The context

The North American arm of a global services company formed by multiple acquisitions still operated like a collection of individual businesses. By aligning its leaders, ZRG helped the firm win new business, reduce costs, and increase employee satisfaction. A real estate and financial services company had grown largely via acquisitions to become a global enterprise with over $1B in annual revenues. Despite its strong brand and leadership position in the marketplace, the firm struggled to align its resources to drive organic growth. Different organizations operated almost wholly independently, and senior executives were pursuing different agendas for the company.

Our approach

• Walked senior leadership through a Senior Team Alignment Process (STAP) to unify the group around a single strategic view of the business and its future. Created a strategic business framework that highlighted key objectives and measures for the organization. The process also identified the most important opportunities to pursue and the critical issues that would stand in the way of progress.
• Helped the senior team launch project teams to study the six most pressing issues and opportunities, selecting 48 high-performing, high-potential leaders to participate in a performance leadership initiative. Leaders worked for 100 days on cross-functional teams and developed solutions for their assigned projects. They then received feedback and coaching on their leadership behaviors. Each team then presented final recommendations and clear implementation plans to the senior team, which make real-time yes/no decisions on each recommendation.

Results

• One team's recommendations helped the company close of $35 million in new business.
• One team's recommendations saved the company almost $1 million annually in working capital costs.
• Team focused on employee engagement made recommendations that earned the company a spot on Fortune's 100 best companies to work for.
• All project teams enhanced their skills and deepened their engagement while developing long-lasting networks and shaping the organization.

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