7 Years, 3 Phases, and 1 Epic Journey: How a Partnership Helped Transform a Client's Organization

Today I marked an end to Phase 3 with a client after seven years. What started out as an initial request to provide training on performance feedback (which I turned down because I said they weren't ready for that) turned into an incredible journey and partnership that has resulted in an organization with a completely different culture, leadership?team outlook, and financial position.?

The Problem: The new CEO, Cheryl, had been told by the board to turn the organization's financial position around by making the staff more accountable and efficient. The?board wanted her to implement performance reviews that would determine who got raises and who didn't, and that would, in their opinion, inspire the staff to work harder and thereby increase profits. However, when Cheryl asked how my training could help her managers, I responded with, "It won't because my team won't provide the training just yet. It wouldn't be fair to your staff or managers to implement a performance management process when you currently don't have clear performance expectations - or in many cases even a current position description?- for each team member. Besides, before your managers have the right to provide feedback on someone's performance, they need an objective and transparent set of performance objectives to refer to for each position and department which aligns to the organization's strategic plan. That's why each team member is being challenged to constantly learn, grow, and improve. Without that alignment, your managers will just pull things out of thin air just so they have SOMETHING to put on the review. That's not effective and it won't spur greater productivity and profitability. It'll demoralize your staff. I'd suggest you and the board first create a clear strategic plan to identify exactly WHAT you and they want this organization to become, and then you and your leadership team can develop the plans to make that happen. Those plans will then guide the department and position performance objectives. There will be a clear line of sight for each position and department that is objective and transparent for any new or prospective team member. They'll know what is expected. Clarity, performance, and profits will increase. Guessing, frustration, and inefficiencies will decrease." She smiled and said, "I knew this was premature. We've got a lot of work to do. Let's do it." So we did.

Phase 1 -?

Strategic Planning: We started by creating a clear, focused strategic plan that included a new Vision, clarified Mission, new Values, and SMART Goals which included communications and training plans. The Board was receptive but leery. The chair said he'd give his approval, but wasn't sold on the idea that focusing on the Vision, Mission, and Values would change the culture and spur the financial growth they needed. We told him that with effective communications, training, staff support, and accountability, we'd like to make a believer out of him. We did. Through a series of board education sessions, as well as initiating a strategic plan dashboard and regular strategic plan updates, we provided board education to elevate their?skills and strategic focus. We changed the board's perspective and performance.

Leadership and Team Training: Through a series of leadership training programs and all staff training programs, the new strategic plan was communicated with all staff learning the new focus, behavioral and performance expectations, and timelines for all departments and all team members. New insights, skills, and tips were shared. Managers and staff learned to improve team interactions, enhance the customer experience and increase sales and cross-team sales, and move from a reactive/transactional mindset to a proactive/relationship focused mindset.?

Phase 2 -?

Performance Management: After conducting a compensation study and then updating or developing position descriptions and performance standards for every position, we developed and provided training on a comprehensive performance management program that introduced the expectations and developed skills in giving and receiving objective performance feedback. This phase was challenging as its very concept clashed with the prior culture of NOT providing feedback,?NOT holding team members accountable, NOT addressing attitudinal performance issues, and NOT wanting to 'risk' losing an employee. However, with time and lots of practice, this ship has turned course. Managers now have the tools, skills, and confidence to provide timely, effective feedback, and the staff realize feedback - good, critical, or neutral - is simply part of the job. It's feedback. It's not an attempt to crush or demoralize. It's an attempt to provide regular updates on what is being seen, heard, or experienced so they can perform their best.?

Phase 3 -?

All Team Training:?Through a series of custom training programs that again focused on the Vision, Mission, and Values and shared insights into developing skills and depth, supporting and elevating the brand, stronger team and customer relationships, continual learning, supporting change, working through conflicts, cross-training and agility, and working with and across personality and communication styles, the team members have gained greater appreciation for each other, their customers, and the products and services they offer and the impact they have on in their customers' lives. There is a tangible difference when they gather in the training room. There's cross-department laughter, conversations, and interactions. Within their teams and with their managers, they're supportive, candid, and open. It wasn't like that seven years ago. Not even close.

Executive Coaching with Leaders and the Leadership Team: Any strategic or change initiative is only as good as its implementation and sustainability. Therefore, a strong and focused leadership team is critical. In addition to the leadership training, we provided Cheryl and her leadership team with executive coaching as well as group coaching and business advisory sessions to enhance individual, group, and company performance. We focused on workforce mapping and succession planning. We created dashboards and tracking protocols to not just track what is getting done, but what IMPACT their work is having and adjusting as needed. As a result, the leadership team is much more strategic, focused, proactive, collaborative, effective, and respected.

The Result:

I give full credit to Cheryl and the team she's developed and the culture they've created. Through her unwavering focus and drive, she's developed a smart, focused leadership team that works across departments to get things done. The team thinks and acts strategically and collaboratively with or without Cheryl. The team and organization's success is not dependent upon her, it's dependent upon the team and the deep talent pool they're developing. The culture of the board has changed. The relationship between the executive team and the board has changed. The organizational culture has changed. It's tangible. You can see it, hear it, and feel it. As a result, their financial position also shows it. In spite of the pandemic, they've had their highest earnings ever in the past 4 years and have been named a Top 200 Community bank for 3 years in a row. Can an organization's culture and profitability change for the better? Yes. Oh yes it can!