to engage at all levels were other key features in our
search.

Our Approach & Methodology
We worked very closely with the stakeholders in the British Library to understand the cultural
issues and challenges, leading to a deep knowledge of the role. We used this to great effect
with in depth insight allowing us to both engage and evaluate candidate suitability. We had a
strong response to both our search outreach and the mandatory advertising, so our key role
was engaging the most suitable candidates and ensuring our initial screening added value
and increased interest levels

Outcome
We presented a final shortlist of candidates, all of whom were acknowledged as being
suitable for the role. The appointee was a female BAME candidate with experience of
successfully transitioning between organisations and sectors, and with a strong skill set of
strategic delivery across a complex organisation with disparate and often challenging
stakeholder communities