Case Study: Creating a Culture of Performance and Accountability

Company

Midwest insurance and professional services company.

Challenge

The client was near completion of a three year strategic plan but was unsure how to implement the new plan. The company had yet to develop unit level plans and it was unclear which projects should be accomplished to reach goals that were established in the strategic plan.

Intervention

Bâton Global (B|G) and the client created a strategic planning system focused on the development of high level initiatives cascading into unit-level three-year plans with aligned goals and metrics.

Results

The establishment of measurable goals and initiatives resulted in improved performance across the organization. Project team members drove the completion of initiatives and emerged as organization leaders.

The scope of this project includes four main areas of activity:

Insight

The Insight phase of the project focused on the analysis of the existing strategy culture, processes and documents system in order to move towards a new aligned and dynamic strategic planning infrastructure.

Conducted interviews and sessions with President and C-Suite team to explore existing strategic planning process, the firm’s challenges and opportunities, and inventory future ambitions.
Working sessions with all managers in the company to conduct internal and external organizational and strategic analysis.
Management team taken through “Think Big” exercises to encourage divergent thinking. Ideas were then thematically coded for presentation and further refinement.
Through iterative exercises with managers and senior management team, ideas were distilled into three high level initiatives. Remaining initiatives were de-prioritized until future dates.

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Innovation

The Innovation component of the project focused primarily on organizational culture.

The firm shifted from an acceptance of the status quo to one driven by a “Think Big” culture supported by a robust and sustainable strategy process.

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Integration

The Integration phase of the project focused on supporting the internal team to share results across the enterprise.

Once all initiatives were approved by senior management, sessions were conducted with all unit level managers to create goals and metrics that aligned with the overall enterprise strategy.
Leadership development with the executive team about strategic planning and continuous improvement.
Presentation of new strategic infrastructure to the Corporate Board of Directors.

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Impact

The impact of the project went beyond what was originally envisioned:

Strong performance supported by strong culture: Emphasis on aligned goals and metrics has led to shared higher performance standards.
Leaders emerged who were identified for further talent development. Project team members were promoted into executive positions.
Three high level initiatives were developed and accepted. The first, “Vision, Mission, and Values,” was implemented by B|G and the project team.

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Creating a Culture of Performance and Accountability

Company

Challenge

Intervention