Isabelle Courney-Guy
Founder
Isabelle has been on a leadership journey for over 25 years, and coaching for more than twenty of them. It started in 2005 when, as a leader herself, she picked up a small book on coaching and something shifted. She hasn't stopped since.
Case Two.
When Safety Culture Becomes a Living Thing
Major Refinery, Europe, Safety Culture Transformation.
The Situation.
A major turnaround at one of Europe's largest and most complex refineries. Running simultaneously: a major capital transformation, new facilities being constructed while the refinery remained fully operational. At peak: over 2,000 people on site, fifteen-plus partner organisations, eleven languages spoken.
​
A safety culture that, by the honest assessment of the leaders themselves, needed to change, fundamentally.
How We Worked.
Four intentions ran through everything:
​
-
Make it personal
-
Build one team
-
Build capability to hand over
-
Work adaptively
The team was embedded across all ten weeks, a sustained intervention at every level, listening and adjusting throughout.
What Was Asked For.
40 confidential interviews before the work began. The findings were candid.
​
"Our health and safety performance has not been good. A major step change is needed. We are not talking about what could happen. It has happened."
— Senior Leader, Major European Refinery
​
Safety performance rated 4 to 6 out of 10 by the client's own leaders. Workers reluctant to report near misses. Toolbox Talks reduced to compliance rituals. But also, genuine energy to change.
That energy was the foundation everything else was built on.
What Happened.
Silence became voice. Rules became ownership. Fear became fairness. Disconnection became alignment.
The April 2025 Pulse Survey measured meaningful improvement across all key safety culture indicators.
​
Across the Transformation Event: zero Lost Time Injuries across approximately 96,000 exposure hours.
By end of May: 102 consecutive No Harm Days.
​
"I expected improvements on last year's turnaround. What I am seeing isn't an improvement. It's a whole different picture."
​
— Senior Leader, Major European Refinery
The Proof That Matters Most.
The second turnaround, planned and led entirely by the client, without the team embedded, was completed with zero Lost Time Injuries. The culture had taken root. And it held.
​
The goal was never to create dependency. It was to leave the organisation stronger without us than with us.
Delivered by Isabelle Courtney-Guy as lead principal, alongside Hendrik Oheim as senior consultant and Ines Courtney-Guy as junior consultant, as part of a wider specialist team.
EnCircle.
isabelle@encircle.be
Tel. +49 1590 1219276
EnCircle.
Legal Notice
Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy
.png)
© 2026 EnCircle Consulting
Our Team.
We have one thing in common: all of us apply this work to our own lives first. We don't teach what we've read. We share what we've lived.
That's not a policy. It's just who we are.