Case Study

Becoming a Competitor

Situation:

Our client, a quasi-governmental agency, wanted to transform its culture into a competitive organization able to compete with private companies, in order to reduce their risk of privatization.  The Executive Director knew that achieving this objective would require a change in the way leadership thought, behaved, performed and went about getting results.  H-C-HSM was hired to assist the agency with its two-and-a-half year transformation process. 

Solution:

H-C-HSM conducted an organizational assessment to determine the competencies, skills and qualities the agency possessed vs. what it needed to possess to transform itself into a competitive “entrepreneurial” culture.  The assessment consisted of interviews with leadership, observation of workplace interactions and behaviors, and surveys. Based on the assessment data, we learned the following:

• The specific organizational and individual core competencies required for excellence in the new culture

• The level of resistance to change, both by department and across the entire organization

• Management’s perspective about change

• Communication problems exist, related to understanding the new culture

After the assessment, we began to collaborate with the client and developed a systematic process for transforming the agency.  Some of our interventions included the following:

• Developed a competency matrix that identified the competencies for each level of management

• Designed a 360-Degree instrument and assessed each manager’s competencies using the instrument

• Identified gaps in performance and expectations using the 360

• Developed a competency-based learning & development curriculum for leadership, using the 360 data

• Provided one-on-one coaching for each manager in the agency

• Assisted managers with creating their individual development plans

• Provided training on understanding and managing change

• Facilitated quality improvement meetings with the agency’s staff to involve the employees in the change process, gather information from them regarding how the agency could improve its efficiency and reduce expenses, and gain employee buy-in

• Developed a communication strategy for explaining the business case for the change

Outcome:

• Each manager participated in the 360 process
• Managers created and implemented individual development plans for improving their performance
• The organization began to shift the thinking of its employees from a bureaucratic environment to one that was competivitive and focused on continuous quality improvement
• Over 300 employees and 24 teams provided hundreds of recommendations for improvement. Many of the recommendations of the quality improvement teams were implemented, saving the agency money, improving the operations, and changing the culture.