sariioFree forever · take & compareI’ve spent my career curious about one question: what helps people do their best work? The question has taken me from organisational change and leadership teams to the people delivering the work each day. I look at what the numbers show, listen to what people experience, and ask what may need to change when those accounts differ.
We are more than a personality type. Context changes how we work, and curiosity helps us understand one another. These are among the eleven beliefs that shape Sariio.
I have been fortunate in the people and teams I have learned from. Each setting has raised the same practical question: what helps people contribute, and what gets in their way?
My culture and integration work has included Nestlé UK, Mars Confectionery and the Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust integration. I have also worked with the executive team at LV=. Those experiences taught me to ask how a change in direction reaches the people whose daily work must carry it.
I studied organisational leadership at Harvard Business School, with John Kotter as tutor and mentor. When a change is planned, I look at the aims, the working culture and what different teams say they need. That gives leaders questions to test with their people before deciding how to proceed.
I have also worked close to the floor: the Sage account for Sitel, American Express and Domestic & General for Inkfish, Everflow, and Shadow Global in Cape Town. Customer operations make the distance between a plan and everyday work particularly clear.
I built the first version of the preference survey in 2007. It has been in daily use since 2009, with more than 12,000 people across 40 organisations exploring how they approach work. I want each person to have language for their own preferences and a way to understand the people alongside them.
The work behind Sariio spans organisational culture, executive search, recruitment and retention, and its use in day-to-day development and leadership.
“David enhances our existing Disruption methodology through his insight and expertise by incorporating how company culture is the heart of any brand. David’s niche culture performance company, Disruption, demonstrates a direct and causal impact on the metrics organisations care about: profit, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and employee retention.”
“Combining organisational knowledge, individual preferences and performance metrics in one place enables more personalised and impactful coaching — for our facilitators and our BPO partners alike.”
The Copenhagen search firm, now The SAM Group, made the earlier instrument a working tool for its consultants across 16 countries and in 11 languages besides English — profiling roles, candidates and teams.
“By using Saviio we have reduced our drop-out rate by over 35% leading to improved customer satisfaction and repeat business levels.”
“Both in terms of retention and quality, we are delighted with how Saviio has helped.”
Saviio was the earlier generation of the work preference instrument that became Sariio.
In 2014, while head of strategy at Publicis Blueprint, I wrote about how trust is built through the experiences organisations create for customers. That interest in what people actually experience continues to shape the questions I ask in my work today.
Read “Trust builds brand loyalty” in The Guardian (opens in new tab)
You may be considering a culture change, wondering whether teams are ready for a new direction, or trying to understand why results differ across an operation. We begin with the question you need answered and what you already know.
Then we listen to the people involved and read their experience alongside the figures. Work preferences can help people describe how they approach the task and the support they need. Together, we can agree what to try and how to review the result.
My myMAP is open to read. It shows the twelve preference pairs behind the way I approach work. Every participant receives their own myMAP, built in the same format from their own responses.
Open David’s myMAP
Sariio Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 15760535, at Suite 5, 5th Floor, City Reach, 5 Greenwich View Place, London E14 9NN. Platform data is hosted in Frankfurt on European infrastructure, encrypted in transit and at rest. The complete position for DPOs and procurement teams is published in the trust and AI governance declaration.