A major retailer in fashion and beauty

Infusing leadership skill and aligning teams throughout the United States, with a startling result.

Need

A multi-billion dollar retail division was rapidly growing but there were straining issues as a result. A new vice president of Human Resources determined that the organization, broadly, could benefit from leadership skills and team alignment processes. Given she was a recent arrival, she was reluctant to recommend any kind of program for the senior regional line management who were driven by daily business pressures and who were shunning any HR trainings for themselves.

Assignment

The assignment involved initial, nuanced intelligence gathering to determine what specific skills and team alignment challenges existed. Then, we developed a training and skills development program for mid-level managers across the United States. The launch, however, used a cascading approach, which allowed TRI I to introduce regional vice presidents to the core elements of the training their people were about to receive. This had a double benefit:

• The regional VP’s were primed (and acculturated) into how best to act and support their subordinates, through leadership and team alignment skills, so they could demonstrate leadership, support and mentoring of their people.
• The regional VPs, who were not open to direct training and skill development for themselves, actually received a somewhat abbreviated (and modified for them) program before their subordinates.

Then, TRI I expanded the program through a series of multi-day workshops, which we designed, facilitated and coached across the United States. In total, more than 1,000 employees were involved.

We never lost sight of our clients – the corporation. Nor, did we forget the HR VP who hired us. We provided her with additional executive coaching and a full program in leadership skills.

Results

We brought management employees into the process subtlety, which met with high acceptance. The specific programs gave individuals and teams much needed skills and processes. An intense sense of camaraderie and motivation followed. People were so grateful for the truly hands-on caring and development we provided, that morale and performance shot up within 90 days!

The startling results – Because the programs were so enthusiastically talked about within the organization, the CEO asked for in-depth leadership and team alignment support for her own operating committee. This culminated in a five-day off-site retreat, unheard of in retail culture which usually is driven by daily metrics.

For the next six years, the company had us back on a variety of assignments.

And, the Human resources VP who initially brought us in? She went on to a board level position at the holding company.