Workplace: Train-the-Trainer: The Magic Bullet©
Training Makeover
A cosmetic company experiencing a major growth spurt recognized the need to advance their training efforts to accommodate and maximize their transition from a small start-up to a bona-fide and structured corporation and the increase in the sales force that went with it. We were brought in to teach the Director of Training our Magic Bullet© Train-the-Trainer method where she learned how to assess and determine organizational needs, write programs, create presentations, deliver them and teach others on the training staff how to do the same.
Brand Development: Corporate Identity: Corporate Voicing
Applying Foundation
While evaluating the needs of a fashion company, inherent inconsistencies were revealed within the organizational structure that led to the discovery of disparate structures and fragmented organizational messages. We analyzed policies, positions, titles, compensation, roles, responsibilities, reporting lines, business needs and business objectives. After a simple before-and-after organizational evaluation, it was apparent that a foundational need for role definition and performance evaluation was necessary. The project scope then expanded to include an overhaul of corporate communications and human resource infrastructure which included crafting an employee handbook, training manual, mission statement, performance evaluation system, job descriptions and training programs, all to cohesively reflect the voice of the company.
Workplace: Program Design: Customized Content
Managing Cultures
A financial services firm spun off from a global Fortune 100 company and needed management training. Historically there had been communication problems surrounding employee performance and managers’ abilities to develop their staffs effectively and constructively. The training challenge was to create a program that addressed the needs of both existing employees who were already deeply acculturated and incoming employees who were new to the company and to management responsibilities. In order to prepare this company’s first generation of managers in unison with the needs of the new culture, we were hired to customize a training program to accommodate this specific population that focused on employee development through feedback.
Workplace: Team Building: Just Plain Games
Teaming Up
A top Wall Street Investment Bank had an incoming class of 225 Analysts who were scheduled for intensive new hire training. Among many of the overall program goals, one was to allocate one day to team building. The objective was simple: to provide the team with an experience that represented the spirit of the company. The day was important because it was vital that the new hires internalized the firm’s culture from the very beginning.
We met the objective by customizing a full day of activities. The morning was spent in a circuit competition of games built for groups of forty at a time. The second half of the day was spent in a scavenger hunt and grand finale competition.
Workplace: Team Building: Custom Framing
Fashioning Incentives
A fashion house gathered for their National Sales Meeting which was focused on accomplishing two goals:
- To motivate sales people to increase productivity
- To devise incentive programs that would drive sales performance. Store Managers were challenged by existing incentive programs which had become stale and ineffective.
Rather than providing a formal training program, we facilitated an innovative two-hour session where we helped managers create contest strategies that would motivate their sales teams. By assisting the group with their own creative process, they were able to revive and transform the use of existing contests into an important, strategic management tool. Through the cross-pollination of ideas, the managers returned to work with executable contests to use in their stores.
Strategy: Business Consulting: Organizational DNA
Business That Flies
An aerial acrobatic performance company hit its first growth spurt and needed to respond quickly with solutions and implementable strategies. They had multiple revenue streams that were being generated from a school, performances, corporate events and equipment rentals.
We first structured the organization in tandem with its roles so that organizational responsibilities were aligned with the needs of the business. From there, we planned the allocation of resources to support the combined needs of the employees and the business.
The next challenge was to capture the potential of the school since its enrollment was increasing rapidly. Again we focused on alignment by structuring schedules, rates, levels and a work-study program to be mutually reinforcing and complementary. And to create a progression plan, we designed promotion and graduation criteria, teacher/student roles and requirements along with a teacher certification program.
We continue to build infrastructure and develop strategies on both the micro and macro level with each expansion phase to support this company’s growth.
Brand Development: Sales and Marketing: Real Retail Strategies
Formulating Plans
A company with a new product needed to formulate a sales and distribution plan in order to secure the funding necessary to start production. We looked at their product mockups and line plans and provided them with a detailed five-year forecast which included gross and net sales, gross margins, distribution channels, and sell-in and sell-through costs.
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