Following are examples of how ThinkSmart has worked to address different issues and achieve positive outcomes for our four main client groups: Organisations, HR Departments, Teams and Individuals:

ORGANISATIONS

Cultural change and post-merger realignment
The merger of two financial providers, each with 3,000+ staff and many duplicated functions, required a range of our services. Clear goals, staff buy-in and a delicate touch were crucial. We began by designing and facilitating a series of workshops that brought together the top 120 executives from the two merging organisations. Given that only 50% of this number could stay on in the new entity, there was fear, hostility and uncertainty as well as some optimism. Our processes ensured that each of the executives was fully prepared to re-apply for the available jobs. In follow-up workshops we helped the successful applicants unite as a team and develop detailed 10-year strategies and models for the business. The result was a merger that is considered to be one of the most successful and seamless possible, for staff, customers and shareholders.

Improving staff recruitment and retention
One of Australia’s largest federal government agencies found it was having trouble attracting and retaining critical talent segments in a tight labour market. At the same time, it was unable to effectively shed underperforming staff in other operational areas which had very low turnover. In a major project, we consulted the many relevant areas of the department, analysed the externally competitive industry segments to which the agency was losing potential recruits, helped develop a value proposition for the organisation that proved very effective in attracting talent, and worked with the management team to develop improved staff review practices which addressed under-performance.

HR DEPARTMENTS

Special project development with HR staff
One HR department sought us out because they had decided to conduct a staff engagement survey, but had never done one before. We coached them through survey design and implementation, then coached them through the analysis of the data and the reporting of it to the executive and the staff. With a strongly increased skill set, the department is now able to do annual staff surveys with ease.

HR audits and Professional development for HR staff
In a typical example of the way our packaged HR services work, a small professional services organisation with no HR department as such, engaged us to audit all HR elements within the organisation, including recruiting and reimbursement, performance reviews and retrenchment policies. We were able to identify areas that needed improvement, and provide practical, benchmarked industry-applicable comparisons and information in order to achieve those improvements.

TEAMS

Conflict resolution
A medium-sized team in a fast-moving media company found itself losing productivity and missing sales opportunities thanks to interpersonal conflict between peers and between staff and managers. Initially brought in to coach one of the individuals, we were soon able to pinpoint the real cause of the problem – a middle manager whose had decided to operate under his own rules, flouting company practices. Working with the team and the executive to whom it was answerable, we were able to get the team back on track, with a measurable increase in staff satisfaction and sales results.

Dealing with inter-departmental breakdown
The Australian arm of one of the world’s largest fast moving consumer goods manufacturers was regularly failing to meet deliverables promised to major retailers. Our analysis identified the problem: a breakdown of processes and communication between the product applications and development group and marketing. We then worked with both areas of the company, together and separately, to fix the problems, leading to immediate improvements for customers and staff.

Cultural realignment
A very busy and successful media organisation found itself under increasing pressure after a merger with two other similar, but different, entities. Unresolved cultural, structural and operating changes, increased workload and (proportionally) decreased staff numbers had led to low morale, client dissatisfaction and a decrease in output. We worked with the organisation by designing and delivering a one-day workshop, supported by a preparatory team effectiveness assessment and using the Whole Brain Thinking Model, to identify individual strengths and styles and use those newfound insights to build a cohesive, unified team, clear about its common goal and much more effective in reaching it.

Developing management team leadership skills
The Australian arm of one of the world’s largest ad agencies asked us to design a custom-made training module for a one-day leadership skills development workshop for its management team. Specifically, the workshop needed to explore the concept of emotional intelligence and self-awareness, and develop an understanding by all participants of how this affects their leadership style. It then needed to provide participants with the skills to assess the areas where each could improve their leadership, more effectively motivating their staff and aligning those staff to the corporate vision.
In this case, the agency wanted its executives to facilitate the workshop, so we coached the executives in the lead-up to the workshop and worked with them afterwards to analyse its effectiveness. Other clients prefer us to facilitate such workshops, which is, of course, among our services.

Annual organisational assessment
Each year for the past five, we have worked with a major player in Australia’s financial services sector to conduct a whole-organisation Business Excellence and Engagement Survey. This rigorous and carefully designed survey successfully extracts key information from staff in all areas. Results are presented to all employees, and worked through with executive and management teams, who very productively use each year’s findings to build on the improvements from the year before. This is a great example of how ThinkSmart can work proactively to help your company grow, as well as finding solutions to existing problems.

INDIVIDUALS

Performance coaching
A typical example of our work in this area is the help we provided to a talented executive who found himself somewhat out of his depth when the size of his department more than tripled after a merger. A strong performer in many aspects of his role, he needed our assistance to develop his departmental planning skills, his relationship management and conflict resolution skills, and the communication skills that were hindering his contact with the board and his direct reports. In 12 one-to-two hour sessions over a period of five months, we gave him the intensive one-on-one help he needed to be a star performer, now marked for further advancement.

Back to Outcomes | On to Engaging Our Services