Challenge:

Strengthen a Best Place to Work

A top-ranked employer in a major metro area wanted to know what it could do to enhance its already strong corporate culture.

Solution:

Conduct Employee Focus Group to Identify Areas for Improvement

To determine how best to fine-tune an already strong culture, The Chatfield Group conducted a series of employee focus groups to pinpoint areas of opportunity. Feedback from these focus groups suggested the need to strengthen communications. In particular, employees said organizational silos were stifling communication across business lines, hampering the ability of employees to build cross-functional product knowledge, and interfering with career advancement.

Focus group participants cited the need for a performance management process so employees could get the feedback they need to improve. And they highlighted their interest in formalized training and development opportunities, adding that managers, in particular, should improve their listening skills to do a better job eliciting ideas and feedback from employees.

Key Focus Group Recommendations

After an analysis of focus group feedback, The Chatfield Group presented specific recommendations to the company, including the following:

• Strengthen Branding & Marketing: Update marketing materials to reflect a shared vision and consistent messages … Build deeper awareness of products and services at all levels…
• Break Down Organizational Barriers: Build cross-functional alliances and teamwork to combat organizational silos that stifle communication across business lines … Expand personal relationships across functions…
• Strengthen Communications: Increase straight-talking business updates from key executives … Create opportunities for employees to connect face-to-face across departments and levels and to offer suggestions…
• Give Employees First Crack at Open Positions: Update the job-posting process to give employees first consideration for open positions … Require that jobs be posted before recruiting externally…
• Provide Focused Training and Development Opportunities: Target leadership development … Provide 360-feedback to high-potential managers … Train executives and managers on listening skills, on providing feedback to employees, and on facilitating employee suggestions … Provide work-flow training to help employees in process-oriented jobs identify process improvements…
• Require Goal-Setting and Performance Reviews Firm-Wide: Hold top executives accountable for reducing organizational silos and for improving communications … Ensure that managers take responsibility for cascading business goals across their departments and for conducting annual reviews with their direct reports…
• Communicate About Pay Practices: Provide employees with clear communications about the company’s pay policies and how pay is linked to performance…

Tags: Culture — Focus Groups — Organizational Structure — Employee Retention — Training — Career Development — Process Improvement — Performance Reviews

Challenge:

Restructure Compensation to Support Anticipated Growth

A fast-growing, privately held manufacturer of building materials needed to establish a formal compensation structure to better support its rapid growth and help it transition to a pay-for-performance company philosophy.

Solution:

Design of Comprehensive Compensation Structure

During this engagement, The Chatfield Group teamed with management to restructure roles and reporting relationships. We also wrote job descriptions for every position and market-priced all jobs so they would fall within the company’s new pay structure and salary ranges.

The Chatfield Group worked with management to introduce a formal, performance management program that aligns pay with performance. As part of this program, we designed performance-based incentive plans for both management and sales personnel. We also implemented a 12-month training & communications program to facilitate the company’s transition to a pay-for-performance philosophy.

Tags: Pay for Performance — Organizational Structure — Incentive Plans — Training — Job Descriptions — Market Studies — Performance Reviews

Challenge:

Improve Organizational Structure & Performance

A $15-million national association needed to strengthen its performance management process in order to address external pressures more effectively.

Solution:

Team with CEO & Directors on Broad-Based Performance Management Program

Working closely with the association’s CEO and directors, The Chatfield Group developed a comprehensive program to improve performance that included a new organizational structure and new position descriptions in addition to a new competency model for all levels of the organization.

The Chatfield Group also developed integrated performance management processes for the CEO and staff, training in goal-setting and performance management for directors and staff, and a 360-feedback process with development goals for key association leaders.

Tags: Organizational Structure — Performance Reviews — Job Descriptions — Competency Models — 360-Feedback