Case Study:
A female leader who was moving into the Chief Operating Officer role at a large manufacturing company requested executive coaching to support her as she transitioned into her new role. She had experienced several leadership development trainings in her company in the past, but had never had an executive coach. Her overarching goal for the engagement was to establish herself as a trusted leader among those who had previously been her peers as well as those who were now her new peers on the executive team, as she viewed this as the key challenge she needed to overcome to ensure a smooth transition. The leader completed individual assessments, and Kate interviewed her key stakeholders to generate 360° feedback for her. As they reviewed the data together, the leader identified three areas to focus on in order to achieve her goal:
-
Learning more about key customers, and other areas of the business in order to be an effective partner to the other C-Suite executives.
-
Strategic thinking, acting and influencing to identify and drive critical changes needed in operations in order to make the company successful.
-
Large scale change leadership and communications, to ensure alignment in her organization as she began to drive necessary changes.
Kate and the leader met a minimum of twice per month over the engagement. The leader generally set the agenda for each call, focusing on topics or situations of relevance to her given her goals. Kate brought strong listening and inquiry skills to the discussions, and also provided relevant tools and resources to assist the leader in navigating her challenges. The leader measured her success by ongoing feedback from her colleagues, the establishment of a strategy for her function, and relevant measures related to her strategy.
Executive Coaching
Inspirati Leadership Solutions works directly with senior leaders and executives in confidential one-on-one sessions to identify and achieve leadership development goals.
Coaching packages are tailored to meet the specific needs of each leader, but typically involve the following over a minimum of six months:
-
Coaching engagement alignment, including stakeholder engagement and management
-
Discovery, utilizing various individual and 360º assessments and reflection exercises
-
Goal setting and development planning
-
Goal implementation
-
Progress measurement
Kate is a Certified Executive Coach through the Center for Executive Coaching and also holds the ACC credential from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the BCC credential from the Center for Credentialing and Education.
Leadership Development
Inspirati Leadership Solutions designs and facilitates in-person, and blended leadership development engagements to build leadership bench throughout your organization. Each engagement is fully customized to your needs, beginning with a current state needs assessment. In large scale deployments, we partner with a network of other leadership development coaches and facilitators.
Case: Strengthening Leadership Bench
A global consumer goods company sought to strengthen its leadership bench among high potential directors and vice-presidents, while also increasing the entrepreneurial culture to fuel growth in new segments. We developed a week-long face-to-face leadership program, bookended by virtual connections to provide the support needed to transfer lessons back to the workplace. As part of the experience, leaders had the opportunity to:
-
Learn more about themselves through 360º and individual assessments
-
Practice strategic leadership capabilities as they worked together in a simulation to lead a global business
-
Receive confidential one-on-one coaching
-
Interact with executive leadership of the organization in sessions focused on the future of the company.
Some notable outcomes, in addition to increased leadership skillsets, were increased retention among leaders who participated as compared to those that did not and strengthening global connections and culture among leaders who did not automatically work closely together.
Organization Development & Change Management
Beyond leadership, aspects of organization design fuel the ability of people to work together effectively to achieve outcomes that matter. These aspects include organization structure and roles and responsibilities, as well as talent systems and processes such as performance management, succession planning and employee engagement.
At Inspirati Leadership Solutions we work with leaders to design organization structure and talent processes that ensure alignment and commitment throughout the organization. We do not bring “expert” solutions that you then implement. Instead, we work with you and your leadership team to co-design and deploy solutions that specifically meet your needs, gaining ownership of those who must implement them as part of the design and change management process.
Typical projects involve several phases:
-
Current state organizational assessment
-
Development of design criteria for success
-
Solution design
-
Implementation planning
-
Change management
Case: Restructuring the largest region of a $4B+ global organization.
Over a three-month period, Kate worked with the regional leadership team to design, develop and launch a new streamlined organization structure that both reduced costs and aligned with the company standing up global business units. She partnered with the human resources team to ensure strong collaboration and their support throughout the project.
Kate laid out a process that included a kick-off meeting of the team, current state assessment, working sessions focusing on successive detail in the design, and assignments each team member needed to complete between sessions. The process included development of design criteria, overall organization structure from “top to bottom” including functional requirements, role descriptions and the names of individuals in each role, and a talent assessment of the various levels of leadership. The leadership team presented their work in the workshops, identifying and addressing areas of overlap and coordination.
In concert with the team, Kate also designed a change management and communications process to engage various levels of leadership in the process. This extensive plan culminated in a three-day working session with the top 100 leaders in the region to help them understand the design, identify questions and areas of concern, and form working teams to address the concerns.
The new organization structure resulted in US$14M in annual savings, and in the quarter after it was announced the region made its numbers for the first time in over one year.
Executive & Senior Team Development
The leader’s intent is enacted through their team, so effective functioning of that team is critical for success. Inspirati Leadership Solutions works directly with the team to assess and develop their collective leadership impact, aligned with desired outcomes.
Typical engagements include:
-
Team leader exploration and identification of desired future state
-
Current state assessment, including interviews and assessments
-
One or more team workshops to gain alignment and commitment to team goals and development plan
-
Progress checks and measurement
Case: Building a Matrixed Team to Drive Growth
A leadership team was named within a larger business to pull together key functions in service of a growing part of the portfolio. Team members maintained their reporting relationships into various functions but needed to work closely together to ensure the building blocks were built for this new part of the business. We were asked to assist the team as they laid the foundational roles and responsibilities, as well as how they would work across their silos to ensure effectiveness. Through a series of interviews, meetings and two workshops, the team effectively:
-
Clarified vision and strategy
-
Defined roles, responsibilities and decision authorities for each member
-
Aligned on metrics for success overall, and for each member
-
Built relationships and a foundation of trust through team exercises, assessments, and sharing of feedback.
-
Put in place a process to continuously monitor themselves and their functioning as a team
The team was able to quickly share its clarity of direction and alignment with the broader organization, which then eased interactions with other groups. Over the next several quarters, the team also effectively tackled several process and system issues required to support this growing part of the business.
