Solutions & Case Studies
System of Organizational Learning
Have you ever said, “we need training!” and later discover that this was only part of the solution. In fact, in isolation, training will rarely solve a systemic organizational challenge. We work with you to ensure a solution can resultin the return on investment expected, we will partner to determine if there are ways to engage other parts of the organization to provide a systemic foundation rooted in your culture.
Some questions to help understand solutions (training and otherwise) might include:
What standards of performance exist? Does everyone know them?
How does the culture allow feedback and open dialogue? (Or do people normally ”copy” everyone and work in fear?)
What communication practices exist? How transparent and open is it?
What competencies are needed to create high performing talent?
How well are leaders trained to reinforce training? What kind of leaders do we have?
What motivations exist? What rewards are established and followed to ensure the right behaviors are being reinforced?
Does the company have a listening strategy? What has it told you about culture and engagement?
Competencies & KSAs
We look at the skills and competencies needed at each level and role in the organization. What makes one manager more successful than another? How do you develop a new manager to take on more to be ready BEFORE the next role? These building blocks are customized to the organization’s growth strategy and aligned to people development.
Case Study
An organization is building their sales team and wants to know what to train them on. By first taking a step back, and asking some questions, a sales process identified by the top sales performers is communicated and trained to. Additionally, interviews with top performers with detailed actions of “how” they are successful, leads to a broad culture of understanding of success, how inside sales and customer service team members can be trained to move into sales, and how to better identify sales leaders.
Individuals At All Levels
Research shows that it takes at least six months before an individual is productive in a new role. Can you wait that long? Every person’s journey is a unique one and like the acorn, we must nourish each individual to grow to its highest potential. Every role has unique expectations for the individual, the team, and the organization. We can help craft a learning path so individuals can succeed from the beginning. Let us help your organization thrive by having competent and committed leaders at every level.
Individual Contributors
Up and coming leaders (high potentials)
New Leaders or Managers
Front line Leaders/Supervisors
Middle level Leaders
Directors
Executive Leaders
Case Study:
A company acknowledged a gap in new mid-level managers and partnered to create a new leader cohort including customized in-person onboarding with executives and functional leaders, individual and team coaching, and cohort learning and accountability over a 4-month timeframe.
Teams
Hybrid? Movement back to office? Completely remote? Co-located teams? Cross-functional teams? Intact teams? WHEW! The possibilities seem endless. In an ever-changing workplace, teams are more important than ever, and require resilience to all the changing settings. Just as groups of trees “communicate” and share resources through their roots, so do your teams rely on their the symbiotic relationships and strengths of the individuals in these teams.
Focusing on these rooted strengths of your teams, we can help create solutions to help your teams, strengthen their interactions with others. We work with your teams to smooth over the transitions of changing teams and team leaders. A team’s intentionality and actions drive the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and results of a team. We help your teams working as efficiently and productively as possible. We have some fun along the way.
Project teams
Cross-functional teams
Co-located teams
Hybrid teams
Remote only teams
Case Study:
A new team leader joins the company from outside (in this company, most promotions are internal.) After 6 months, things just don't seem to be "clicking.” What could be going on? Here are some questions to help solve this challenge: Has the team done a team leader assimilation where the team and leader get to know all members and their personality styles? Has the team leader listened to team members to determine whether to start/stop/continue team processes? Are one-on-ones used regularly and effectively? What are communication norms? Are they followed and reinforced? What do engagement scores have to tell the team? How would you get this leader and team back on track?
Individual & Group Coaching
Individual and group coaching can be a powerful resource and development tool for leaders. Typically, leaders who are new in a role, or experiencing professional or cultural change can , or even leaders who just need to get "unstuck," coaching can be a powerful tool to energize your associates.
An Initial Assessment using the ELI (Energy Leadership Index) is a great starting place to identify where the coachee wants to go and where to focus. We partner to set up goals and work together to see meaningful change. The minimum recommended is 3 months, but we typically engage in a 6–9-month engagement for the strongest impact.
Individual and Group Coaching as a Cohort often provides a roadmap to strengthen relationships and networks while also growing individually. Typical target audiences could be new leaders, new teams, or High Potentials, or a combination of all these.
Coaching aligned with experiential learning projects and assignments can help reinforce concepts and learning while also helping individuals apply learned tool to overcome obstacles during the project timeline.
Organizations
Organizations go through a typical lifecycle as a start-up, a growing company through M&A, or a large organization trying to maintain consistent growth. Is there a need to define a stronger and more resilient company culture, aligning teams and individuals through change? Does the team need to regroup because of changes in the environment or the team? Are new acquisitions not performing the way they looked at the start? What do the financials say? What does your turnover say? What does your voice of the customer say? What does the voice of the employee say?
Many of these questions have systemic needs at the organizational level. Each data point, aligned with your organization’s mission can paint a picture of where the gaps are which can lead to long-term, meaningful change. We can partner with you at all levels to assess your needs through focus groups, surveys, or interviews, and align the behavior and artifacts of your organization with a culture of which you will be proud.
Case Study:
Based on feedback from within and outside the company, the new leadership of a recently divested business is concerned its culture and the organizational actions are not aligned with its perceived values. As a result of our Culture Audit, the company can embrace a new mission and vision that accurately reflects the values of the company. We can help you craft solutions that energize the culture and allow the company to significantly exceed its goals.