Big Picture Perspective
Case Studies

Case #3: Start-Up: Performance Infrastructure

An entrepreneurial start-up, preparing to do an IPO, was concerned about their mediocre financial performance. The company was not performing to its potential and the CEO was interested in a motivational speech and team building for an upcoming annual meeting. Our assessment revealed that there were more fundamental issues that needed to be addressed.

Problems the client brought us:

		Jonathan, the president, wanted his top people to have management training.
		Jonathan was disappointed in the company's financial performance and he was anxious to do an IPO!
		He was interested in a motivational speech and team building at the annual company-wide meeting coming up in 6 weeks.

Big Picture Perspective Approach:

		The assessment revealed that the client had tremendous raw talent and ideas, but poor infrastructure, poor management and leadership skills and non-existent processes.
		Jonathan's communication style was a mix of directive and indecisive. We immediately started coaching him and two of his managers in Peak Performance and Leadership principles.
		We supported the sales meeting with a keynote address to catalyze the discussion about corporate-wide performance. Facilitation and team building including a customized simulation was also provided for the annual "all hands" meeting.
		We supported the team by facilitating decision-making in meetings and facilitating their definition and documentation of high performance processes.
		Peak performance, leadership and team development concepts were taught in experiential settings and then applied to urgent tasks at hand. Team development is ongoing.
		We are providing a temporary chief operating officer (COO) to support development of a more customer and profit oriented business model through critical processes and infrastructure.

Results to date:

		The president, Jonathan, has developed a stronger leadership presence. His staff and the board of directors have both commented about his increased clarity and leadership improvement.
		All of the VPs including the two who were receiving performance coaching had improved performance results. Financial and project results are both ahead of schedule.
		Morale is up.
		Customer satisfaction is up as a result of improved consistency from the developing infrastructure.

Ongoing:

		COO position continues for next 3-4 months.
		Coaching and team development ongoing.
		A customized management development curriculum has been developed, and its implementation is ongoing.
		Weekly e-zines and monthly departmental meetings support team building and development of high performance culture.