Company Background:
An educational publishing company with twenty years of success was suddenly faced with tremendous growth opportunities. How to manage for growth was the issue.
The Situation:
Faced with a management team who wanted to do it all, the CEO was looking for ways to make the management team “more strategic” and thus focus on the new opportunities in front of them. But, doing this also required they unburden themselves with many tasks they had been doing and delegate them to their staff. This called for a new way for them to restructure the responsibilities of the management team in supporting these growth initiatives.
The Process:
Inner Resources worked with the CEO and the executive team in designing the first formalized five-year strategic growth plan for the company. Through a series of one-day sessions, the team crafted a complete strategic plan including:
- A concise Mission Statement and set of Core Values to capture the real essence of the company’s success both past and future
- A clearly defined five-year vision based on a well thought out set of key assumptions considering internal/organizational factors as well as external/market trends
- A set of Strategic Growth Initiatives that required the work of cross-functional teams to address critical needs in achieving the vision.
After the plan was complete, Inner Resource worked with the CEO and her executive team to design a special company-wide meeting to communicate the newly designed Strategic Plan. Having never done this before, this required unfolding the plan in a way that would inform and engage all employees in how they could be a part of the execution of the Plan.
The Outcome:
In the CEOs words, the company-wide rollout meeting was “the single best day in the Company’s 20-year history.” Today, the Mission of the company is proudly displayed as a banner across the wall of the newly renovated conference room – visible to all as they enter the Company’s offices. New workflow processes guide all projects providing a more highly efficient coordination and communication among the three critical functions. Freed from everyday managing, the CEO and her executive team are on the road talking to clients and prospects.