At Pest Control Partnership (PCP), we’re in a period of rapid growth. We’re bringing together a constantly increasing number of businesses, expanding into new markets across Europe and building something bigger than any one legacy culture. We want to do it differently.

At group level, from a learning and development (L&D) perspective, we were starting from scratch. That gave us a real opportunity, not just to define what we stand for, but to build a culture deliberately, not accidentally.

This is where the program Managing the PEST Way began.

Starting From Nothing, On Purpose

At group level, there wasn’t a legacy framework to refine, we were building from a blank page while the organization itself was still taking shape. Different businesses had different ways of working, different expectations of managers and unique cultures that had evolved over time.

We wanted to create alignment without losing what makes each business successful. And we knew we didn’t want a top-down “this is how you must lead now” corporate mandate.

Instead, we started with our four values — people, environment, service and technology (PEST) — and a question: “What does this actually look like in practice?”

Values only start to matter when they’re visible. Not theory. Not generic leadership language. Real, everyday actions.

For example:

• What do values around our people look like when we’re under pressure?
• How do service values show up when things go wrong?
• What does technology mean for someone who isn’t technical?

This will shape our competency framework but, to start, it was about creating clarity on what good looks like, not locking it down too early.

Building “Managing the PEST Way”

From there, we created our first group-level program: Managing the PEST Way.

We designed it to feel different from traditional management training:

• Grounded in our values, not generic models
• Focused on real challenges managers are dealing with right now
• Built around practical exercises, reflection, conversation and clear takeaways to put into action, not just content

A big part of the design was what we’d call “serious fun”: purposeful exercises that still felt enjoyable and engaging.

For example, we introduced an activity called “Higher or Lower,” to demonstrate how people show up with a growth mindset (above the line) versus reacting under pressure (below the line). One person stands on a line marked on the floor, while their team shouts “higher” or “lower,” like the old British game show, as they respond to real workplace scenarios. It is simple, but it gets people moving, creates energy and helps the theory stick in a way that a slide never could.

We also used fun tools like “stretchies” (small stretchy toy figures) to encourage peer feedback, with learners recognizing when colleagues stepped out of their comfort zone and made valuable contributions. Another exercise challenged teams to come up with 50 uses for an everyday item, such as a newspaper, encouraging creative thinking and building on each other’s ideas. This provided some funny answers, which were rewarded with prizes.

When people feel something and enjoy the experience, the learning is far more likely to stick and turn into action. We’re already seeing real examples of behavior change. Through post-course coaching calls and conversations across the business, we’re hearing how managers are doing things differently as a direct result of these exercises.

Creating a Home for Learning: PESTflix

One of the key steps was investing in a learning platform we could truly make our own.

We introduced Cornerstone as our learning management system (LMS), but importantly, we didn’t position it as just another system. We branded it as PESTflix™, with our values at the heart of the experience, creating a space that feels simple, accessible and relevant.

Learning is personalized from the start. Through artificial intelligence (AI)-driven skills and interest profiles and by linking PESTflix™ to our human resources information system (HRIS), new starters are automatically enrolled and assigned role-specific learning from day one, giving them the right foundations straight away.

To avoid content overload, everything is organized around our PEST values. This not only reinforces what matters but also connects directly back to what managers experience in the Managing the PEST Way program.

Alongside this, we’ve started creating our own PESTflix™ Originals, practical eLearning, videos and “how to” content that people can use in real time, particularly as they get used to new systems and ways of working. As we expand into new markets, we’re also adapting content into local languages, both within the platform and in our own Originals, to make sure learning is accessible and relevant wherever our people are based.

PESTflix™ brings together compliance, core learning and broader capability across the organization and countries in one place. The aim is to make learning feel less like something to complete and more like something people can dip into, return to and use when it matters.

This isn’t a one-off course, it’s how we’re building capability and culture across the business.

Building Culture While Growing

One of the realities of our journey is that we’re not building this in a stable environment. We’re growing constantly: new businesses joining, new countries coming on board and different cultural contexts to consider.

What works in the UK won’t look identical in France, Germany or Spain, but the principles still need to hold. For example, in France we partnered with a local facilitator team, RYO, to deliver the program in French, using locally adapted materials, examples and references to legislation and cultural norms. The principles remain the same, but the delivery feels relevant to the local context.

Where We Go Next

We’re still building. Next, we’re focusing on Expanding the PEST Way beyond managers and strengthening how we measure behavioral change. We will continue to grow PESTflix™ as our learning hub and adapt our approach as we enter new countries.

Right now, we’re starting to explore user-generated content to better capture and share the expertise across our teams, particularly from our pest technicians, where the role is a true trade.

But most importantly, we’re staying honest about where we are: early in the journey, with strong foundations in place.

You don’t need a fully formed model to start building a values-led culture. You need clarity on what good looks like, consistency in how it’s talked about and the willingness to build it over time.

Be willing to test, learn and adapt as you go, and see mistakes as part of the process. Because the reality is, in a growing organization like ours, change is the only constant.