A global manufacturer of transportation products required assistance with organizational strategy and employee engagement. The business had been flat for several years and employee morale and trust in senior management was declining.
The company asked Unique Business Solutions for assistance in creating a 3-year strategy and engaging employees in the process to help improve employee morale and increase trust in senior management.
After meeting with the President and Chief Financial Officer, we recommended a process to engage a second tier of 15 leaders, as well as the executive staff in the organizational strategy process.
The 15 second tier leaders became engaged in the process and their level of trust in senior management increased. This led to a continual cascade of communications and trust to other employees. The 3-year strategy also created specific, measurable objectives for key process owners as part of an overall performance management system linking employees to department/division goals, to corporate priorities. As client expectations were exceeded, Unique Business Solutions was requested to facilitate an AL2A process with the clients' North American Dealers.
"Unique Business Solutions assisted our efforts in developing a three-year strategy. The benefit of collaborating with them is that the plan and process were personalized to our organization. They facilitated the process with three groups of organizational leaders: two leadership teams and our mid-level leaders. Their recommendations aligned with our corporate objectives, and are designed to create competitive advantages and strengthen partnerships with our employees and dealer network. We are in a better position to proactively respond to the future demands of our industry. We believe that the strategy will benefit our future and look forward to partnering with Unique Business Solutions in the years ahead."
A $50 million national mechanic contracting and engineering company was interested in creating a strategy. They had used a third party several years ago and were not satisfied with the results. Therefore, they had been doing the process themselves the past few years and felt like results were fixed. The president recognized the need for an independent advisor to assist to help facilitate an organizational strategy for the company to move to higher levels.
Unique Business Solutions used its continuous review process to facilitate sessions with more than 15 company representatives, including senior leaders and mid-level leaders. The goal of the sessions was to create a 3-year organizational strategy.
Unique Business Solutions created and communicated a plan to key stakeholders. The process is to continuously review the strategy which involves Unique Business Solutions returning to facilitate meetings four times a year, to help ensure the success and implementation of the plan. The meetings have been scheduled and the plan is being implemented.
The organization is asking Unique Business Solutions to help with specific objectives within the plan, specifically leadership development and training and organizational development.
"Unique Business Solutions took a daunting and complex organizational strategy process and made it enlightening and enjoyable. By integrating our entire organization into the process, a collective empowerment was achieved in determining the future direction of our firm. Unique Business Solutions' ability to ask strategically relevant questions helped us define and refine our core competencies, and guided us in defining new markets and revenue channels. They took the complex and made it simple and engaging. We're extremely pleased with the results and have partnered with Unique Business Solutions on other projects."
"Unique Business Solutions' real strength is being a student and facilitator of the organizational strategy process. They engage and challenge participants to think beyond their current mental boundaries. Our employees and board members were encouraged to think "out-of-the-box," which generated new, enlightening ideas. Unique Business Solutions' process was different from others as it encouraged more participation and team building in creating a vision for our organization. The result was a consensus plan with detailed objectives and measurable components."
A large sheltered manufacturing workshop performs packaging services for national manufacturers. The profits of this workshop provide funding for a large non-profit human services organization. Over the past several years, the workshop had become increasingly dependent on one customer, accounting for nearly 80% of its revenue. With a unique mission to provide human aid services for its employees before seeking profits, this organization had to balance its mission with its goal of growing overall revenue while decreasing revenue from its main customer to 50%.
The organization asked Unique Business Solutions to create a 3-year strategic plan and a comprehensive business strategy to reduce the dependency on one customer and drive the organization into the future.
Unique Business Solutions held a strategic planning session with the organization’s leadership team, and conversations with key Board members enhanced the strategic direction beyond the session. Unique Business Solutions’ exclusive, trademarked AL2A (Ask, Listen, Learn & Act) process was performed with the main customer and several other key growth opportunity customers. Along with other secondary research of the organization and packaging industry, information was synthesized to create a detailed, process focused strategic plan and business strategy. The plan and strategy outlined goals to grow overall revenue while increasing revenue from multiple key customers.
The organization and its leadership team used its strategic planning as a catalyst for a significant shift in thinking – resulting in full blown change management. Following the reorganization, key members – both leaders and non-leaders – became change agents affecting the cultural direction of the entire non-profit agency. Committed to continuous process improvement, the first key process change was to identify the right people for the right roles. People identified ways they were most useful in the change process and embraced the roles they played as change agents. Financially, revenue from the main customer is steady and growth opportunities with other customers are abundant. The partnership continues to grow as the non-profit human services organization has also requested Unique Business Solutions partner with them on a strategic plan.