The Trials of Mrs Tranter, our innovative engagement activity, has been named runner up at the Institute of Leadership (IoL) Awards 2025.
The awards champion organisations who lead the way in their industries and GSA won the runner up award in the Digital Leaders category, beating the likes of KPMG, Natwest and the DVLA.
The immersive, interactive group activity which we rolled out earlier this year is based on a murder mystery detective game. It challenges teams to work through an evidence file based on real customer complaints and explore what went wrong and what could be done to make the customer’s experience better.
More than 500 colleagues have taken part so far, saying the exercise has been a chance to collaborate, deepen empathy for customers, consider service improvements and explore how we can continue to embed our culture. We have shared the concept with other housing associations and Magna Housing and Nottingham Community Housing Association have already rolled it out to their colleagues.
Steve Hayes, our Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications, said: “It is great to see The Trials of Mrs Tranter has had an impact at GSA and is creating a legacy within our sector - positioning us as a housing association doing great work in this space. We look forward to harnessing creativity and innovation as we build more momentum and continue to engage colleagues as we look to improve customer outcomes.
“It is a fantastic accomplishment to be recognised for this unique activity. The Institute of Leadership recognised us independently after seeing the project on LinkedIn, which is a mark of how impressed they were with the approach. To beat some huge organisations and take the runner up spot is something we should be really proud of.”
A spokesperson for the Institute of Leadership, the professional body for leadership and formerly the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), said: “The Trials of Mrs Tranter is genuinely innovative and is solving a real problem of poor customer service and poor customer journeys. It’s helping colleagues understand the impact of their work on others.”
You can find out more about The Leadership Awards 2025 here.