Case Study #1

Situation – A small, family owned marketing communications firm was struggling with managing its growth.  The owner, a typical entrepreneurial creative type, was conflicted with whether to continue to grow the business or to sit back and enjoy the fruits.  His competitive juices made him want to consider acquisitions, a national sales force, and a 5 year exit strategy of selling the business to a larger company.  His energy level, on the other hand, led him to consider leveling off, servicing the existing client base, and spending more time on his sailboat.  The acquisition of a large new account with truckloads of inventory resulted in a frantic move from their small offices into a decrepit 1950’s era warehouse that happened to be available.  Running the business day-to-day while spending 3-4 days a week on the road had become undoable.  Every client request seemed to become a crisis.  Every day seemed to bring a new fire to fight.  Planning and prioritization did not happen.  The overworked, and in many cases ill prepared, staff survived in a reactionary mode.  The amazing thing is that they were able to keep their core clients satisfied.  But, a toll was being taken.

The Task – I began this engagement by interviewing every employee to determine their skill sets, level of motivation, and commitment.  What I found was a profound lack of leadership, understandable given the rapid growth, the owner’s travel schedule and the ‘fire fighting’ work environment.  Although managers beneath the owner were technically competent, they were not providing basic leadership to the overworked, frantic employees.  Employees lacked confidence in their leaders.  Many were misplaced based upon their skill sets and interests simply because of the demands of the fast growing business. 

The Solution – I recommended a new structure for the organization that freed the owner from daily operational duties, allowing him to concentrate on client interaction and creative idea generation, clearly his strong suits.  The structure also refocused a key member of the management team from a concentration on one important account to overseeing the entire client services team, providing the leadership and structure that had been missing.  The plan called for hiring an experienced Operations Manager to organize the warehouse operations, control cost, improve the competencies and professionalism of the staff, and reduce the need for reactionary, fire fighting responses to every day demands. 

The Result – The owner accepted my recommendations.  An ‘All Employee Meeting’ was scheduled to roll out the new organization structure and answer questions.  After the meeting, everyone loaded onto a bus for an afternoon of food, fun and relaxation.  It took several months to recruit and hire the Operations Manager, but an ideal candidate was secured.  A second, Class A 50,000 square foot warehouse was leased.  All employees moved into the new location.  It is too soon to evaluate the overall success of this intervention, but there is every indication that the company is poised to leverage its resources into higher revenues and greater profit with far less stress.

Case Study #2

The Situation - A small non-profit community theatre foundation was confronted with a dilemma.  The owners of the building they had occupied for several years wanted to sell it.  He and his wife had been generous, benevolent landlords.  The husband was on the organization’s board.  They had invested thousands of dollars renovating the 80 year old historic theatre and had overlooked numerous missing rent payments.  In their hearts, they wanted the building to continue as a theatre, but they also wanted to move on.  They had the building appraised and offered to sell it to the foundation for essentially half price. Despite the attractive offer, the foundation board was struggling with a decision on whether or not to purchase the building.  Demands upon the board members up to this point had been limited to an annual contribution, attending performances and board meetings, and providing names for the annual end of year mailing campaign.  Taking on the task of raising enough money to purchase the building was a big commitment for them.  The community was small.  Economic times were tough.  Questions arose about whether or not the charismatic, talented Executive Director was committed to the institution. 

The Task – The Executive Director was, in fact, very committed to the institution and was also quite frustrated with the board’s reluctance to ‘pull the trigger’ on the purchase.  If the board was unwilling to commit, then he certainly did not want to invest more into the organization.  I offered to facilitate a weekend board planning retreat.  Although the stated objective was to envision the future of the foundation, the real purpose was to determine if the board would take on purchasing the building.

The Solution – I lead the board through a series of exercises to evaluate themselves.  What were the board’s strengths?  Were there skill gaps?  Are there enough members or too few?  What does the board expect of itself, each other?  What about their relationship with the staff?  It was clear to me after this work that the board was engaged in the success of the institution, felt strongly about its mission in the community, and was willing to work to insure its future.  So, then I lead the board through an analysis process related to purchasing the building, the benefits of owning the building, risks involved, what it would cost, how long would it take?  The defining moment came when I asked, “What if the foundation does not buy the building?”  A board member immediately responded, “Then, we will cease to exist.”  That day, the board voted unanimously to purchase the building and to conduct a capital campaign.

The Result – The capital campaign has raised over half the targeted amount just a few weeks into the silent campaign.  The board itself committed a third.  Confidence in the success of the campaign is high and motivation is building.  There is no doubt in my mind that the community will enjoy its historic theatre, lively concerts, and compelling performances for many years to come.

Case Study #3

The Situation -  A London based, global manufacturing company acquired a division of a U.S. Midwestern firm.  The transition resulted in a serious upset within management.  On the day before the deal was to close the individual who had been selected as Managing Director of the division that contained one of the business units withdrew from taking the job.  An external search was conducted and a candidate was identified.  After passing all the internal screens and interviews the candidate was tested and evaluated by independent external consultants who did not recommend the candidate. The decision was made not to have a divisional head, but to continue with the  Managing Directors of the business units running their businesses without integration at the divisional level.  During the 6 months of transition, the VP of Sales and Marketing in the business unit, who felt he deserved the Managing Director position, undertook a vindictive campaign to subvert the success of the acquisition.  In February he resigned from the company and took 3 top sales people with him to a competitor.

The Task – The critical situation was clearly understood by the Global HR Director.  The division was at risk.  The sales organization could not afford further defections. Sales Managers, newly appointed from within, needed coaching and support.  Other staff and operational leaders were losing confidence in the sales organization and questioned the viability and future of the business unit.  Rumors were rampant that the division would soon be sold or moved.  There was no sales executive, HR or OD professional in place to help guide the organization through this difficult time.  New to his job, the Global HR director was traveling the world meeting with his team.  He could not personally devote much time to the problem.

I was hired to assess the current situation and suggest solutions.  I would work directly for the Managing Director of the business unit; consulting, coaching and advising.  He gave me free rein to talk to anyone in the organization, attend any meeting, and obtain any information which could be helpful in stabilizing the leadership team. 

The Solution – I began the engagement by interviewing all the key managers and sales professionals and learned quickly that the situation was not as bad as it seemed.  A once stable organization had been shocked with significant changes in ownership, structure, culture and focus.  Managing these changes had been hindered by the leadership gaps.

The solution was simple actually.  Leadership, a strategy, and communication were all that was needed.  The people in place were all competent and possessed superior industry knowledge.  They were all aware of the issues that contributed to the crisis and were awaiting leadership and direction about their place in the new company and a business strategy.  The Managing Director had developed a detailed strategic map for the business, but had not communicated this to the employees.  There was insecurity about the future of the business unit that needed to be addressed.  With no information, the staff made up their own stories, none of which had good outcomes.

The Managing Director presented his strategic map to his leadership team.  A plan was developed for communicating this to the entire organization.  An international sales and operations meeting was held to present the strategic map and to allay fears about the future of the business unit.  I worked with the Sales Managers on the agenda for the meeting and helped facilitate the event.  I addressed the sales team on the ‘results’ of my assessment of the organization, introduced them to some basic group dynamics theory, and reassured them that they had the skills and tools to be successful.  I am providing ongoing personal coaching to the sales managers to assist and support them in managing in a new organization.

Another key role for me during this engagement was coaching the Managing Director.  He was South American and had started his career with the parent company as an engineer and plant manager in Brazil.  For the past two years he had led a division based in Europe.  Thus, living in the U.S. and leading a Midwestern U.S. workforce was a new challenge.  I helped him understand better the North American work ethic and our cultural idiosyncrasies as well as how to effectively communicate with his new team.

The Result – The mood and energy within the sales organization clearly improved after the sales and operations meeting.  When I ended my weekly involvement, plans were under way to communicate the strategic map to the entire organization.  Plans for a team building retreat with the leadership team were in the works.  Several experienced candidates had been identified to bolster the depleted sales team.  A highly qualified HR/OD Director had been recruited and hired to help shepherd the organization and lead through the changes.  With his team on more solid footing, the Managing Director was more comfortable traveling to meet with clients, communicating to them the strategic path for the division and how, with the new parent organization and strategic focus, the company was prepared to serve customer needs more effectively.

Addendum – This organization had been managed in a traditional, hierarchical, highly controlled style by the parent company.  Strategy and tactics were determined at the top and cascaded down through the organization.  There was no accountability for tactics and results at lower levels, a classic pyramid organization.  Only 20% of sales compensation was variable.  The acquiring company is a foreign based, highly decentralized multi-national matrix organization.  Strategy comes from the top, but tactics, execution and accountability are expected from the field organizations.  Adapting to this very different management style and structure will require a conscious, deliberate, well planned effort.