TheBenefits

Excellence is not an accomplishment. It is a spirit, a never-ending process.

Lawrence M. Miller

Case Studies

A director in a global financial services company needed new challenges. He discussed the situation with his manager and, together, they approached us to partner with him in his search for his next career role.

Over a six week period he transformed his long-term career plan. Through an examination of his personal values and his desire to accomplish certain life goals, he realigned his work and life objectives and set new criteria for his future career.  He found the role which satisfied his criteria and, within three months was working in his new job.

The outcome of the coaching was a win/win/win solution, satisfying the individual, the organisation, and the potential successors.

"As a direct consequence of the coaching relationship with Management Tomorrow I have created new goals, set out to achieve them and am already gaining the benefits."

Two organisations with very different cultures and business models were merged.  After six months it became obvious the employees were not working well together, expected synergies were not being achieved and, rather than a cohesive team, divisions were becoming more entrenched.

We were engaged by the organisation to complement their organisational development team who were finding it difficult to uncover the root causes of the problem.  We carried out a comprehensive appraisal of the current situation, including open forums with staff, feedback questionnaires and on-site observation.  As independent observers, employees and managers were more willing to be honest with us and we were able to gain insights which the in-house team could not. 

Following a report to the board, we worked with the internal OD group to develop a cohesive and comprehensive change programme which incorporated best practice change management practices.  The programme was rolled out across the organisation resulting in an increase in employee satisfaction from 43% to 78% and productivity improved.  The parent company adopted the change programme as a standard for subsequent mergers and acquisitions.

"We thought we understood the issues but the feedback process gave our staff the opportunity to say what they really felt. It wasn’t pretty, but the coach handled the process really well. It was a tough time, but we all benefited because we came out a stronger team with a renewed focus on where we are going."

Mary, the head of a large retail establishment was concerned about the slowdown in business growth, high staff attrition and a small increase in quality issues.  She felt vulnerable and worried that the board would lose confidence in her.   She had been offered an opportunity to expand significantly but was unsure if this was the right thing to do.

Together with her coach, Mary appraised the situation and her options.  Looking at her values and beliefs she realised that she was trying to control everything herself and believed she would be harshly judged by others if things were anything less than perfect. Encouraged by her coach, she put together a report to the board setting out the situation, the options, recommendations and request for required resources.

Following coaching which focused on increasing her confidence, communicating effectively and tackling challenging situations, she presented her findings to the board.  She was able to answer their questions and ask directly for the help she needed from them.  She gained their support and set about implementing the necessary changes which included widening the product range, increasing the number of outlets and improving quality.

The coaching relationship continued for some months as Mary dealt with staff motivation issues and improving quality. We conducted a 360º Leadership Feedback process which gave Mary information on where her leadership could improve.  She focused on developing a more inspirational leadership style – management by walking about, two-way communication channels, team talks and more active involvement in dealing with issues. The most effective measure she introduced was suggested by a focus group we facilitated which resulted in a change in the incentive scheme to include more quality measures. 

Whilst change was implemented quickly, it took some time to see the desired turnaround but Mary continued to keep the board and staff informed of progress and they supported her decisions. After nine months, she was rewarded by the board for achieving a 20% increase in sales and a reduction in quality issues back to industry norms. A follow up 360º feedback review showed an increase in every leadership dimension. Staff attrition has slowed but continues to be an area of focus.

"The coaching has had a profound and far-reaching effect on the business."