The Work We've Done
Enhancing
Staff Engagement
The Project: When a large Canadian hospital was
looking for ways to re-build morale and focus after a major SARS
outbreak, they looked to The Potential Group for help. After years
of budget cuts and months of high stress with the SARS outbreak,
most staff in the hospital were at a breaking point. At best, they
were surviving. We worked with the senior leadership over 18 months
to re-build a thriving hospital with leading patient care and staff
engagement. Our work involved helping each unit and department in
the facility to appreciate the strengths that allowed them to be
resilient through these challenges and identify their hopes and
dreams for the future. Out of this work, each unit and department
created their own vision and plan for the future that would support
them to thrive.
The Results: In the first 3 years following our
initial interventions, units and departments have been living their
visions for the future. They have set and revised goals, shared
learning and created concrete positive improvements in patient care,
employee satisfaction, and fiscal responsibility.
Creating
a Shared Vision, Strategy and Plan for the Future
The Project: When a large international pharmaceutical
company was facing a severe threat for one of its key brands they
looked to The Potential Group to help create an approach to bring
all key players together to create a powerful, coordinated response.
Working in collaboration with the President and Vice President of
Marketing we designed and facilitated multi-stakeholder planning
sessions to craft a strategy for the future of the organization.
Rather than conducting a problem solving approach we spent our time
and energy learning from best practices in responding to market
challenges. We used key learning from this inquiry to identify an
approach that left all stakeholders inspired and excited about what
was possible for the future.
The Result: All teams in the organization did their
part to move forward with a coordinated strategy to manage the threat
facing the key brand. The company made a strong commitment to the
product and therapeutic area and employees took a strong stand for
the patients they served. In the end, bottom line sales results
moved well beyond expectations and the brand held its market share
longer than anyone had though possible.
Retaining
High Performers in a Consulting Firm
The Project: When the job market gets tight, the
war for top talent can be a significant challenge. Consulting firms
succeed or fail based upon the quality and engagement of their people.
When one of the offices in these firms received feedback from staff
about a low level of engagement and significant challenges, they
looked to The Potential Group for help. Rather than exploring the
causes of low engagement we embarked on a campaign in the organization
to uncover times and causal factors of high engagement. Senior partners
and directors in the firm interviewed almost every staff member
to uncover stories of the times when they were most engaged and
most satisfied with their work. Through these interviews and a planning
meeting with the entire staff, we create a vision of the kind of
workplace that "no one in their right mind would want to leave".
The Result: Over the 12 months of working with
the office we helped the organization move from significant skepticism
to stronger optimism that has allowed significant changes to occur.
In the 3 years since our intervention, the office has implemented
initiatives in recognition, work-life balance and leadership that
have made a profound difference for the culture in the office and
their ability to recruit and retain key people.
Improving
Patient Care and Safety and Renewing Professional Staff in General
Internal Medicine
The Project: When leaders of nursing and other
health practitioners began a transformation project for key programs
in their hospital network they looking to The Potential Group to
provide an approach to engage staff at all levels of the organization
in renewal. This project currently in progress has brought together
front line staff from multiple disciplines to talk about how to
enhance performance in the program. Through the conversations we
have built new relationships between professions and created new
possibilities for inter-professional collaboration and development.
Leaders in the units have been trained in tools and skills around
leading change and have been supported in monthly leadership development
sessions.
Initial Results: The interventions in this renewal
project have created a high level of engagement among leaders from
across the hospital network. These leaders have grown the sense
of optimism in the units as they have implemented simple initiatives
to help improve collaboration and teamwork on the units. Staff have
reported improvements in working relationships and patient care
and are looking forward to upcoming co-created learning programs
designed to meet needs that staff themselves identified. Stay tuned
for further results - August 2007
Enhancing
Leadership Effectiveness and a United Nations Agency
When a UN agency was looking to build its leadership capability
at the senior level in their European headquarters, they engaged
The Potential Group to design and implement a leadership development
program. Working in conjunction with leaders of learning, development
and change in the organization, we conducted a session with key
leaders to identify a vision for leadership needed to meet the changing
demands on the agency. This vision was used to develop a 3 month
leadership development program for key senior leaders. As part of
the program, individual leaders received tools, perspectives and
one-on-one coaching to support their work in their bureaus and divisions.
Results: The leadership program pulled together leaders from across
headquarters and built a community of leadership that was better
prepared to meet the change mandate of the organization. Many of
the leaders in the program have been called to participate in leading
major change mandates in the organization based upon the skills
in leadership they demonstrated and grew in the workshops. This
pilot program was endorsed by the senior management committee for
a second year in 2007.
Building
a High Performing Team Post Merger
The Project: When a department in a large financial
services organization was faced with the challenge of integrating
new operations across 2 cities that looked to The Potential Group
for assistance. We supported the department vice-president to bring
a new team together across sites to set common goals and priorities.
The team came together a series of retreats and monthly meetings
over the course of 18 months where they set vision, priorities and
navigated measures to enhance performance in the group. The Results:
The department we worked with led the way in the integration in
the organization. They surpassed all targets for the merger and
were awarded the highest recognition bonuses possible paid out by
the organization.
|
