Meet Sarah Toulson: Leading Successful and Lasting Change
Tell us about your role and responsibilities
I lead our team of business analysts and work closely with the Head of Delivery to ensure that our transformation projects land effectively. My focus is on understanding organisational pain points, gathering meaningful requirements, and guiding clients through the people side of change.
What did you do before this role, how did you get started in your career?
I’ve worked within technology and business transformation for over 20 years’ but began with a degree in history at Nottingham Trent University. I then went on to a call centre role after graduating before I found my niche in business intelligence and data analysis.
From there, I went on to various customer service and business analyst roles across finance and operations. In these roles I built extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, process mapping and system integration.
How do you approach change with your clients?
I am a Prosci certified change practitioner, which encompasses a range of skills including technology change management, people management, strategic communications and stakeholder engagement.
We use Prosci’s ADKAR model to help guide change. ADKAR stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. This methodology is a goal-oriented change management framework that helps to drive successful, lasting implementation.
Successful change is all about engaging people and helping them to understand the change that is happening in a way that removes any fear or uncertainty.
How important is training when delivering a change?
Training is important, but successful change is about much more than delivering training sessions. In many projects, training is provided by the system supplier weeks before go-live, so the real focus needs to be on what happens afterwards. The period between training and go-live is critical – it should be used to help users become familiar with the system, practise key tasks, ask questions, and build confidence so that the first time they use the system isn’t on day one of go-live.
It’s about creating the right support around the training: structured practice, clear guidance, accessible materials, and ongoing support so people feel comfortable and confident in their roles as they move forward. Without that embedding activity, even well-delivered training can be quickly forgotten, and users revert to familiar processes. It’s not just about implementing change, it’s about embedding it so that the organisation can realise the full value of the investment.
What are some of your proudest career and personal achievements to date?
Seeing a successful change project through to fruition is always a great source of pride, for myself and the wider team. I did have one client say “Use Sarah, she’s brilliant” which was a lovely endorsement, it’s always very rewarding to receive such positive feedback and recommendations.
Personally, my greatest achievement is my children.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I have lots of hobbies that keep me very busy! I enjoy quilting, reading, running, weightlifting and spending time with my family.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Without a doubt, it would be spaghetti bolognaise, specifically my Dad’s family recipe!
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