SERVICE: EXECUTIVE COACHING + 360 REVIEWS
Reignited A Global Firm’s Strategy to Attract and Retain Top Talent
Case Study Summary
As part of a significant reorganization, a global consulting firm decided to examine the way it conducted professional development and technical competency evaluations. What they discovered was disquieting. Many employees were randomly matched with mentors with whom they shared little in common. On the technical competency side, senior people were often charged with evaluating junior professionals who they did not work with directly, making it impossible to make an informed assessment based on direct experience of their performance. Turquoise Consulting designed and delivered a workshop that helped leaders clarify their mission, improve communication and articulate a process for moving forward. Participants were able to able identify all the moving parts, pinpoint the required resources and skillsets, and create a feasible roadmap and timeline to implement the initiative.
The Challenge
Client: A Fortune 500 Consulting Firm
Identify and Remove Obstacles to Implementing a New Professional Development and Performance Evaluation Initiative
As part of a significant reorganization, a global consulting firm decided to examine the way it conducted professional development and technical competency evaluations. The results were disquieting. Many employees were randomly matched with mentors with whom they shared little in common. On the technical competency side, senior people were often charged with evaluating junior professionals who they did not work with directly, making it impossible to make an informed assessment based on direct experience of their performance. The structure and processes caused confusion and upset. A group of senior leaders came together to work with human resources to disentangle these crossed wires. They proposed a new program to train various people in the firm to become professional development coaches. Some would be responsible for employees’ career trajectories and professional growth and others would be invited to join a task force to evaluate technical competencies. But the initiatives stalled at the starting line.
Analysis & Diagnosis
Internal Tensions Around Vision, Value and Process Blocked Progress
The client engaged Turquoise Consulting to design and deliver a workshop to help senior leadership understand why they were struggling to move forward with this initiative and to jump-start the momentum. After interviewing everyone involved, Turquoise identified a number of different tensions that surfaced throughout the conversations. Turquoise produced a strategy brief with a series of questions to consider and prioritize, to help guide the development of an internal program designed to resolve the roadblocks.
The Solution
Upend Business as Usual and Inspire Deep Thinking
After a series of stakeholder interviews, Turquoise created a two-day workshop to present its findings, forming a safe space with no constraints to upend “business as usual.” The program immediately reduced tensions and discomfort, and clarified challenges and opportunities around the development and evaluation program. Turquoise presented a white canvas to inspire an experimental mindset, test out new ways of thinking, and design impact-focused internal programs and initiatives. The group work was followed up with a 6 month coaching engagement with each executive.
Turquoise helped the senior leaders identify four core pillars upon which they should consider building their professional development program, working with leadership to answer key questions such as:
What value did this initiative offer to the firm?
What were the types of questions they need to ask themselves and other stakeholders to ensure success?
What was this professional development team’s overarching function within the firm both short and long term?
How would they define each coach’s role and what specific accountabilities would they have to each other?
What programming and offerings would help create a sense of community for the coaches so they would feel integrated into the organization instead of working in isolation?
What was the hybrid skillset that employees really needed?
What resources were needed to train and support an effective program of professional development coaches?
How could the program be used as a recruitment tool and sold as differentiator in attracting top talent?
How could they sell their program internally to gain buy-in and garner support for the initiative?
Turquoise worked with the group to set clear expectations for collaboration, establish frameworks for action and articulate accountabilities to ensure progress and impact. The group work then segued into a 6 month 1:1 coaching program for each executive.
The Impact
A Renewed Direction for an Initiative Critical to Talent Development
The workshop provoked deep thinking and provided a productive environment to unite senior leadership behind the strategy. The leaders clarified their mission and articulated a process for moving forward with the new professional development and evaluation program. Turquoise also worked with senior leaders to defuse tensions in the future. The workshop helped them understand how important it was to ask questions about, not judge, behaviors they saw as being out of alignment. Participants also learned how to call each other out when they saw or experienced behaviors that caused issues in a caring, but effective way; and to give and receive meaningful – and specific – feedback. By the end of the workshop participants were able to identify all the moving parts, pinpoint the required resources and skillsets, and create a feasible roadmap and timeline to implement the initiative.
Illustrations by Ellice Weaver