Case Studies

Accelerated Team Effectiveness

SITUATION:

A new leadership team at a major public university was facing challenges relating to both the pandemic and the changing landscape of higher education. They needed to quickly bond as a team, align around a common vision and develop a cohesive approach.

ACTION:

We brought the team together to explore challenges and opportunities, and to identify sources of friction. We spoke to each individual member about their contributions and ability to support their colleagues in making positive change. When the group came back together we led them in identifying the most critical issues the team needed to work on and create an action plan to do so.

RESULT:

The team now has common goals and clear direction for supporting one another and breaking down silos. They have begun to execute their strategic plan as a unified team.

Creating a Culture of Growth

SITUATION:

A new CEO took over the reins of a 25 year old company that had become stagnant due to a lack of growth in the leadership team and business model in more than a decade. The challenge was to infuse new energy in the team, update the business model, and grow the business without destroying the family-oriented cohesive culture that employees had grown to expect.

ACTION:

We worked with the CEO to develop a new strategic plan and new leadership behaviors at the most senior levels, working towards better definition of culture and a structured way to develop a succession pipeline and growth paths for promising employees, and a comprehensive culture change program to engage employees at every level.

RESULT:

The company has experienced 25% plus revenue growth four years in a row, which the CEO attributes to the work we have done with them.

Steps to Organization Success

SITUATION:

A utility company identified the need to improve cross-departmental collaboration in the organization, to elevate team performance at the executive and departmental levels and build a strong succession pipeline for future leaders of the organization.

ACTION:

We established a standard for team performance and worked with new and existing teams to develop clearly defined values, expectations of how they would work together and each team member’s individual contribution to organizational success. Working with the new VP of employee engagement, as well as using the feedback from the Employee Engagement Survey; we co-developed an internal “leadership academy” that consisted of developing leaders and managers in accordance with key leadership skills identified by the organization and education on the internal best practices of the organization.

RESULT:

Both high performing teams and underperforming teams have recognized the need to be high performing both within their group and across the organization, resulting in more impactful cross functional focus and the breaking down of silos.

Since the launch of the “leadership academy”, the organization is developing a strong pipeline of future leaders that are skilled in the art of interpersonal communication and management skills, combined with a broader understanding of how every part of the organization supports their mission.

Elevating Strategic Thinking

SITUATION:

A growing technology company in transition from a founder-led to professional management-led model, was looking ahead to their “new chapter” while staying true to the original founder’s vision and their core technical and customer expertise.

ACTION:

The leadership team wanted to change the thinking across the organization. Using “Blue Ocean” strategy as a jumping off point, we led their strategic planning process to explore leveraging their core capabilities and reaching a broader customer base. During the strategic offsite, the team was encouraged to dig deep to identify corporate strengths, in both technology and in their corporate culture.

RESULT:

The leadership team aligned around focusing in on a few critical technologies and products and identifying new markets and customers to grow the business. To become more agile in their approach to  the business, they shifted to a more customer centric approach to decision-making.

Transformational Conversations

SITUATION:

A new global division was created from several groups in the US and Europe under a new business unit head. The new leader was tasked with growing the business unit and bringing the team together. Corporate leaders knew that there were divisions between R&D and production and sales that needed to be healed. Transcend was asked to facilitate a planning offset to bring the group together under common goals and strategies.

ACTION:

We surveyed participants ahead of the offsite about challenges and opportunities for the team, and what would make the most difference. At the event, as we were facilitating the group, we uncovered disparate assumptions about goals, sales, production as well as a sense that, “Revenue is not my job” in some parts of the organization. By the time we concluded the offsite, critical conversations were taking place, and new solutions to old problems were being identified.

RESULT:

One year later, the business unit not only met its revenue and profit goals, but was looking to surpass them by 20%. The leader told us that the conversations they had with us were “transformational.” The conversation was changed and, as a result, the business.

Experiences that change culture

SITUATION:

A customer service team had multiple layers of management and many complaints, and those were beginning to affect initiatives and customers. The COO called us in to find out what was really happening and to identify what changes needed to be made.

ACTION:

After some initial conversation with the management layers, we held a session with the team to get the long list of concerns, problems and requests out on the table. We then had the team select the three things they most wanted management to address. We shared the top three with management and worked with them to address or respond to those items.

RESULT:

When we met again with the customer service team, they appreciated the changes made, and came to the realization that they themselves were part of the problem. We created a new, positive feedback behavior they liked so much, it expanded to the broader customer services teams across the organization.

Real leadership transformation

SITUATION:

One higher-ed client brought us in to transform the leadership team. Key leaders had different backgrounds, styles and working preferences, which had led to rifts and silos in the organization.

ACTION:

We assessed and coached each individual and the team to develop new norms for working together, better defining roles and responsibilities and bringing key decisions to the group.

RESULT:

The leaders reported “night and day” differences in their relationships and the ability to bring their teams together to tackle institutional issues. 

Planning to succeed

SITUATION:

A sales and production team in a global manufacturer was faced with limited capacity over the next 18 to 24 months, and needed to maximize both short and long-term relationships to sustain and eventually grow the business. The senior leaders asked Transcend to facilitate a planning session with both teams to identify ways to stay engaged and work together through the capacity-limited period.

ACTION:

By challenging the group, we uncovered new potential strategies and brought the two groups together. That planning meeting was the catalyst that created new strategies and new teamwork that delivered measurable business results.

RESULT:

Over the following 12 months, they delivered 20% more revenue than planned that year and added another year of pre-orders – in spite of the capacity issues.

Changing directions

SITUATION:

A dynamic young biotech company was struggling with three founders at the helm. The Chairman of the Board asked Transcend to step in and help right the ship and shift the culture to attract and retain talent, and develop a better team approach to the business.

ACTION:

We placed an interim CEO and coached all founders to develop new values-based expectations for themselves and other employees, put more business measures and strategies in place, and aligned activities and expenses to revenue-generation.

RESULT:

Revenues are up, decisions are quicker and better aligned, and morale is improving