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Employee Engagement :: Case Study

Industry: Financial

Asset Base: $1 Billion + (Private)

Business Profile: Securities and Investments

Customer's Perception of Need Challenge
Department limitations were hindering the ability of the Corporate Communication’s Department to meet strategic goals. The department manager identified the following needs as hurdles that must be overcome:
  • To improve leadership skills of individuals in the department
  • To understand and reduce department conflicts and improve productivity
 To assess and analyze diverse problems affecting department employees and identify solutions, including resources or training programs, that would meet the needs of the department manager and the employees.

Pioneer Marketing: Model Implementation

Explore Chart
Interviews were conducted with all department employees and a report identifying five key issues was developed. Findings discussed with the department manager included: Strategies to resolve the five key issues were identified. Supporting activities for each strategy were proposed and employees who would benefit through participation in the activities were identified. A timeline was developed and resources who could facilitate the activities were recommended.
Establish
  1. Employees were concerned about of the tension in the department. Contributing to the tension were job insecurity, organization and reporting structure and several personnel issues.
  1. Restructure the department
    1. Use an outside facilitator to lead a meeting with the manager and supervisors. This meeting would look at:
      1. The reassignment of projects and responsibilities
      2. Effectiveness of telecommuting
      3. The kind and quantity of information shared at team meetings
    2. Provide coaching for the supervisors that would focus on:
      1. Resolving performance issues
      2. Handling conflict
      3. Motivating employees
  1. Employees felt they were at a disadvantage because of their lack of knowledge and understanding of the company’s new direction and strategy.
  1. Schedule frequent meetings with the president to:
    1. Discuss how and where the company fit into the industry
    2. Explain in detail the corporate strategies and how the company planned to reach new goals
  1. Lack of time was a significant issue. Employees felt they needed more time to provide better quality service to their internal clients and to develop a higher quality end product. They believed that the pace of the work caused them to be merely reactive, with no time to think.
  1. Use an outside source to improve team and individual time management and increase productivity.
  1. The majority of employees believed they did not get the respect and recognition they deserved due to the fact that the internal clients did not value the benefits provided by their department.
  1. Help employees learn successful communication techniques.
    1. Provide proven methods to help employees work effectively with others who:
      1. Are in higher-level positions
      2. Disregard advice and recommendations from subject matter experts
    2. Invite other professional communicators who have succeeded in similar environments to discuss what worked in their situations (“How it worked here...”)
    3. Work with a facilitator to develop a written “awareness” plan to promote awareness of and the value of Corporate Communications to internal clients.
      1. Include objectives, strategies and implementation tactics for each internal client.
      2. Determine measurable results that could be tied to performance.
    4. Establish a methodology and documentation process to measure the impact of communications programs on the profitability of the company.
  1. Employees made it clear they wanted to do their jobs better.
  1. Identify appropriate training targeted at the improvement of job skills, including:
    1. Cost-effective training in software programs and project management
    2. Strategic and critical thinking

Results

Through this focus on employee engagement, we defined the real problems and outlined strategies to resolve the issues. We identified resources - within budget parameters - that had the expertise to implement the strategies and tactics. Recommendations were presented to - and accepted by - the department head.