How One Company Planned Their Trip
The Challenge
NewCo Publishing was founded by an energetic entrepreneur who created a business model that called for growth through the purchase at a rapid rate of small "mom and pop" publishing companies across the country. The CEO/owner was highly capitalized and had a strategic vision second to none. He wanted to build the largest and best publishing company in the United States.
But the CEO recognized that he faced challenges: the process of growth had moved forward so quickly that he wasn't certain the company had the right leadership team or culture to support the growth. Employees were added as acquisitions occurred without time to think about how they would impact the culture. Some leadership had been acquired, but none of the managers had experience running a larger company. While the CEO still had great faith in his vision, he wasn't certain that his team could execute it.
The CEO of NewCo Publishing called on The Oliver Group to assess his organization to determine if he was ready to implement the plan required to take his company to the next level.
The Oliver Group then worked with leaders to conduct an Organizational Inventory to determine the current effectiveness of NewCo operations. Once documented, the inventory showed where process could be improved, allowing an integrated approach to organizational performance management to be established.
The Process
To begin the process, it was important that the CEO at NewCo Publishing first identify the overriding needs of the situation. Through a facilitated planning session, several issues percolated to the surface. The company had several questions:
- Since it was essentially a company cobbled together from many independent companies, were the internal operations as efficient as possible?
- What was the culture? Was it the culture that would sustain their desired success? How did the purchased companies change the culture?
- Were people in the right jobs to achieve the goals established by the CEO?
While completing the process inventory, The Oliver Group analyzed how individuals and teams work together within the operations. Of particular interest were assessing the leadership team, determining the current culture, and evaluating how newly acquired employees would change or enhance that culture. Several tools were required to gather such information including the Predictive Index, and 360° leadership assessments. These tools provided the information to evaluate the fits and gaps of the current leadership team and the culture compared to the strategic plan. With the new information, The Oliver Group could make recommendations to the CEO about the future of his company.
The results indicated that there was not a true sense of culture within NewCo, but there was a great opportunity for the CEO to work with his employees to create their own culture.
The Change
At the conclusion of the assessment, the CEO of NewCo Publishing had a picture of his team, their strengths and challenges, the gaps between where the company was and where it had to be to successfully achieve his vision. After implementing specific recommended actions such as development of his leadership team, a communications plan and the addition of key positions, the CEO was well on his way to achieving his vision with The Oliver Group as his strategic partner.
