Case Studies

Case Study No. 3: Using Staff Feedback to Improve Organizational and Individual Effectiveness

"It's like night and day around here," says the CEO. "I can't tell you how glad I am to have embarked on the Winning Workplaces process. I can't think of anything that has had as positive an effect on our company, and in many ways, on me. Thank you."

The Issue
Winning Workplaces was retained to work with a special events design company. Although the company had been extremely profitable, and had enjoyed double-digit financial growth during each of the last several years, the company's CEO had a number of concerns regarding his staff. In this regard, several of his staff appeared at times to
be experiencing morale problems. In addition, the company had recently gone through a period of significant organizational growth, and he was concerned about employees' ability to adapt to this growth. Although the company's CEO had attempted to talk to his employees about his concerns, he did not feel that he had a good sense of what was affecting them, or what he should do in response.

The Response
After meeting with the company, Winning Workplaces recommended that we conduct a series of focus groups and interviews with employees to learn more about what they were experiencing. After doing so, two main sets of issues emerged. First, employees raised concerns about several organizational-wide issues, including issues pertaining to management-staff communication, rewards and recognition, teamwork and collaboration, and work/life balance. Second, several employees expressed concerns over the CEO's personal leadership style. In this regard, some employees expressed feeling unappreciated by the CEO for their contributions and accomplishments, while others expressed the view that they did not feel that the CEO always treated employees fairly.

After presenting the company with this information, Winning Workplaces worked with it to develop an action plan. First, the company retained Winning Workplaces to work with a cross-functional task force of employees to develop a series of recommendations to address organization-wide issues. After doing so, the task force presented its written recommendations to senior management. All but one of the Task Force's recommendations was accepted and adopted. Winning Workplaces also began providing executive coaching to the CEO, working with him on issues pertaining to his personal management style, including issues relating to leadership, communication, and staff recognition.

Impact
As a result of this process, employee morale and productivity are considerably higher. The CEO reports that employees are functioning better as a team, adapting more easily to the growth which the company has experienced, are even more committed to the company's continued success. In addition, the CEO reports that as a result of working with Winning Workplaces, his effectiveness as a leader has been significantly enhanced. This increased effectiveness has been noticed by his staff. Shortly after beginning his coaching work with Winning Workplaces, the CEO received an e-mail from one of his key staff members. The e-mail said: "I wanted to tell you that it is clear to us that you have really taken to heart all of the issues that surfaced from Winning Workplaces. Everyone is talking about it and thought you should know. The effort that you are making shows and we all really appreciate it. From the new sales meetings, to keeping us all involved, to your general demeanor around the office – we are aware of the Herculean effort you are making. Thank you."

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