Background: The UK head office was experiencing some problems between the board and middle management. This was causing a morale issue throughout the company and consequently the company was underperforming. The board had recognised this and wanted to correct the problem but were unsure as to what should change in order to rectify it. In addition, a recent US acquisition had not gone as smoothly as planned and relationships between the UK and US offices were becoming detrimental to the company’s growth.
Both of these issues required urgent attention so we were brought on board to offer a solution.
Solution: We first carried out research in the form of interviews with key members of the organisation. This helped us determine the organisational goals and establish the precise nature of the issues from their perspective.
Based on this research we designed an aspirational culture model that outlined the behaviours, values, motivations and attitudes necessary to achieve the organisational goals.
We then designed an assessment process consisting of psychometric tests, problem specific tests and structured interviews, which were completed by all members of the Executive board, all middle management and key staff in both the UK and USA.
Analysing the data collected in the UK and USA provided us with the information we needed to resolve the company’s problems including identifying the difficulties in merging the US acquisition.
Additionally we were able to establish the process and behavioural changes needed to achieve the corporate goals and provide a detailed action plan for the organisational change process.
These changes included creating a new international organisational structure, which included restructuring the Executive board and the creation of a new Operations board, which involved key middle managers. The new structure was designed to meet the needs of the company going forward, eradicate the ‘gulf’ between executive and middle management, fully integrate the US acquisition, resolve the issues behind the loss of the feel good factor and utilise an untapped pool of talent within the company.
Finally, we created a group of workplace coaches identified within the management and staff group. All coaches received a tailored group development programme and ongoing coaching support from CarterCorson. This enabled them to facilitate the company wide distance-learning programme which focussed on enhanced emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.
Outcome: All our recommendations were fully implemented by the board and we continued to work with them during this implementation phase including designing and part presenting the communication brief to ‘unveil’ the new structure to the management and staff in both countries. We coached the group CEO and the MD in the US in the best way to make the announcement. The new structure was very well received and the clear communication process generated enthusiastic support for the changes.
Our final work with the company was to design and deliver a development programme for the new operational board, to accelerate team cohesion and improve communication. It was important for the group to function effectively as soon as possible.
The UK and US operations are working more effectively together, significant latent talent was discovered and utilised, and the company goes from strength to strength.