Impact study and action research:
Understanding and strengthening the agency of leaders

This project, conducted on behalf of HLU by Laetitia Maynard, former SME manager and independent researcher at EHESS, aims to measure and understand the impact of the “From Heart to Action” program on the empowerment of business leaders, two to three years after their participation in the program. The ambition: to identify how the HLU journey, in combination with a set of other resources and ingredients, transforms the leadership practices of executives and helps to develop their power to act.

Two complementary aspects

  1. Impact study (available January 2026)
    This first part analyzes, two years after the training, the concrete effects of the program:
  • Among leaders: knowledge, skills, and interpersonal skills acquired and mobilized in their daily practice.
  • Within the company: new ways of working, consideration of environmental and social issues, in order to make the company more contributing.

The methodology combines:

  • Questionnaires were sent to the relevant cohorts to assess skills and practices.
  • Interviews and observations with a group of volunteer leaders, to explore in depth the application of the acquired knowledge.

The results will be the subject of an impact study report, intended to inform HLU’s strategic directions.

  1. Sociological action research (available January 2026)
    The second part focuses on the power to act of leaders: how do they develop their capacity to transform their organizations?

Based on the data from the impact study, the investigation explores:

  • The resources and “capabilities” mobilized to act in favor of social, societal and ecological sustainability in the work of the leader.
  • The tensions, obstacles or attachments that hinder or support this process.

This step relies on:

  • In-depth sociological interviews
  • In-depth sociological interviews; A methodology for constructing “life timelines” tracing personal and professional paths.
  • A group workshop promoting the sharing of experiences and reflection on valuable achievements, attachments or tensions experienced by leaders.
  • The work will result in an action research report, informed by sociological analysis tools from the following research framework: sociology of work, sociology of life courses, attachments and detachments, capability approach applied to work.

A project dedicated to sustainable leadership

By combining interviews, participant observation, and sociological analysis, this project provides original answers to a crucial question:

How does the leader’s power to act develop in a constrained system?

The results will guide the evolution of support mechanisms and, more broadly, will contribute to reflections on the role of leaders in the ecological, social and societal transformation of organizations.