Case Study: How ISL Shifted from Leading by Intuition to Leading with Intention
When growth outpaced leadership development, ISL shifted from intuitive to intentional leadership. Their resulting program, built on the better³ foundation, equips leaders with the mindset, skills, and relationships to move the business forward.
Meet ISL: An Engineering Consulting Firm That Grew Faster Than Its Leadership Capacity
In Edmonton, Alberta, the multidisciplinary engineering consulting firm ISL was growing fast, skyrocketing from 300 to over 600 employees in a matter of a few years. Like many organizations, ISL followed a familiar path to leadership: promote your best technical performers to bigger roles.
“Typically, what we do is we take good engineers and we turn them into project managers, and then we turn them into people managers,” said Randy Heaps, ISL’s Chief People and Administrative Officer. “But as the company grew, cracks began to show. Nowhere along the way did we actually teach them the ins and outs of being a great people manager. We kept asking more of our leaders but weren’t giving them the tools to lead well.”
“We were hearing from leaders that they were struggling. They weren’t always clear on expectations, and many had been successful without any formal leadership training,” added Jenn Bellotto, ISL’s Human Resources Manager. “We needed to give them the tools to keep growing, not just for where we are now, but for the business we’re becoming.”
better³ isn’t an off-the-shelf program, instead it’s built with you, for you. We partner to design and deliver a fully customized leadership journey, branded as your own internal program and grounded in your company values and goals.
Through the combination of 1:1 individual executive coaching, group sessions, collective leadership development workshops and ongoing mentorship, better³ helps leaders navigate succession, lead through complexity, and build confidence.
A New Approach to Leadership
ISL tested one-off leadership workshops, various offsites, and even weekend retreats. Nothing stuck, and leadership remained uneven across the board. Feedback from across the company was that there were too many heroes in capes trying to solve complex problems on their own.
“Before we had this program, a few of our senior executives had attended in-person leadership programs at places like Queen’s, while others completed various online or in-person courses through different universities and training providers,” said ISL CEO, Kevin Terness. “We needed a shared language and philosophy that tied directly to our strategy and values.”
What ISL needed wasn’t just a better program, but a fundamental shift that helped leaders apply what they already knew in more intentional, connected, and strategic ways.
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Content and tools pulled from Incito’s proven and trusted frameworks, adapted to ISL’s leadership reality.
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A multi-month journey designed to embed strategic leadership across your organization with structured development, peer support, and sustained accountability.
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Designed to scale across leadership levels and regions, building momentum and relationships with each cohort.
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Incredible success across a variety of industries and Fortune 500 companies.
What Made the better³ Leadership Program Stand Out?
With hundreds of leaders across regions and disciplines, the goal wasn’t just individual development but a cultural shift grounded in ISL’s values and business needs. ISL turned to Incito to help design something different: a tailored multi-month leadership experience. Built with them, for them.
Internally, the program was branded as “Shift” – a name coined by ISL’s Director of Marketing, Lori Forrest, to reflect the organization's evolution and signal a new chapter of leadership. Built on the better³ foundation, Shift was designed to meet ISL’s unique needs and culture.
The better³ Leadership Program
The better³ experience included Leadership Circle 360 and DiSC assessments, structured coaching and peer sessions, and real-time application to business challenges. Participants created individual leadership development plans with their coaching support to turn insight into everyday action.
“We loved the fact that it was built for purpose,” said Heaps. “It drew from all kinds of leadership models and competencies, but the structure which for us was a year-long program, the coaching, the in-person sessions, that was built around our culture.”
Each cohort developed its own identity, name, and even physical tokens to commemorate their journey, creating a unique sense of belonging and connection. Leaders began referencing shared tools and frameworks in meetings. One cohort even kicked off the company’s annual management retreat, unprompted, to share what the “first team” mindset meant to them.
Each participant engaged in a multi-layered journey built on the better³ model:
Better Me
Develop self-awareness, intentional leadership habits, and clarity on how to show up.
Better Us
Learn to build trust, hold accountability, engage in tough conversations, and eliminate silos with improved collaboration across teams.
Better Business
Greater business alignment, stronger culture, improved results, and better decision-making.
Measurable Feedback and Changes to Approach
One of the most meaningful outcomes? Behavioral change of more than 60 leaders to date, even among long-tenured leaders.
The program also helped reinvigorate ISL’s executive leadership team, with four key leaders promoted to the ELT after the experience, strengthening the succession bench and preparing the organization for future growth.
Beyond leadership development, the program helped drive stronger engagement. Employees reported higher levels of trust, connection, and alignment. Managers were actively applying what they learned and passing it along to their teams, creating a ripple effect throughout the business.
Now launching its fifth cohort with a sixth to follow, ISL is working with Incito to expand and evergreen the Shift program, based on better³, with a ‘lite’ version for newer associates, ensuring consistent leadership language and skills are embedded at every level.
Better Me. Better Us. Better Business.
Amid a major growth transformation, better³ didn’t just prepare ISL for change, but it powered them through it. Leaders are applying what they’ve learned and teaching it forward to their teams, embedding a stronger leadership culture throughout the business. The shared leadership language continues to be a valuable asset during moments of transition, including when Terness initially prepared to step into the CEO role.
If your company is ready to move from high-potential to high-impact leadership, better³ might be the shift you need.
Interested in building intentional, high-impact leadership across your organization? Let’s talk.