P4 is proud to have contributed to the growth of various companies through HR and leadership solutions. Below are some business success stories you can read to learn how we addressed various challenging situations. Contact us to learn how we can help your company thrive.
Designed and implemented supervisor training to significantly enhance supervisor capability and effectiveness.
Situation:
A company was rapidly expanding, and several new employees had recently been hired to take on supervisory responsibilities. Furthermore, existing employees who would be promoted to supervisory positions required training to effectively perform their jobs. P4 was asked to create and deliver customized training for these supervisors to help them thrive in their new roles.
Solution:
P4 identified and developed focused training for this group of supervisors with assistance from company management. The training was scheduled to correspond with the supervisory team’s operations at specified periods throughout the year.
The subjects prepared and given to this team were the following: conflict resolution, successful performance reviews, uncomfortable conversations, informal feedback, positive reinforcement, progressive discipline, supervisor’s role, and effective leadership. The training sessions also included open dialogue and role-playing activities to present the group with hands-on examples of real-life situations they might face.
Impact
Coaching engagement with a senior leader to fully leverage strengths and address potential derailing behaviors.
Situation:
A business director was promoted to vice president of a global business. He was incredibly intelligent, and his contributions to the bottom line frequently exceeded even the company’s expectations. However, he had a blind spot—working with people he felt were not keeping up with him.
He had the potential to be a great leader. Unfortunately, his tough demeanor and harsh behavior in meetings were affecting morale and lowering the effectiveness of his leadership team. P4 recommended that the VP go through an executive coaching process to provide insight and approaches to improve his behavior.
Solution:
One of the advisors at P4 presented the coaching purpose and process in the first session, complimenting the VP on his eagerness to learn how to be a better leader, even if portions of the talk were tough to hear.
The advisor suggested specific VP behaviors that should be reinforced and negative behaviors that should be halted or changed (e.g., talking over others, cutting people off). He mentioned specific occasions (dates, meetings, or talks with others) where the adviser witnessed or other team members reported certain behaviors. For each observed behavior, the adviser described the impact and consequences of the behavior on others and to the organization.
Furthermore, the advisor helped the VP understand that no one was questioning his intent; the impact of his actions made people flinch. The VP was then asked to propose alternative behaviors that he could do to help his diverse leadership team and the organization have a more positive work environment. The VP and the advisor agreed to meet once a week for executive coaching to connect and review progress.
Impact
The VP valued the information and suggestions he received during the coaching sessions. He made an honest attempt to change the behaviors that were hindering his performance and training others using the skills he received from the P4 advisor.
He shared the major takeaways from the coaching sessions with his leadership team to be upfront and open. Furthermore, he gave an excellent example of taking responsibility for one’s conduct. He also concluded that coaching is one of the most successful strategies to increase work performance. In addition, he said that leaders, supervisors, and managers who know how to provide and receive coaching will nearly always create a more positive environment in which their teams can succeed.
Process was introduced to identify, select, and accelerate the development and retention of top talents.
Situation:
The client, a huge global industrial organization, lacked a structured process for recognizing and advancing top talents. This substantially limited the number of qualified applicants available and caused discontent and high turnover among employees who were dissatisfied with their rate of advancement and worried about future opportunities.
Solution:
A global process was created that allowed organizations to identify key talents by systematically measuring performance and potential using a standard framework. Talents were divided into numerous pools to build a pipeline of future leaders at all levels of the organization. All top performers were given individualized development plans that were comprised of assignments, training, mentoring, and coaching. The leaders ran the process and ensured that key developmental appointments were aligned and that the talent pools were reviewed regularly.
Impact:
In anticipation of the retirement of the CEO, a process was implemented to identify and recruit a successor.
Situation:
A family-owned-and-operated business needed help designing and implementing a leadership succession plan. For several years, the company had been managed by a charismatic leader who had informed the Board of Directors of his intention to retire in two years.
Solution:
We established key success criteria for the next organizational leader working with the Board and the retiring leader. This was demonstrated via interviews with the organization’s leadership team and Board members. The criteria were used to establish an external search for a successor and identify several candidates within the organization.
The Board and the retiring leader established expanded roles for the internal candidates to determine their leadership abilities. They interviewed some external candidates and selected three to be further evaluated by Board members. Following that, the desired candidate was chosen.
Impact:
The candidate chosen by the Board has shown to be an exceptional successor. She has been able to position herself as a recognized leader within the company and generate external business relationships that have guided and improved her performance. Her direction and leadership have helped the organization develop and prosper for the past several years.
Reinvented and streamlined the performance management process to help change the organization’s culture.
Situation:
The senior leadership of a newly acquired worldwide business sought to change the culture to comply with their core goal of putting the customer first. HR was entrusted with reinventing and streamlining the performance management system to visibly link performance to rewards. In addition, they were tasked to ensure that individual goals were to be closely linked to and matched with business goals and objectives.
Solution:
Impact:
We developed an effective and efficient performance management process to link pay to performance. Because the new PM process was transparent, straightforward, and comprehensive, the feedback from managers, supervisors, and employees was overwhelmingly positive after the first year of implementation. Supervisors regulated differentiation within the performance categories to produce a natural bell curve in every business region.
Designed and implemented HR structure and processes to support a company that was rapidly expanding.
Situation:
The client, a privately owned industrial company in Beijing, China, had three major business activities—a well-established energy business and two start-up businesses. They were supporting the three businesses with separate HR teams, with little real thought given to developing a comprehensive HR strategy.
The company was determining the most appropriate organization for the time being and how it might change in the future. There were some issues with the current setup. It was difficult for small enterprises to finance dedicated resources and develop the necessary skill. There was also duplication of effort in HR policy and process design.
Solution:
Despite the businesses being very diverse, there was a substantial opportunity to leverage and standardize many policies and processes, use some HR skills throughout the entire firm, and keep business-specific HR people in key roles.
A hybrid structure was created with a corporate HR leader, business-specific HR leaders, and Centers of Excellence for specialized HR functions. Even when working as part of a centralized team, resources were embedded within each business. The structure was developed to alter the model as the new companies grew.
Impact
An organization undergoing structural change and the challenges of COVID-19 required HR leadership support.
Situation:
Given the impact of COVID-19 on its workers and leaders, a client providing healthcare and counseling services to schools needed help ensuring federal and state standards were followed and documented correctly. The client was also involved in forming a cooperation agreement with a federally designated health center to provide additional services and assistance to its clients.
Solution:
During COVID-19-related adjustments, client support was provided to ensure that all applicable federal and state programs were followed. A filing system was constructed and maintained to retain all essential information, and documentation was prepared. HR leadership and support was also provided to assist the customer in forming a partnership agreement.
Impact:
During the partnership formation, personnel who moved from one company to another experienced a smooth and seamless transition. HR policies were reviewed and updated to reflect the new partnership agreement.
Successful communication and roll-out of strategy and values created for two organizations that had recently merged.
Situation:
Recently, two Fortune 500 companies merged. The merger took a long time, producing widespread employee dissatisfaction and severe turnover, particularly among key talents. The new company was eager to re-establish trust and present an exciting future vision.
For the new company, an effective business plan and a renewed set of values were created. The task at hand was to communicate the strategy and values while acknowledging the uncertainty that existed and generating excitement and momentum for the future.
Solution:
To ensure that all worldwide personnel was connected in a short time, a comprehensive communication plan was devised. A small working group was formed, with members representing all aspects of the global company. Team members led local focus groups to understand concerns better and provide feedback on the communication plan’s design. Furthermore, a multi-pronged plan was created, with a significant focus on dialogue rather than presentation.
A website, video messages from leaders, leader-led training on the values, substantial communication bursts, a poster campaign, and meetings with all employees were all part of the communication plan. In major employee hubs, face-to-face meetings with senior leaders were organized. Leader-led virtual workshops were also held for smaller groups and distant employees. After the engagement, communication continued, with employees sharing accounts about how they were putting the new values into practice.
Impact
Developed and implemented a set of values to support the future growth of a former state-owned enterprise.
Situation:
The company, a rapidly growing Chinese organization, had been initially a state-owned corporation in the energy sector. Its current leadership team was concentrated on updating existing operations and expanding big commercial opportunities in the chemical manufacturing and retail industries. Although the company had a clear and aggressive business strategy, it lacked the guiding principles and behaviors that would serve as a road map for employees to embrace and achieve exciting objectives. It was evident what needed to be done; therefore, the next step was to define how the organization would operate.
Solution:
A small project team that was comprised of a few key leaders and employees representing all parts of the organization was assembled to develop a recommendation for the senior leaders. Working together, the team quickly identified six key values that would create an organization that would help them build an organization that people would be proud to be a part of and gain a competitive advantage by leveraging the skill and commitment of the entire workforce.
Impact:
Clear values defined the desired organization’s DNA and hastened the desired change. A powerful communication tool also helped energize staff and accelerate operational transformation, particularly in the areas of respect, safety, accountability, and initiative-taking.
The values were helpful in attracting new employees to a company that was relatively unknown. Performance management, leadership development, career development, succession planning, and recruitment were interwoven into core HR procedures, ensuring that values were swiftly instilled in day-to-day activities.
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