Customized Programs to Transform Your Team
Organizational Development Success Stories: A Program That Prepared a Company for Growth
When a client asked me to help him create a long-term plan that would develop his management and leadership team during an important transition, we created an 18-month plan. Growing a successful company from a 10-person, $5M company to a 20-person, $10M company in 1 year was no small task, but my client knew what he wanted from his team and trusted me to get them there.
My client wanted:
- His team to empower themselves to make their own decisions
- His management team to empower their team to do the same
- To set and achieve Key Performance Indicators for each departmental goal
- To accept and manage the constant change accompanying company growth
- Improved cross-team collaboration throughout company growth and during a new product launch
Our 18-month plan included 5 components:
- Sixteen weeks of executive coaching for the CEO
- Eight weeks of executive coaching for the COO
- A 1-day all-staff retreat to discuss and improve change management, collaboration, and cross-team dynamics
- A customized 8-week online learning program for the company’s senior team incorporating: online modules, videos, weekly group calls, weekly homework online, and accountability partners
- Crafted messages for strategic planning meetings as well as for quarterly and monthly staff meetings to reinforce key points.
The CEO benefited from having a coherent framework to support staff development while growing his company, and he appreciated not having to think about planning the next retreat or key points for staff meetings. After a few hours of initial work with me, he knew that he could cover all the important points consistently on a regular basis. Reinforcing key messages in a balanced, holistic way eventually changed staff behaviors to match the needs of his growing company.
Transforming a Team and Reinvigorating an Organization
When a client asked me to help her create a plan to cohesively transform her organization, she wanted the team to focus on:
- Establishing effective cross-departmental communication
- Improving accountability for individuals and teams
- Setting priorities based on the organizational vision
- Improving team results by developing emotional intelligence
Our 12-month plan focused on meeting the company’s needs by including:
- 10 weeks of executive coaching for the CEO and CTO
- A 2-day all-staff retreat, followed by a 1-day all-staff retreat 7 months later, to develop more effective communication, problem solving approaches, accountability, and team-building
- A 1-day retreat for the executive team to work on the organizational vision and improve emotional intelligence
- Awards and recognition programs for the teams as they embodied organizational values
- Ongoing access to me for senior team members who wanted to contact me at any time to discuss their problems and challenges with their initiatives
- Creating messages for weekly staff meetings to reinforce key points and prepare the team for upcoming changes, retreats, and related problem solving
As a result of our work together, the CEO gained a framework for staff development, knew what topics were being discussed when, and was prepared for and focused on conveying key points at staff meetings.
As the team heard the same points again and again and practiced executing essential skills learned at the retreats, the senior leaders were also being coached on the same points. Over the course of our time together, the entire organization changed their behaviors by becoming more effective communicators and problem solvers who kept each other accountable for their actions and achieved the results they needed to bring the organizational vision to life.
