Achieving it involves growing fast, and as the organisation scales up, it recognised that the commercial confidence of its people is increasingly important. In partnership with The Melting Pot Consultancy, Changeworks has been equipping colleagues across the organisation to have better conversations and build stronger relationships, to help the organisation grow and meet its target.

From 60 to 200, and growing 

Changeworks has been at the heart of Scotland’s energy efficiency and fuel poverty agenda for 30 years, but the organisation of today looks very different from the one it was just a few years ago. 

With a refreshed board, an ambitious executive team, and a strategy to decarbonise Scotland’s homes at scale, Changeworks has grown from 60 members of staff to more than 200. It has rebranded, moved offices, and built dedicated teams in business development, finance and HR – investing in the organisation it needs to become. 

At the centre of that growth is Roddy Hamilton, who leads the Business Development function. His team, created just four years ago, is responsible for partnerships, new projects and income generation. 

But Roddy is clear that business development cannot sit with one team alone.  

“We’ve got more clients and commercial opportunities externally, and we need more people across the organisation to be comfortable having those conversations. We’re asking people to do something additional – and we need to make sure we’re giving them the right tools and confidence to do it.” 

Identifying the gap 

Historically, only one or two people at Changeworks had been responsible for business development. As the organisation grew and took on more ambitious targets, it became clear that a wider skills gap existed.  

Roddy explains: “There weren’t many colleagues who had the confidence or experience to tackle a tender, write a proposal, or have a commercial conversation with a housing association. And yet that’s increasingly part of what we need people to do.” 

Three topics stood out as critical: bid writing, networking and relationship building, and sales conversations. Changeworks created a Business Development Community of Practice, bringing together colleagues with business development responsibilities from across every team, and began building a learning journey to support them. 

A partner who understood the brief – and the sector 

Changeworks reached out to several consultants and training providers, and The Melting Pot stood out. “They seemed to understand us more than some of the others,” says Roddy. “And they were very flexible in their approach and working relationship.” 

Changeworks is a mission-driven organisation – people-centred and impact-focused – and the idea of ‘sales training’ carried its own reputational challenges internally. Sales in the context of social impact doesn’t always feel comfortable, so the solution needed to take the team on a journey. 

The programme designers, Emily Graveson and Daniela Garcia, understood this from the outset.  

Their focus was on developing a consultative sales framework – one that felt conversational and supportive – and could be applied confidently by people across a wide range of roles and experience levels, without feeling corporate or transactional. 

The programme 

The sales programme was the third in the series, following bid writing and networking, the latter of which was also delivered by The Melting Pot. The consultative sales programme was designed to build on the networking skills, enabling the team to build strong connections that move from the first interaction to a working partnership. 

The programme of learning brought together colleagues from every team across Changeworks; Senior project officers sat alongside newer staff, and people who had never thought of themselves as being in a sales role were in the room alongside the business development team. 

Built around four interactive workshops, the programme was supplemented by small group coaching, accountability check-ins and a final mock sales lab.  

Crucially, it was co-designed as it went along – evolving in response to the cohort’s needs and ongoing input from Changeworks’ leadership team. 

Daniela describe this as central to how The Melting Pot works: “We engaged people from different teams and departments, creating a ‘melting pot’ of perspectives that enriched shared learning in a way that’s more integrated than traditional, siloed consultancy programmes.” 

From scepticism to enthusiasm 

Not everyone arrived at the programme convinced they needed it. 

Hazel Anderson, a Senior Project Officer at Home Energy Scotland – delivered by Changeworks – recalls her initial reaction: “I was thinking, ‘I’m not in consultancy, I’m not in business development.” I wasn’t sure what relevance this would have for me.” 

Her role involves regional stakeholder engagement and training – encouraging them to collaborate, attend events, and refer clients through Changeworks’ portal.  

She hadn’t previously thought of these conversations as ‘sales’, but the training changed that.  

“I’ve realised how applicable this is across so many different areas – just to communicate and engage with colleagues and partners. It’s opened up my idea of what sales is and what it looks like.” 

Hazel describes a specific shift in the way she approaches partner meetings: “I maybe didn’t see the challenges until I’d done the training, and then I thought: oh, I’ve been seeing this as a quick get-in, get-out, say what you need to say. This has given me a completely different understanding of the need to build that rapport and put the time in.” 

She has also found herself applying the questioning framework and active listening techniques in her one-to-one conversations as a line manager. “It’s all just about how to connect with people – that’s how I’ve come to see this training.” 

Learning together – across the organisation 

One of the most consistent themes in participant feedback has been the value of shared learning across teams. 

Emily observed that at the outset, many participants were quiet and uncertain, with some lacking confidence in having commercial conversations. “Since then, we have seen a significant increase in engagement, with participants actively contributing, asking thoughtful questions, and embracing the sales labs and practical exercises.” 

Hazel describes the energy in the room: “Every time I’ve been in, I’ve been able to sit at a different table with different people. And it’s been nice hearing different people’s challenges from across the team – it’s been interesting and quite validating too, to hear that other people are having similar experiences.” 

Measurable momentum 

The programme is still live – but the early signs of impact are already visible. Roddy points to the bid writing strand as an example of what capacity building can look like in practice.  

A Scottish Government funding round that he would previously have managed himself entirely was recently coordinated and delivered by the wider team. “That’s a really good example of: if we provide people with the right tools, systems, and confidence, the capacity just greatly increases.” 

The networking strand has contributed to stronger cross-team collaboration internally, and colleagues who once felt unsure about talking across service areas are now more confident doing so. 

Why it matters 

For Changeworks, this programme is not simply about sales techniques. It is about enabling more people across the organisation to have the conversations that will ultimately help more households access energy efficiency support, reduce fuel poverty, and move Scotland closer to its climate goals. 

As Roddy puts it: “We’re commercially driven in a way – but we’re also impact driven, and we’re people driven. That’s the challenge, and the opportunity for us.” 

The Melting Pot CEO, Helen Denny, reflects: “Changeworks is doing vital work for Scotland’s future, and this programme is an example of the capability, capacity and confidence building organisations need to invest in to meet these ambitions. It also signifies a culture shift – people discover strengths they didn’t know they had, and the whole organisation becomes more resilient as a result.” 

If you are interested in learning more about this programme, or The Melting Pot Consultancy, please check out the webpage (themeltingpotedinburgh.org.uk) or contact Business Development Manager, Sam Ross directly ([email protected]).