How Property Finder Built a Culture of Growth that Drives Engagement and Retention

TLDR; By embedding growth into the fabric of how the company operates, Property Finder empowered 80% of eligible employees with personal development plans, boosted engagement into the global top quartile, and built a culture where people thrive, lead, and grow. Learn how Donna McGuire and the People team reshaped the company's culture and propelled the business forward with their career growth program.

When Donna McGuire, Director of Talent & Culture, reflects on what’s changed most at Property Finder over the past year, one shift rises above the rest: growth became real.

“We always say we want people to be their best selves,” says Donna. “But to make that real, growth couldn’t be abstract. It had to be visible, personal, and something people could actually own.”

That belief sparked a company-wide transformation. Rather than launching siloed programs or chasing short-term metrics, Property Finder embedded development into the heart of its people strategy and used Lattice to bring it all to life.

The result wasn’t just a new set of programs, but a larger cultural shift. Engagement rose into the top quartile, and growth became something people could see, pursue, and experience daily. Property Finder didn’t just improve retention, they redefined how performance, feedback, and development show up in everyday leadership. Growth is no longer a conversation had only during review season – it’s part of how the company operates, supports, and scales.

It’s this transformation that led to Property Finder being named Lattice’s 2025 EMEA Growth Accelerator People Success Award winner – a recognition of how deeply they’ve connected people growth to business performance.

Reframing Growth as a Shared Experience 

Beneath strong business performance, Property Finder saw a deeper opportunity: to fundamentally transform how growth was experienced, enabled, and sustained across the organization. While engagement scores were solid, the People team recognized that development, feedback, and career progression lacked the clarity, consistency, and connection needed to truly scale.

“We have great people who believe in what we’re building,” says Donna McGuire, Director of Talent & Culture. “But to turn belief into belonging, we needed to give them line of sight—real pathways for growth, grounded in their career goals and aspirations.”

A company-wide sentiment analysis confirmed what Donna and her team were hearing anecdotally: the number one reason people were leaving wasn’t compensation or culture—it was a lack of visibility. Colleagues wanted to grow, and they wanted to grow here. What they needed was a system that could turn intention into structure—and make development not just possible, but personal.

That clarity gap became the catalyst for a company-wide transformation. Property Finder redefined what growth meant internally, and with Lattice as their foundation, built a shared system to deliver, embed, and evolve that vision across every team.

Making Growth Visible and Actionable

The starting point was clarity. Working cross-functionally with every department, Donna’s team co-created 42 role-specific Success Tracks in Lattice Grow — clear, structured pathways that reflected how growth happens in reality, not just in theory.

“These weren’t theoretical ladders,” says Donna. “They were grounded in how our business actually works. They gave people a tangible line of sight into what was possible.”

Each track was paired with Individual Development Plans (IDPs), embedded directly into Lattice. Today, more than 80% of eligible colleagues have an active IDP. These are used not just during annual reviews, but as a living, working resource across 1:1s, check-ins, and everyday coaching moments.

One of the most powerful outcomes? People started designing careers they hadn’t previously imagined. One colleague mapped a path from a commercial role into business analytics – something they never saw as an option before. That kind of clarity didn’t just drive retention. It sparked momentum, built direction, and deepened belief in what was possible.

Empowering Managers as Coaches

Making growth real for colleagues  meant giving managers the tools to support them. That required more than training, it required a mindset shift.

“Some leaders saw Lattice as an HR system at first,” Donna admits. “Now, they see it as a leadership tool.”

Her team ran live enablement sessions across time zones, coupled with manager toolkits, 1:1 templates, and clear expectations. Every session received 100% satisfaction, and the results were immediate: better conversations, more timely feedback, and stronger relationships.

They also simplified the performance cadence, from four formal reviews to two, with regular 1:1s and light-touch check-ins in between. That freed up time for deeper, more strategic conversations.

Designing a Learning Engine with Real Data

In previous years, designing Property Finder’s learning agenda required endless stakeholder meetings and educated guesswork. In 2025, that all changed.

“Instead of starting with assumptions, we started with data,” Donna says.

Using aggregated development objectives from IDPs in Lattice Grow, the team identified top capability needs across the organisation. The result was a strategic Learning Calendar shaped by real-time needs from leadership development to AI literacy, strategic mindset and project management.

“We weren’t just building workshops, we were fueling capability at scale,” says Donna. “And colleagues saw themselves in the sessions, because the content reflected what they’d asked for.”

Recognition That’s Public and Powerful

While growth anchored the strategy, recognition helped energize it.

A Valentine’s Day “Gift of Feedback” campaign sparked a wave of praise across Lattice. Then came the Praise Walls - digital displays in every regional office looping real-time shoutouts—and regular spotlights in their company-wide "Thank Goodness It’s Thursday" meetings.

“It changed the energy overnight,” Donna says. “It’s powerful to see someone’s impact celebrated across the company. Recognition became something we all share, not just something you wait to receive once a year.”

From Results to Strategy—and Advice for What’s Next

The cultural and business impact of this work has been undeniable. 

• 42 Success Tracks and 80% IDP adoption brought visibility and ownership to career growth
• More than 70% of colleagues now say they receive timely feedback from their manager - 19 points above benchmark
• Regrettable attrition dropped from 27% to 19% as a result of deeper engagement and enablement
•  Engagement and eNPS both climbed into the global top quartile

But for Donna, the greatest success isn’t the numbers, it’s the shift in mindset. “People don’t have to leave Property Finder to grow anymore,” she says. “They just need clarity, support, and the tools to see what’s possible – and Lattice gives us all three.”

That mindset—and the work behind it—is exactly why Property Finder was named the recipient of Lattice’s 2025 EMEA Growth Accelerator People Success Award. For Donna, the recognition was meaningful, but it was also a reflection of something deeper: the commitment her team and company have made to building not just programs, but belief. “This award isn’t just for HR,” she says. “It’s for every manager who coached, every colleague who proactively defined  their IDP, and every leader who made space for real conversations about growth. It shows that when you put people at the center, business outcomes follow.”

Lattice didn’t just host the programs – it connected them. From feedback to development, from learning to recognition, the platform created one cohesive ecosystem where growth could happen every day. It became the shared infrastructure that made the company’s purpose visible and operational. 

“It’s not a tool that sits off to the side,” Donna says. “It’s the foundation for how we lead.”

For other People teams hoping to make a similar shift, Donna’s advice is simple: start with clarity, and don’t wait for a perfect moment to begin. You don’t need a massive team or budget. You just need a focused mindset, a commitment to listen to your people, and the right platform to bring it all together. “When you build for real need and lead with purpose,” she says, “your people will feel it - and your culture will change.”

‍