Services

Decentralize Strategy 

We help clients develop models of team execution (MOTEs) and coordinate them among leaders. Each leader serves as the CEO of a single team, and each leader’s MOTE is the foundation for consistent execution and continual innovation. Today’s leadership paradigm directs senior executives to formulate missions, visions, strategic priorities, and sets of shared values. Then, with little guidance or collaboration, executives hold junior leaders accountable for achieving assigned sales goals and other quantitative outcomes. In contrast, we focus on perfecting the narrative element of strategy that falls between platitudes and sales quotas. We guide leaders in articulating their MOTEs as inspiring stories – and coordinating their MOTEs with peers, superiors, and subordinates.  

Clarify Roles

Clarifying roles is often the simplest and most productive improvement initiative. Our clients define roles as sets of key activities. For each activity, leaders provide clear instructions and performance expectations. Role clarity reinforces consistent execution and continual innovation.

Align Rewards 

Senior executives often proclaim the importance of teamwork, yet they apply team-toxic reward systems. They apply forced rankings, fire low-ranked employees, encourage anonymous feedback, put individual achievement ahead of team results, and provide only zero-sum advancement opportunities. Inadvertently, they turn team members into adversaries. We help clients develop simple base pay structures, present clear opportunities for advancement, optimize non-compensation rewards, and construct variable rewards that align people toward common goals. 

Acquire Talent 

In the age of scarce talent, successful companies present alluring employment brands, expand their candidate pools, and select people who will excel in their roles. We guide clients in every phase of talent acquisition from planning through onboarding – both for internal and external hires. We help clients position themselves favorably on their websites and social networks. We also help clients clarify and improve their hiring and onboarding processes, often shifting accountability from Human Resources to hiring managers. 

Develop People  

In the face of accelerating change and declining employee loyalty, we help clients prepare team members to reach full productivity quickly. With role clarity as the foundation, we help clients split their roles into concrete learning modules, begin teaching on the first day, and coach and evaluate people based on role-specific standards (not rankings). By shortening learning curves, our clients boost performance, slash costs of turnover, and maintain productivity as steady flows of new people move into and through teams.  

Streamline Human Resources 

By simplifying HR administration and preparing leaders to manage people consistently, we increase HR ROI while focusing clients on building company value. Within HR administration, we focus our clients on optimizing:

• Payroll
• Benefits design and administration
• 401(k) and profit sharing
• Applicant tracking and communications
• Tax-advantaged executive compensation
• Legal compliance

Preparing leaders to manage people independently requires teaching/coaching leaders to develop MOTEs, define roles, acquire talent, develop people, and guide a team to achieve shared results. By streamlining HR, our clients reduce Human Resource department costs while improving leadership and people-management practices – a giant step toward building company value.