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By sector

ACE Leadership Case Studies:

Financial Services
Information Technology
Tourism & Leisure
Public Sector
Professional Services
Charity
Leadership and Culture Change
Strategic Planning and Execution
Leadership Development
Strategic Planning
Change Management and Strategic Problem Resolution
Business Launch
Business Turnaround

We’ve put together a few case studies, so you can learn about the success we generate for customers when they approach us for help with typical business issues. All of these cases involve a combination of Leadership, Strategy and Execution through application of the ACE concept and aligned decision making, planning and briefing processes. Please call us for further information and we’ll be happy to put you in touch with our clients so you can hear first-hand about the results we deliver.

Change Leadership, Driveline (HBOS Australia)

The Engagement

Capital Finance had to undertake a major change that included a significant downsizing exercise, concurrent with the adoption of new technology and processes to better meet its business objectives and service level agreement key performance indicators. A key part of this change was the development of leadership in depth within the business unit in order to facilitate the change, increase accountability, initiative and innovation in order to improve performance on an on-going basis.

The Client Perspective

“My organization has worked with Jeremy and his team for the last two and a half years. During this time we have been undergoing rapid change in all aspects of our business. They quickly developed an understanding of what we do and formed partnerships at the organizational and individual levels. They continually clarify what we are trying to achieve and provide honest feedback when required. Many factors have been at play but their contribution to our results has been significant. The major results are as follows:

Jeremy’s company continues to work with us seeking out new opportunities to help us to drive the business forward, rather than trying to repeat past interventions, as we are now capable of running those independently.” Mike Begg, National Manager Risk Management, HBOS Australia

Reshaping a Technical Support Division

The Engagement

The Technical Support Division (TSD) of a 30,000 person ‘internetworking vendor’ client has moved from a confused, frustrated and direction-less group in 2004 to a team that is delivering on schedule, on budget, and with extremely high spirits, commitment and teamwork in 2005.

TSD has been heralded as the standard for cross-functional teamwork and organization within the company and has been recognised externally with the presentation of two industry awards.

The key to TSD’s success and ‘change of state’ is the quality of leadership exercised by the Director and the management team. This is largely due to an effective 3-day programme of ‘process based’ leadership development conducted in 2004, and the rigorous and continuous application of the Aligned Decision Making and Planning process, with facilitated 2-day workshops in 2004 and 2005 to create the FY 2005 and FY2006 strategic business plans.

The process has created the clarity needed for true focused alignment with commitment to and accountability for the resulting plan. With just one slide, the leader can brief internal and external people on the group’s mission, purpose, structure and strategic plan – this replaces an initial pack of over 25 slides. The following specific outcomes have been seen:

The Client Perspective

“The Company’s Technical Support and Documentation Website department, which I led, has used Jeremy Tozer’s leadership development and his decision making and planning methodology which is a key part of the development programme for three years now. Initially, it created clarity of vision, mission, purpose and plan where we had confusion and lack of direction. The level of clarity and the buy-in obtained through the process for creating that ‘clarity’ has resulted in unity, cohesion and collaboration within the team.

Campaign Planning and Aligned Decision Making is a dynamic and flexible process that we use to kick off all our projects and to define our annual business plans. My management team buys into the process wholeheartedly because of the immediate outputs and the consequences of those outputs. The methodology has now become embedded within my group, building our capacity to deliver.

As a result, we have been recognised as a model of effective global cross functional teamwork within the company, we have had our budget increased, and we have won two industry awards following the execution of our 2005 strategic plan.

We have been recognized by the Service and Support Professionals Association (SSPA) with the 2005 STAR Awards for Best Practices in the Self-Service Category. We have also been cited as one of the Ten Best Web Support Sites by the Association of Support Professionals (ASP). This is another prestigious award that showcases excellence in online service and support.” Director, US Internetworking Vendor

Tourism & Leisure Business Turnaround

The Engagement

Best Western is a co-operative association of over 4,000 hotels in 80 countries, with 220 hotels in Best Western Australia (BWA). These properties are independently owned and operate under the Best Western brand with its centralised systems, standards, policies and procedures. The Australian business had been suffering and Rob Anderson (himself an hotel owner and BWA member) took over as Chief Executive Officer in October 2005.

Rob engaged with Tozer Consulting (TC) soon after his appointment. Jeremy Tozer worked with Rob to clarify, simplify and develop the existing strategic plan using the TC Aligned Decision Making and Campaign Planning methodology. The result was a one page document that illustrated the desired ‘end state’, the functional lines of activity to be pursued in order to achieve that, together with a prioritised sequence of concurrent and consecutive projects and tasks.

Shortly after this, TC worked with Rob to cascade the resulting plan to BWA head office managers, and assisted these managers to apply the same thought process to projects and operational work identified on the strategic plan. The aim of this was to enable understanding, to align all thought and activity to the higher intent, to promote ‘ownership’, and to improve the quality of execution.

The Client Perspective

“I contacted Jerry within a month of starting as CEO of Best Western Australia. Our organization had reduced by over 30% in the last five years; customer satisfaction was the lowest of all 19 Best Western organizations in the world; staff turnover year after year was in excess of 50% p.a.; and revenue was on the brink of freefall.

Our initial response was all hands to the pumps but it was clear that just working harder was not going to change our outcomes enough. We needed to reduce operating costs by 25%, increase output by 30%, improve the quality of our services and increase marketing programs and spend. The organization required substantial change, painful decisions needed to be made and we needed a committed team from top to bottom for any chance of success.

We are now a year through the process and the turnaround is well underway. In less than 8 months we doubled customer satisfaction and there is more to do; business already is up 11% overall with some hotels reporting increases of over 50% in bookings; staff turnover for the last 6 months has been nil. We have launched two new marketing programs; four new support/training programs and our Quality Assurance audits have shown accuracy increases from 48% to 97% in less than a year. This in addition to maintaining all existing services has been achieved with 25% fewer people. Another huge benefit is that the head office is a much happier and satisfying place to be.

Critical to these achievements are the processes we followed from Tozer Consulting. The two key elements were, first; in achieving clarity and understanding of aim, purpose and strategic plan which allowed us to define roles and responsibilities, reduce waste and duplication. The second and most energizing process was the ‘cascading’ of information, discussion and engagement with all the staff. The vast majority of initiatives and improvements have come from this process and the alignment and ownership that resulted.

It is interesting to note that when I started we were spending $1.25m p.a. on external consultants, that figure is now $150,000. This is one of the significant benefits of the Tozer Consulting process, it is not that it proved many consultants were not needed, but that our internal competencies have now increased to the point we do not need so much external help. The simple truth is that TC’s assistance has proved vital in our turnaround and was and is the critical factor in the speed of change we have been able to achieve.” Robert Anderson – Executive Director Best Western Australia

Removing a $5 Billion Roadblock

The Engagement

A past participant of a client’s five day ‘global high potential leaders’ programme’ saw the value of leadership process on the programme and engaged Jeremy Tozer to teach the process to and facilitate its application with a group of executives who were dealing with an ‘insoluble problem’.

A market leading US internetworking company wished to change the business model which governed the way in which it worked with its channel partners in providing service, maintenance and spare parts to end user customers (governments, corporations and telecommunications providers).

The channel partners approved, in general terms, of the change providing that US$5 Billion of spares in the global supply chain could be removed without it financially hurting them. Naturally the client did not want it to hurt them either. This problem had existed for a year with no progress being made by the 12 executives working on it.

Global Service Support (GSS), a division of the client, were asked to propose a solution(s) for conversion/utilization of this inventory to:

The team conducted Mission Analysis in small sub-groups. Clearly, some people thought that they were solving an entirely different problem – no prior collective thought had been given to the real aim and purpose, hence the low level of progress made. Questions about ‘higher level intent’ produced answers that indicated that either the matter had not been fully appreciated above, or that ‘clarity’ had not been cascaded down. After half a day, the team were able to state a clear, concise unambiguous aim:

To remove the inventory roadblock in order to facilitate migration to shared support.

This looks simple and obvious to an observer but it took some heated discussion to reach agreement.

Having identified factors affecting the aim, deductions should have been made about the implications and what tasks had to be completed. However, it very quickly became apparent that there was little or no relevant information actually available and therefore few meaningful deductions could be made. What the group was able to do was identify the specific questions that needed to be asked and of whom, in order to obtain the information required from which to make valid deductions. While ‘the course of action (CoA) open’ in detail could only result from a full analysis of factors; several CoAs, in very broad outline, could be identified without waiting for answers to the questions referred to above.

A full and accurate comparison of these CoAs could only result from making deductions about the answers to the questions. In the absence of this though, the team was surprised at the number of advantages and disadvantages that could be stated about the options that were identified. Since the initial appreciation, three options have been ruled out by the CEO and detailed work is progressing on understanding the other two.

The Client Perspective

“The aligned decision making and strategic planning process is probably the most valuable business lesson I have learnt in the last five years, it has significantly improved the performance of myself and my team by doing the thinking up front and implementing a course of action that needs little or no re-engineering and is easy to adapt as the situation changes and evolves.

I can't speak highly enough of the process – it works to great effect. The speed at which the problems are solved and the quality of the output is fantastic! People become engaged and ownership is built while clarity of what, why and how is created. The process stops people jumping to conclusions and doing things the way they have always been done. The quality of thought and ideas is greatly improved. Using the process improves the atmosphere in meetings by reducing tension in the room and focusing on a common goal.

I highly recommend that every leader takes the opportunity to learn the process, use it every day for problems big and small, and experience the motivating effect of making the right decision every time.
Director, Internetworking Vendor

Setting Direction, Chamber of Commerce

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Launching a New Business

The Engagement

Numeritas is a fast growing UK based niche consultancy organization specialising in financial modelling. It has recently identified a new market for related services which could lead to its revenues increasing by a factor of ten. The investment required by Numeritas to develop and offer the new service is however very significant and would involve a step change in the company’s strategic direction. A further challenge is the need to keep the business going whilst marshalling the resources required to develop and market the new offering.

Tozer Consulting was asked by the directors of Numeritas to help them encapsulate the future strategic vision for the company, taking account of the potential new opportunity and to facilitate the development of a plan to achieve that vision. In a two day workshop with the directors we facilitated the strategic planning process. We started with ‘Mission Analysis’ to elucidate and articulate Numeritas’ prime purpose. A key component of this was the directors’ own personal aspirations and ambitions. Having gained agreement on this purpose, we then helped them develop their thinking by eliciting the principal factors affecting the aim, the impact of these factors and the steps that were required to progress matters. From this process we helped Numeritas produce a prioritised and resourced plan of action, with particular focus around how the ongoing business could be managed while the shift in strategic direction took place.

At the time of writing Numeritas are in the course of implementing the plan that was produced at the workshop.

The Client Perspective

“I was most impressed with Tozer Consulting’s ability to drive through a structured process to deliver a quality plan in such a short space of time and their insight into our business. Our new opportunity involves a whole host of complex issues that need to be resolved and prior to the workshop we were struggling to clarify their relative importance and impact. We found Jeremy’s relentless questioning instrumental in enabling us to gain a clear view of our future vision and how to get there. We also found the whole experience great fun as well as productive”.

Denver McCann, Director, Numeritas

Charitable Leadership

The Engagement

Working Families is a charity that helps children, working parents, carers and their employers find a better balance between responsibilities at home and work. It has a very significant profile relative to its size and financial position, largely achieved by the loyalty and commitment of its staff, with effective support from the trustees. Having strengthened its Board and reviewed its strategic direction, Working Families was poised to expand the range and scale of its operations. However it was felt that the charity’s staff first needed to improve their planning, decision making and leadership skills to ensure that the new plans could implemented successfully.

Tozer Consulting was asked by Working Families to run a two-day leadership workshop for their entire team of 24 staff. In the workshop we led discussions around the concepts of leadership, planning and decision making as applied to Working Families circumstances and ran a number of practical exercises which reinforced the lessons learned form the discussions. Having assimilated the techniques involved in the ACE (ability, clarity, environment) approach to leadership, and the process for campaign planning and aligned decision making, the group applied what they had learned to a number of live issues that Working Families need to address in order to make the new strategic plan work. The implications and decisions arising from this analysis at the workshop have since been developed further as an integral part of the plan’s implementation.

The Client Perspective

“I was looking for a highly practical and engaging style of leadership development as my team had made it clear they were not interested in a theoretical approach. They regarded two days out of the office as a big investment on their part and would only commit if they could get some good ideas and action plans to help them in their day-to-day work. Although I personally had every confidence in Jeremy’s and David’s ability to deliver what we needed, the acid test would be the reaction of my team. This turned out to be extremely positive: they learned a great deal, had a lot of fun, worked together very effectively as an aligned team and came a way from the workshop with a host of new ideas and approaches to dealing with the challenges that we face.

Unusually, in my experience, the techniques introduced at the workshop have continued to be applied in the office, which has led to shorter, more effective meetings and a much clearer set of action plans being developed and implemented. A common catch phrase now heard in the office is ‘Let’s just ACE that’. I really do feel that we have made a major step forward in the way we work and operate. Hats off to Jeremy.”

Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive, Working Families

Setting The Direction For A Chamber Of Commerce

The Engagement

Having regenerated itself over a three year period to a position of financial stability, the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce recognised it needed to develop a new strategy to take advantage of the opportunities arising in and around Plymouth for the city’s economic development. A number of complex and inter-linked issues needed to be considered such as:

We were initially asked by the Board to run two strategic planning sessions for them. In the first we helped a Board working group to identify the impact and effects that the Chamber should have on its many stakeholders, to define its role and its purpose and from there arrived at a clear statement of intent for the organization. Carrying on using the ACE planning approach we helped them to assess the various factors affecting the achievement of their aim, the activities needed to address these issues and the timing of their implementation. This resulted in a proposed strategic plan which in the second session was presented to the entire Board: the aim being to secure their buy-in to the thinking behind the plan by concurrently presenting the ACE planning process with the plan itself.

This was achieved to such a successful extent that we were immediately asked to apply the ACE planning process to help the Board resolve a number of critical areas within the plan. These included Board role and structure, brand image, commercial opportunity selection and engagement with the membership. Tozer Consulting has been retained as on-going advisor to the Chamber, with the remit of facilitating future complex issues requiring resolution.

The Client Perspective

“Initially I was quite sceptical that Tozer Consulting would be able to help us. The breadth of activity, diversity of our membership and sheer number of stakeholders with whom we have to deal mean we have to operate in a constantly shifting and complex environment. How could a small outside organization get up to speed quickly with our issues and find a clear way through the maze?

My doubts proved to be unwarranted. The ACE strategic planning approach is surprisingly powerful for something that in concept is so simple. Perhaps it is its simplicity that makes it so effective. In any event in a very short space of time, through Tozer Consulting’s help, we arrived at a new statement of intent, objectives and a means of achieving our aims. I was especially impressed with the process given that our Board consists of some of the most successful businessmen and women in Plymouth who don’t hesitate in coming up with alternative views. To achieve 100% buy-in to a three year strategic plan so quickly with 16 people on the Board was remarkable.”
David Young, Vice-Chairman, Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and Industry

© Tozer Consulting Ltd 2007.