CASE STUDIES

Background: This Media client lacked a formal performance management process, which resulted in many managers not giving their employees feedback. This in turn, led to employees not knowing where they stood, missing the opportunity to develop, or ultimately leaving the organization.  The lack of clear feedback was frequently cited by employees as a pain point for the organization.

 

Solution: To address this, we designed a performance management process using software that collected 360 feedback, and tracked manager and employee completion.  We set clear deadlines with regular follow-ups to ensure 100% compliance. The results were analyzed to create an action plan for each employee, and then shared with leadership and individuals. 

 

Result: The new process increased transparency across the organization, initiating a shift towards a culture of accountability and more candid feedback. Additionally:

 

• Managers were pushed to recognize their employees' strengths, and also discuss some of the more uncomfortable topics. This served as a launching pad for more big picture career conversations with their employees.

• Employees were empowered with action plans that were able to feed into their developmental goals, addressing one of the biggest pain points they had raised about the organization. They were also able to gain more insight into their career trajectory at the firm, which ultimately increased retention.

Background: This insurance client was struggling with hiring the talent required to take their organization to the next level. They were either not attracting the right candidates, or were finding the employees they did hire didn't have the right skills. They also had no formal recruiting process in place and often "winged it."

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Solution: We recommended an overhaul of their recruiting process, starting with their job descriptions. We partnered with them to define the most important competencies for each position, allowing us to create a competency-based interviewing strategy that went beyond "years of experience." We also designed a hiring rubric that standardized responses for each competency to reduce bias and increase consistency in how candidates were evaluated. Finally, we provided hiring managers with "Inclusive Interviewing" training, which helped them understand best practices in approach, learn legal watch-outs, and discuss real-world examples.

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Result: The result was a standardized and strategic interview process, where hiring managers were confident about the competencies that were important for a role, and equipped to effectively evaluate candidates in a less biased way.  The hiring process has since run much more smoothly, and the client has found that recent hires have skills that are better aligned with what is required for their roles.  

Background: This company was struggling with the development, promotion and retention of its most technical employees as they gained years of experience. Many of these employees wanted to remain individual contributors, which meant they often declined promotions.  Or they ultimately decided to cave and reluctantly manage others, which was also a suboptimal outcome for everyone involved.  Furthermore, employees across the organization felt the promotion process was a "black box" and bemoaned the lack of transparency and consistency in the process.

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Solution: We were brought in to partner with leadership to design two career tracks: one technical and one managerial, building out the competencies and levels for each. From early in their career, employees could decide on a track and develop the required skills to be promoted accordingly.

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Result: This allowed employees across the organization to have transparency on multiple career paths their associated competencies. This also removed some of the mystery around promotions, and enabled employees to create targeted developmental plans. Additionally, the company was able to increase retention across the organization. 

Background: A global bank was struggling with retention of its analysts, who were leaving within one year after joining. The client brought us in to revamp their onboarding process, hoping it would lead to an increase in retention.

 

Solution: We analyzed their existing onboarding process to see what was working well and where there was room for improvement.  With that in mind, we redesigned their onboarding strategy, conceptualizing it as an 18-month journey with important milestones along the way.  We also designed the agenda and content for their 6-month milestone: an all-day offsite for its analysts with the opportunity to network with peers and leaders, and attend multiple developmental sessions.

 

Result: The event was a success, receiving high satisfaction scores from its attendees in a post-event survey.  The program was adopted more long-term, and led to increased analyst retention rates after the first year of implementation.

Background: Previous poor leadership had led this client's team to have low morale, motivation and productivity.  The company's operations required high collaboration within the team, but instead the individuals worked in silos. Due to these factors, the company was not operating anywhere near its potential.

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Solution: We opted to facilitate a Team Building session that would increase trust, collaboration and engagement within the team.  To augment the session, we used DiSC, a behavioral assessment tool where employees were able to build awareness of their own styles and their colleagues'. This served as the foundation for dialogue around ways to communicate and collaborate with each other, all while having a bit of fun in a relaxed environment.

 

Result: The training improved relationships between the team members, and an increase in engagement and productivity that reduced errors, sped up processing times and increased retention.

Background: This client was hoping to increase diversity and inclusion in their organization, and had just launched their DEIBA committee. They had also decided to hold a two-day retreat to create their DEIBA strategy for the upcoming year, but were not sure where to begin.

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Solution: We started with an intake session with the leaders of the DEIBA committee to understand what they hoped to achieve after the two days, and listen to any of their concerns. With that in mind, we designed an agenda and content to achieve their goals: 

 

• Day 1: Brainstorming and Strategizing

• Day 2: Prioritizing and Action Planning

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Result: By engaging in these activities, the team was able to generate new ideas, identify key priorities, and develop a clear DEIBA strategy and plan of action. The collaborative approach taken fostered a sense of inclusion and shared purpose, leading to increased engagement by the committee and improved overall outcomes.