For Companies
Most cultures fail not because the strategy is wrong, but because the behaviour layer is never reached. Quiet quitters do not respond to slide decks. Leaders do not become ready in two-day off-sites. We build the kind of culture people behave their way into, programme by programme.
Why This Page Exists
UK organisations now spend an average of £1,068 per employee on training (CIPD, 2024), yet engagement, retention and leadership readiness keep slipping. Most programmes treat symptoms. We do the opposite: name the people problem, design the behavioural intervention, measure the shift. See our research-backed approach.
Got a specific challenge in mind? A 30-minute call gives you a clearer answer than the website ever could.
Book a Free CallSix Tailored Programmes
Starting points, we adapt scope, format and depth to your sector and team.
A focused intervention that surfaces why people have checked out, and equips managers to listen, coach and recognise differently.
A 12-week programme for emerging and mid-level leaders. Theatre-based simulations, 1:1 coaching and high-stakes decision labs, fast-tracking readiness and confidence.
DEI beyond awareness training. Immersive theatre, including the Goldsmiths-recognised The Accused, confronts unconscious bias through lived emotional experience policy slides cannot reach.
A simulation-based change programme using our Sellafield methodology. Teams live the change in a safe environment first, surfacing resistance, hidden alliances and political risks before launch.
After an investigation, near-miss or whistleblowing incident, you need more than a policy refresh. Built around The Death of Jane Doe (CorpComms Award winner), confronting assumptions, stigma and silence head-on.
A 2-day sprint on the MARVELous Ideas methodology. Breaks risk aversion and rebuilds a culture of safe experimentation, fast prototyping and constructive challenge.
What's Included
Every Sidestream engagement is a full creative production. Below is what's typically included, adapted to your scope, sector and group size during the diagnostic call.
Every engagement is bespoke, so pricing is too. Clear day-rate basis covering design, production and delivery. After the free 30-minute diagnostic call, you receive an itemised written quote, no hidden costs, no upsell.
Public-sector, educational and not-for-profit rates are available on request.
How We Work With Companies
We start with a free 30-minute call. You describe the problem in your own words. We tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.
We measure what's really happening: validated psychometric tools, leader interviews, focus groups. You get a baseline that becomes your benchmark.
We design the immersive intervention around your data, your culture, your sector. Then we deliver it, workshops, simulations or full theatre events.
90-day post-intervention measurement against your baseline. Booster sessions and manager toolkits keep behaviours sticky long after launch.
What You Can Expect
Measurement is baked into every programme. Here's what clients typically see in 6–12 months, alongside the shifts you feel walking the office floor.
Questions Decision-Makers Ask
The questions a CEO, CHRO or COO actually wants answered before the diagnostic call, answered honestly.
Less than you think. Most engagements need 2–3 hours of executive sponsor time per month plus participant time during sessions. The consulting phase (Weeks 1–3) needs HR/People as a partner. We do the heavy lifting on design, production and delivery.
Engagements scale from a single workshop day to multi-month programmes with simulation production. We'll give you a written, itemised quote after the diagnostic call, no hidden costs, no upsell. Public-sector, educational and not-for-profit rates available on request.
A workshop or short engagement: 4–6 weeks from signed quote to delivery. A full bespoke simulation with custom scripting and actor casting: 8–12 weeks. We'll tell you honestly on the diagnostic call whether your timeline is realistic.
Strategy houses define the change. Internal L&D communicates it. We do the bit nobody else does: get the actual behaviour to shift in the room, with actors, under pressure, with same-day feedback. We complement, not replace, your wider transformation work.
Every engagement starts with a measurable baseline (validated diagnostics, behavioural 360°, climate data) and a 90-day post-intervention measurement against it. If the numbers don't move, the data tells us what to do next, we don't bury it. For first-time clients we routinely propose a contained pilot before any larger commitment.
Sidestream is led by Ben Laumann (UCL-trained organisational psychologist, MSc Industrial & Business Psychology) and a network of professional actors and behavioural facilitators. You meet the senior lead on the diagnostic call. More on the team →
If you need compliance training that ticks a regulatory box, an e-learning platform, or a one-off keynote with no behaviour-change goal, we are not the right partner, there are excellent suppliers for each, and we will happily point you to them. We are the right partner when something specific needs to change in how your people behave, and you are willing to measure it.
How We Compare
A CFO's-eye view of where each option fits, and where each one runs out of road.
| Dimension | Sidestream | Strategy Consultancy | Internal L&D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defines the change | Behavioural shift, jointly with you | Strategy & operating model | Communicates what's been decided |
| Designs the intervention | Bespoke immersive scenario, live actors, debrief | Slide decks, frameworks, governance | Off-the-shelf or e-learning module |
| Where behaviour actually changes | In the room, under pressure, with feedback | Hoped-for downstream effect | Rarely, that's the 70% gap |
| Time-to-first-impact | Weeks (workshop) to months (programme) | 6–18 months strategic engagement | Variable, hard to attribute |
| Measurement | Baseline + 90-day behaviour 360° | Operational/financial KPIs | Completion rates, satisfaction surveys |
| When it's the right call | Specific behaviour or culture shift, your team needs to do something differently | You need a new strategy, structure or operating model | Ongoing capability building, compliance refreshers |
We work alongside both. Most clients keep their strategy partner and internal L&D, Sidestream sits in the middle as the behaviour-layer specialist nobody else owns.
Awards · Partners · Recognition
Where We Work
London, borough by borough
Sidestream serves companies across every London borough, with detailed working knowledge of four specific geographies. Each guide covers the sector-specific behavioural challenges, procurement routes and venue logistics for that borough.
Ready When You Are
Free 30-minute diagnostic call. No deck, no hard sell, just an honest conversation about whether we can help.