Client Stories

Client NeedAn enterprise software company made a large-scale strategic shift to focus on cloud-based offerings. The leadership team, though aligned on the goal, struggled to engage key stakeholders and implement the change efficiently. A lack of clarity and process blurred the overall vision and discouraged employees from authoring a way forward with the new business plan. With huge upfront costs for the company, making this shift successfully and swiftly was important to the leadership team to realize the value of their investment. Moreover, the time to profitability changed dramatically, demanding more from the sales team. Without alignment on process and customer retention, the change to cloud-based services wouldn’t prove profitable.After several failed attempts to drive change at scale by outsourcing to other partners, the sales operations organization decided to lead the work internally and engaged BTS to provide an outside perspective as a “guide alongside” during their transformation. The goal was to provide the wider organization – their key internal stakeholders – with more timely and accurate data to better support engagement with customers while creating a scalable culture of continuous learning and innovation across the sales operations organization. The leadership team wanted this organization to feel true ownership and pride for the transformation and looked at this effort as a chance to rebuild the confidence that was lost during prior failed attempts.SolutionOver the course of two years, BTS introduced approaches to boost morale and engagement within the sales operations team and invited them in to co-create the future of the organization. We challenged team members to shift the current way they were thinking toward one that required them to step into the shoes of the sellers they supported in order to solve problems in new ways. By reflecting on their stakeholders’ needs and overall user experience, and practicing simple, yet powerful, approaches to problem solving, sales operations team members implemented critical mindset shifts needed to make the change stick.A few of these powerful approaches and shifts included:

• Building deep user empathy to support the shift toward solving challenges with the “customer’s” end in mind. Team members spent more time proactively defining the problems to be solved for specific sellers and sales managers rather than just responding to requests from leadership. They considered who these sellers and sales managers are, the outcomes that matter to them, and why they are so important. These questions then became commonplace in team conversations as they sought to articulate and focus on identifying the right problems to solve in order to move change forward.

• Challenging conventional wisdom to focus on possibilities for solutions rather than advocating for which solution is “right” or “wrong” before getting data and insights. BTS facilitation helped guide leaders to build agreement and communicate with team members around guidelines for ideation implementation and success. A critical focus question was “What would need to be true for this idea to work?” Leaders asked all sales operations team members to address this question when presenting possible solutions, debating the path forward, and working with cross-functional team members. This disciplined focus tapped into opportunities for many voices to be heard and set the expectation for all team members to think differently about what is possible.

• Using creativity and diversity of thought to shift from building a perfect plan to recognizing that there are risks that can be avoided and others that just need to be managed when they occur. BTS prompted leaders to look toward the future and imagine what might cause a particular strategy, idea, or project to fail. This helped them to better prepare and mitigate emerging risks and obstacles. By prioritizing these risks based on the level of impact that they may have and assessing the probability of them happening, team leaders were better able to determine which threats to tackle first.

As a result of this engagement, and the team’s ongoing efforts leveraging their new ways of working, the sales operations team met their targets in the first quarter of the subsequent fiscal year, removed many unnecessary steps in the process, and maximized efficiency for their sellers.ConclusionThis journey equipped leaders to build an organizational culture of learning, innovation, and efficiency. As a result, they were able to scale their business and grow both their top and bottom lines. This shift in process and culture helped the team realize the potential profit that cloud-based transition represented for the future of the wider organization. Adding structure forged a connection between vision and execution, making the strategy tangible and actionable. Refocusing on customer needs created efficiency that earned back valuable time for sellers in the organization. In the end, solving from the perspective of sellers in service of the company’s broader transformation toward a more cloud-based strategy laid a successful foundation that is leading the company to long-term growth.Client feedback“As a result of going through the experience, my team asks better questions and is much more engaged than in years past in looking at our key processes and identifying ways to innovate and improve to drive efficiencies. In fact, we recently reduced a key month-long process by seven business days which allowed the team to celebrate, take a day off, and, just as importantly, repurpose part of the saved time to deliver valuable insights to the business.”

Background“Drill baby drill.” Through the 1990s and early 2000s, anytime oil was mentioned, it was always in the context of “reducing reliance on foreign oil” and “how long before the world runs out of fossil fuels.” Oil companies started changing their strategies to look for as much oil as possible and use technology to solve some of the world’s toughest extraction problems. Pursuing every last drop of oil at all costs required multi-billion dollar capital projects in the remotest parts of that world that took six to ten years to begin production. But given how vital oil was to the world’s energy future and the perceived scarcity and increased value of oil, it was justifiable to shareholders to do so.Then came the shale revolution, which supplied the market with plentiful cheap oil. For a period of time in 2020, oil prices were trading below $0, and in 2021, the US actually produced ~80 percent more oil than Saudi Arabia. Although this presented a wonderful opportunity for oil companies, it also meant that the strategies, capital investments, capabilities, and culture they had invested in for the last 20+ years were no longer as effective or relevant. Studies indicated that the oil industry had spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to maximize volume that resulted in negative returns and demonstrated that, in fact, the industry would have been better off had they not invested in the vast majority of these projects.Client needBTS partnered with a multi-national energy company that had started shifting its strategies to respond to this challenging new reality. The company needed to replace its focus on growth and volume with a strategy of cost discipline, maximizing value over volume, and investing in assets that had a higher chance of returning a profit. On top of this, a new attention to carbon reduction targets was also required. Senior leaders first deployed this new strategic approach by cutting jobs, changing organizational structures, and rolling out new metrics and processes more conducive to this new reality. Recognizing the industry imperative for this change, employees immediately tried to embrace this new approach, but the company found that the new strategy soon faded as employees simply used the new buzzwords to justify their old behaviors and strategies. People were saying the right things, but their actions and behaviors did not reflect the new strategy.Although the senior leaders had done a great job of selling the organization on the future direction of the company and explaining the new strategy, employees didn’t know exactly how to apply this to the complex and nuanced circumstances they faced every day. When confronted with an ambiguous situation, employees reverted to the old way of doing things because this is what they knew how to do. And, because they were observing their managers and supervisors behaving the same way, they took this as tacit approval that behaving in the old way was still okay. In fact, for an organization that had just cut thousands of jobs, doing something different didn’t feel like the safe thing to do.ApproachBTS partnered with the client to enable them to scale strategy execution across the broader organization through the following steps:

1. Create dissatisfaction with the status quo and the old way of doing things. Although there was a compelling vision for the future and the strategy was working in pockets, the company had simply not done enough to first undo the past. For over 20 years, employees spent their working lives in an organization that believed that more oil was better. The company significantly underestimated how much this perspective become embedded in not just strategies and investments, but also the organization’s core beliefs. It was critical to stoke dissatisfaction with existing systems, processes, and metrics in order to make room for new ones.

2. Help employees experience and practice the new strategy within the context of the complex situations they faced every day. By having employees wrestle with and practice the new processes, strategies, and behaviors within the safe environment of a simulation, they found a way to avoid the temptation to revert to their old habits when they simply didn’t know how to apply the new strategy in real-life circumstances. Employees also learned new ways to think that helped them apply new principles to other situations. The experience fostered a risk-free environment which reinforced that doing things differently was indeed safe in the context of their real-life jobs as well. To drive enterprise momentum and accelerate adoption of these new behaviors, the different critical functions all went through this change process at the same time, ensuring shared understanding across the organization.

3. Create a two-way dialogue to help mid-level and front-line leaders author the critical processes and behaviors they wanted to see in their own employees, while giving feedback that would keep processes and behaviors in line with the new strategy. By having mid-level and front-line leaders author the behaviors they wanted to see, BTS and company leaders created ownership for change and the new strategy within this critical group of leaders who would then be modeling and enforcing the use of these strategies for their employees.

Results and next steps To propel the client to faster results and adoption, BTS applied several critical principles that the client embraced when engaging the organization. Today, these principles serve to position the company to make the moves they need sooner and deploy the right levers more effectively as they go forward to execute on their new strategy at scale.

• Principle 1: Critical leaders have an outsized impact on adoption. For strategies to take shape, it was important to target mid-level and front-line leaders to ensure they took ownership and accountability for change because they would be key in enforcing and modeling the steps needed to apply the new strategy.
• Principle 2: Adoption is faster in smaller intact teams that interact with one another frequently. It was important to bring together people from the same business unit or the same function to create peer-to-peer accountability rather than targeting a larger cross-functional group.
• Principle 3: Adoption truly takes shape when employees see that their colleagues are doing something differently. By targeting symbolic or highly visible situations and moments, the client signaled to their organization that this new strategy was now the norm and that it was safe to adopt.
• Principle 4: Strategy execution workshops needed to meet busy employees and organizations where they were by creating multiple ways to participate in the workshops. Workshops could be presented as larger multi-day events, but more often, they were incorporated into the flow of work by structuring learning and practice into shorter segments that became available right before a critical process or workflow was needed.

After applying these principles, the company reported over a billion dollars in capital savings that was reallocated to other projects that will meaningfully improve returns.Due to the long-term nature of the oil and gas business, the company will likely see even more significant financial results. Their initial reports indicate that the changes in behaviors, actions, and results are impacting their bottom line and moving this multi-national energy company in the right direction to execute on its new strategy.

Client need

A global healthcare organization’s leadership recently identified a critical gap in their sales managers’ abilities to coach their teams and provide feedback. Although the organization had attempted multiple in-house coaching programs over the years, none had fully achieved their goals, as participating managers applied their learning with limited success. The organization needed new approaches to helping sales managers fine-tune their feedback and practicing coaching in the flow of work.

BTS was already working with the organization to transform its larger culture through a separate global leadership initiative. Thus, when the organization sought to develop its sales teams, continuing the partnership and tapping into BTS’s trusted approach to sales coaching and feedback culture was a natural choice.

The solution

BTS and the organization co-created a solution that leveraged the combination of an experiential, practice-based workshop with two Practice with an Expert (PwE) sessions on the topics of feedback and sales coaching. Participating managers improved their coaching skills by accessing an interactive software platform called Momenta that allowed coaches to provide real-time feedback measuring aspects of sales managers’ performance, such as the number of open- or close-ended questions asked, number of powerful questions asked, and adherence to the coaching model.

‍Building capabilities: the feedback journey and PwE process

‍Sales managers completed a Moments-Based Assessment and attended a Feedback Workshop to unlock the right mindset for coaching conversations. During the workshop, leaders received simple tools for efficient and effective feedback communication. The majority of the time was spent preparing for and role-playing a realistic feedback conversation.

The PwE session embedded feedback and coaching skills through three simple steps:

• Managers received a customized sales case study that required them to provide feedback or coaching to a direct report.
• After reviewing the scenario, managers refined their feedback and coaching skills while role-playing with their coach.
• Coaches then interpreted qualitative and quantitative data from the software, identifying strengths and areas for improvement to be applied in the second, final round for both the feedback and coaching PwE sessions. Coaches also provided a final report with additional areas of improvement for sales managers to continue working on, also for both the feedback and coaching sessions.

Results

From the feedback-focused PwE session: by the second round, 86 percent of managers successfully leveraged all components of the feedback tools. 100 percent of managers were satisfied or very satisfied, and rated it 4.9 out of 5.

From the sales coaching-focused PwE: by the second round, 87 percent of managers successfully applied all components of the coaching model. 100 percent of managers were satisfied or very satisfied with it, and rated it 4.8 out of 5.

Throughout the coaching program, sales managers also received “Go-Do” actions that helped them bring the skills and capabilities they were exposed to in every aspect of the journey back on-the-job. All participants demonstrated a better understanding of the necessity of feedback, and agreed to future feedback and coaching conversations to sustain their learning.

Overall, the coaching program has continued to thrive, and the organization is currently facilitating PwE for a third cohort, building on its continued successes in sales manager coaching.

Testimonials

“I liked the ability to role-play the situation twice, and actually have the recorded assessment to give facts and data on how it went.”

“I had a great coach who was flexible in adapting to individual needs. We had profound [discussions] on coaching. Analyzing the conversation together was helpful.”

“The coach was well informed on the subject. In particular, I learned a lot about how to address the intangible. It was eye-opening for me.”

Client need

To support this world leading mining company as they implement a new business operating system. Their strategy was to apply industry-leading capabilities to world-class assets. Being an excellent operator is fundamental to this strategy. Their 4-year safety and productivity strategy journey has yielded significant benefits; however, they feel that they can be better. They believed that the world’s best companies improve faster than their peers and share a systemic approach to improving safety and productivity captured in an operating or production system. They wanted to differentiate from their competitors by providing consistent operational outperformance.

Their operational capability must be underpinned by world-class manufacturing systems and processes, and a productivity-enabling culture. Their end goal was to align around their strategy, operating philosophy and principles in order to become a truly great company. One that leads the sector, keeps their people safe, develops and builds capability in our people, generates outstanding shareholder returns, and meets the expectations of their communities and other stakeholders. The new business operating system would change the way they work through leadership practices, mindsets and behaviours, and systems and processes.Mindset and behaviour shifts were coached through the deployment of the management practices supported by the on the ground practice of ‘coaching and feedback’..

“This coaching program developed my skills to not only get the best out of myself but also to start getting more out of those I work with.”

“I have never been through a training program before that focused on my interpersonal development to this scale. So many so called ‘soft’ skills that I think would be valuable to so many other people that just are not aware they exist or how to apply them. Leading organisations that want to develop their people would do well to send people on this program, I don’t think there are ‘levels’ in the organisation where this would start to be useful, I think all levels would gain some benefit”.“This coaching series was perfectly timed and I was able to implement the learning for the training immediately and continuously improve by coaching skills and effectiveness!”

The solution

BTS had supported the company in the rollout since April 2020, through the offering of three coaching programs, supported by simulations:

• The Deployment Coaching consisted of 8 x 1:1 individual coaching sessions with a coach.
• The Site Coaching consisted of 8 x 1:1 individual coaching sessions with a coach.
• The Line/Line Technical Specialist coaching consisted of 6 x 2-hour pod sessions with small intimate groups of 6-8.

The solutions offered must assist in helping the implementation impact in the most effective way. Skills are to be respected and leveraged, people were empowered to think big and make a difference and their time is to be spent on improving and making each day better than the last.BTS assisted with empowering people through connecting them to their purpose, developing their capabilities to drive continuous improvement and empower them to bring forward their ideas and act on them.

Results

Experience Great Coaching:

• 92% Participants reported significant or some change as a result of the coaching
• 96% Would recommend the coaching to a colleague

Business Benefits:

• 22% noted an increase in efficiency in the workplace as a result of the coaching.
• 35% noted an increase in quality in the workplace as a result of the coaching.
• 6% noted a retention in talent as a result of the coaching.

Client need

A leading global social networking organization was implementing a new process for product development. To bring this structural change to fruition, the organization’s leaders needed to help their teams work together more cohesively. Thus, the organization partnered with BTS to help their people better understand their own roles, their teammates’ roles, and their collective goals, all to spur along the new product development process.

Solution

To achieve this goal, the company and BTS created a virtually delivered learning program that reached 260 people divided into 17 cohorts. Each cohort was comprised of both individual contributors and experienced managers across different functions.  The program, completed over the course of three months, consisted of:  

• Two half-day workshops
• Go-Dos, which are actionable steps to take back on the job
• Playbooks, a tool that demonstrates how each role can live the company’s values during their day-to-day work
• Experience maps, or self-development tools that 1) identify realistic, role-specific situations and 2) list actionable steps for building key capabilities

• Momenta: BTS’s proprietary digital platform that allows people to explore someone else’s role by accessing their playbooks and experiencing their daily dilemmas, ultimately building cross-functional empathy

The learning program was designed to meet people where they were and was fully customized to the organization’s unique values and culture.

Results

Participating managers have improved their abilities to ideate and follow through, align teams through difficult conversations, create attainable road maps, apply organizational frameworks, and measure success. As of now, 76% of the 259 participants have completed the initial phases of the learning journey, and have mentioned learning the following:

• “Don't be afraid to speak up, ask for help on understanding wants, needs and blockers, attend more meetings with [cross-functional teams], be bold, make assertions, [or] ask the hard-hitting questions."
• “I need to do a better job of avoiding heroic efforts personally to fix the problem. I need to also avoid micromanaging the team as they work through a course correction.”- Technical Manager
• “I would like to work on delegation through making better connections, [including] painting a clear picture of how my work will appeal to all stakeholders by gaining a better understanding of what is important to them.”

Client Need

A leading pharmaceutical organization experiences significant shifts in revenue and profitability tied to the development and approval of new drugs. These shifts require rapid adjustments in the organization’s go-to-market approach to ensure optimal investment of time and resources. The organization’s leaders need to be capable of pivoting and creating more agile teams to meet these challenges.

Solution

After running an internal development program that failed to equip leaders with these skills, the organization partnered with BTS to create a program that provided a personalized experience for each leader and centered on real challenges in the market.  The learning journey included three critical leadership areas: 1) Sales Leader as Coach; 2) Adopting a General Manager Mindset; and 3) Leading Others through Change.

Results

As a result of the program, Region Sales Directors reported feeling better equipped to coach their teams on innovative approaches to client conversations. Directors also reported that they were able to have more difficult conversations, recognizing that these conversations led to opportunities for growth.

Client Need

A life sciences company with a distributed P&L runs an annual program to improve new general managers’ commercial leadership and ability to deliver on business goals. These newly promoted leaders come from a variety of commercial and non-commercial backgrounds, and the company wanted participants to benefit from the program regardless of whether they were already leading sales teams, had indirect sales teams, or were selling through a partner channel.  

Solution

BTS helped develop the organization’s leaders in three key leadership areas:

1) Building Talent for Competitive Advantage

2) Strategy Development and Execution

3) Financial and Commercial Acumen

Results

As a result of the program, 30 percent of the actions participants committed to take in their day-to-day roles have been completed. Focusing on on-time delivery resulted in manufacturing a Biological Drug Substance 95 percent on time and on target for the site. Participants also reported increased confidence pushing back, which led to an improvement in workplace culture.

Client need

With the goal of achieving the next level of business results, a leading tech organization implemented a new go-to-market strategy that would require a strong leadership succession pipeline. The organization needed to enable key talent to better leverage their strengths, maximize team member engagement and output, and drive change and transformation.

‍Solution

The organization partnered with BTS to create a learning journey for its high-potential sales leaders. This six-month journey was designed to enable leaders to develop greater self-awareness, encourage productive mindsets, shift behaviors, and apply new skills to workstreams.  

The learning journey featured workshops and peer coaching on these topics: 1) Choose Your Attitude; 2) Developing Others; and 3) Company Transformation and Strategy Execution.

‍Results

As a result of the program, leaders shifted their approach to leading teams, developed skills to get the most out of their teams, and evolved their leadership posture to be more present and inclusive.

Client need

To In an industry facing unprecedented regulation and competition from nontraditional players, while customer and community sentiment is at an all-time low, financial services providers are being challenged to navigate the way forward; balancing their ethical considerations whilst continuing to drive performance.

Customer expectations have shifted and how customers engage with financial services providers is much more segmented than ever before. Services range from those that are considered hygiene in nature and demanded on a self-serve basis to the other end of the continuum, where highly personalised solutions are sought and customers are willing to pay due to their differentiated value.

Regulations have driven a focus on compliance behaviours, often at the expense of engagement with customers; leaving customers feeling unheard and disconnected from the service they seek. The overwhelming findings of the Royal Commission have also identified significant misconduct where
delivering for the shareholder has eclipsed the reasonable rights of other key stakeholders, particularly customers and the community.

There has been recognition of the need to bring greater focus to the customer for a number of years, but too often those initiatives have stopped short of fully aligning the organisation’s focus.

For one big 4 bank, their unwavering vision is to be recognised as one of the industries’ great service companies. They recognised that it was the actions of their people that would determine their success and that a fundamental shift in behaviour was needed to drive a service revolution. This would take time and require ongoing efforts to facilitate a mindset shift, together with top down leadership alignment to deliver on their vision.

The work they had been undertaking was certainly having an impact, but relied on the interpretation and application by each person. This resulted in variances in consistency and speed of change hampering the overall impact.
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The solution

Recognising the need to accelerate an unconditional focus on the customer, their desire was to implement a conversational approach and operating cadence that would support the customer and equip their leaders, bankers and support teams with the requisite mindsets, capability and alignment to execute. The customer oriented focus of conversation was paramount, with the premise being that doing the right thing by the customer would also deliver on its compliance obligations. Whilst there was recognition that many best practices existed in pockets of the business, this initiative was about one unified way of engaging customers, not individual ways.

• Structured approach for all bankers to build relationships with their customers that would help them deliver on their business and personal priorities
• Common and consistent customer experience across the bank
• Conversation model that drove less variance in customer needs to meet and improve customer advocacy and NPS results

To support the bank through this major strategic initiative, BTS was chosen for our vast organisational knowledge, deep industry acumen, truly customer focused methodologies and track record in delivering to large audiences in compressed timeframes. The first phase, Immersion, included extensive cross functional engagement to ensure that each customer touchpoint was well considered and addressed. The overwhelming consensus was that the conversation must be focused on the customer and what success looks like for them. Also, by adopting that focus of acting in their customers’ best interests, this would by design also meet their compliance obligations.The immersion phase culminated in the conceptualization of the journey and specific segment requirements.The audience included 2,500 personnel in the Business and Corporate banking segments and incorporated Commercial, Agri, Regional banking, SME, Specialist segments and their support functions. All personnel, including the CEO, his leadership team, every leader and banker completed the journey to drive a consistent, repeatable and reliable customer experience.The Design phase encompassed the development of segment specific scenarios and artefacts, to aid alignment and support the mindset shift whilst building capability.The learner journey was a 5-stage approach that ran over an 8-week period:

1. Readiness – Engagement of leaders and bankers in setting expectations, infield observation and assessment to inform current bench strength, aid awareness and build motivation
2. 2-day workshop – Discovery based experiential workshop to unpack core customer conversational methodology and tool sets
3. 1-day leader workshop – Focused in building conversation acumen mastery to role model, mentor and coach
4. Go–Do’s – Business as Usual application of the skills with leader and peer assessment, and feedback
5. 1-day simulation – Capstone event to consolidate the learnings and receive expert critique in a competitive team-based environment through interaction with simulated customers

Post-journey business as usual activities included:

• Leader led skill building sessions and one-on-one coaching session incorporated into weekly operating cadence sessions
• Joint field work
• Quarterly in field observations
• Annual leader certification

Results

Customer perspective – “Trust based engagement where I feel heard and understood. There is a focus on what I’m trying to achieve from both a business and personal perspective, and how I can be supported. These conversations are different, the banker is prepared, shares relevant insights, the focus is on me, it is not about being sold to, nor transactional. They are in it for the long haul through the ups and downs. I have a consistent experience each time I interact, its repeatable and I can rely on what the team say and do. I tell my colleagues and friends about the experience and I’m happy to refer to others.”Banker perspective – “I enjoy spending time with my customers and supporting them to accelerate the results they seek. I am prepared, having reflected on prior conversations, crafting relevant insights so that I add value and meeting with me is seen as valuable. Where I meet customers with my colleagues we follow a consistent process, we are clear on our roles and how we jointly bring value, and we welcome each other’s feedback. When compiling credit submissions, I’m able to provide a comprehensive account of the customer now and in the future, and the likely impact of future initiatives. It’s easier to deliver for my customer and my approach is more sustainable for me from a business and personal perspective. My customers call me and seek me out for my expertise and experience. I’m part of their inner circle.”Leader perspective – “I’m really clear on what great conversations sound like. I have a regular and consistent cadence with the team and I’ve been able to better understand my team and their bench strength. We have a shared understanding of what we are working towards and I am purposeful and consistent with my coaching. When meeting customers with my team, I’m clear on my role and I support and enhance the banker’s value and our proposition.”

Client Need

A leading American software company was in the process of improving customer understanding to increase opportunities and achieve the next level of growth. This vision to improve customer understanding required sellers to enhance their knowledge of the buyers of each product line, the competitive market, and how to adjust the overall sales process to bring value to client engagements.

To heighten their sellers’ skills, the organization partnered with BTS, a trusted partner that had supported the organization on a variety of development initiatives over the years.

Solution

To develop this customer understanding, BTS and the organization collaborated to create a customized solution. The organization’s leadership team was charged with identifying the key behavior changes participants needed to make, and in partnership with BTS, created a learning journey to help employees acquire the knowledge and build the skills necessary to engage differently with their customers.

The result was a three-day program as a part of that year’s sales kickoff meeting, which was conducted virtually and delivered to 3,000 employees over the course of three-hour sessions, run multiple times a day to accommodate the global audience.

Participants went through an immersive business simulation to help them gain a deeper understanding of the market and competition. The simulation was anchored in a case study, which was modeled directly after the organization’s customers’ business, moving through the challenges that the organization was best positioned to resolve.

In the simulation, participants were immersed in a fictional environment, which prompted them to not see from an executive and tactical buyer point of view, but also enable them to build empathy and develop clear insights into their buyers and organizational objectives. Doing so allowed participants to obtain a comprehensive understanding of their competitor’s value proposition and how to differentiate themselves in an aggressive marketplace.

In addition to building customer understanding, participants brought competitive “battle cards” to life in the scope of the simulation. They put themselves in the shoes of their top competitors, focusing on how those competitors across product lines differentiate themselves from the organization.

At the end of each day, participants shifted back to the perspective of their everyday role in a moments-based simulation, allowing them the unique opportunity to practice new behaviors throughout all phases of the sales process. These predominantly concentrated on meeting specific customer needs, but also touched on value proposition and getting to the close of a sale.

Results

Ultimately, leaders of the company observed that their workforce adopted the behaviors needed to become more customer-centric, and more effective through its sales process. Based on these insights, the company transitioned the content created for the sales kickoff meeting to their sales onboarding, which demonstrates the overall success of the learning experience.

Client need

An American identity management organization was in the process of rolling out a new sales methodology and needed to improve its front-line sales managers’ abilities to coach sales reps accordingly.To achieve this, the organization partnered with BTS to help its front-line sales managers 1) understand what great sales behaviors look like, according to the new methodology, and 2) learn to bring those behaviors out in their sales reps.

Solution

BTS facilitators delivered a live, half-day solution for 300 front line, mid-level, and senior sales managers, using a role-play simulation exercise to build fluency in coaching to the new methodology.The simulation, conducted in table sessions, included the following components:

• The six participants at each table engaged in a role-play scenario, with one to two senior-level managers in the coaching roles.
• Before each role play, these coaches received a list of questions and responses; from the latter, they identified ways to bring out the best behaviors in their newer sales-rep coachees.
• Throughout two rounds of role-play exercises, coaches observed coachees’ abilities to:
  • Steer conversation
  • Focus on one piece of feedback at a time
  • Deliver observations without evaluation
  • Communicate with honesty
  • Co-create a clear roadmap
• Recording these observations into scorecards helped the more experienced managers provide customized feedback for new sales reps, and also added an element of fun.
• Teams took a tactical approach, asking questions throughout the coaching process that yielded gradual progress round after round.

Results

From the first to second round, front-line and mid-level sales managers’ scorecards demonstrated improvement in their abilities to shift conversations and set the stage for further discussion, focus on one piece of feedback at a time, deliver observations without evaluation or calculation, communicate linked requests with honesty, and collaboratively establish roadmaps for success.Overall, the solution was well-received and enriched employees’ understanding of the new methodology, ultimately setting the company up for long-term success.

Client need

A world-leading mining organisation was in the process of implementing a new operating model. Their original, four-year safety and productivity strategy included applying industry-leading capabilities to world-class assets, while maintaining high quality operations. They recognised that the world’s best organisations improve faster than their peers, and systemically improve safety and productivity. So, the organisation set out to differentiate itself by consistently achieving operational outperformance by implementing a continuous improvement culture throughout all sites.

To do so, the organisation needed to underpin its existing operational capabilities with world-class manufacturing processes and build a productivity-enabling culture. This would allow the organisation to align its strategy, operating philosophy, and principles to become a top-performing organisation — one that leads the sector, keeps its people safe while developing their capabilities, and exceeds expectations for shareholder returns.

To implement this new strategy, the organisation partnered with BTS and another development partner to co-create a learning program that would supercharge deploying this operating model. The program sought to uplift transformational capability within the organisation. BTS facilitators provided a structured program, including on-the-ground coaching and feedback, to support the shifts required to execute this new strategy.

“When you have a high-quality coach, the learning experience is fulfilling and resonates.”

“We now have the required suite of tools to help the entire business moving forward.”“Increased quality in dealing with colleagues, listening to them and coaching them.”“If another opportunity comes to be able to learn more from my coach. I will be jumping at it.”

The solution

The deployment of the new operating model was run in waves at each site and was led by three different types of deployment resources called ‘coaches’. For over two years, BTS provided development programs for each type of coach. Each one included simulations, change and transformation, leadership, and Individual coaching. The goals of all levels of coaching were to close any gaps the deployment team might have, and focused on three areas:

• Build the coaching capability of the deployment team so they would be more effective at shifting behaviour and mindsets in the business
• Build an understanding of the nuances of mining and the client culture in those new to the organisation
• Build an understanding of the new operating model in all coaches

Results

Experience Great Coaching:

• 92 percent of participants reported significant or some change as a result of the coaching
• 96 percent of participants would recommend the coaching to a colleague

Business Benefits:

• 22 percent noted an increase in efficiency in the workplace as a result of the coaching
• 35 percent noted an increase in quality in the workplace as a result of the coaching
• 6 percent noted a retention in talent as a result of the coaching

Client Need

An American multinational medical technologies organization was in the midst of significant growth, expecting to double its workforce. To continue thriving as a larger organization and adapt to changing client needs, all employees needed to gain an enterprise mindset. As such, the company partnered with BTS to help its senior leaders adopt a mindset of greater interconnectivity and customer-centricity.

Solution

With BTS’s support, the organization developed a Leader Lab solution. This program would enable participants to work together effectively and gain a holistic, enterprise-wide view of the company.

To accomplish this overarching goal, participants were expected to:

• Collaborate across divisions to identify value-creation opportunities and leverage expertise.
• Balance short- and long-term results to accelerate performance in both mature and emerging markets.
• Prioritize and allocate valuable resources to drive growth across the company’s global footprint.
• Nurture unique leadership strengths to shape the culture and inspire future leaders to grow.

The program, which spanned three days and was conducted entirely in-person, included the following:

• Pre-work – a case study reading exercise, which was modelled after the business and set the scene for the business simulation.
• Strategic planning – outlined priorities and the plan to execute the strategy.
• Running the company – a realistic business simulation where participants joined cross functional teams to practice running the business.
• Debrief sessions – a facilitated post-simulation gathering to discuss performance and observed behaviors.
• Company-led sessions – a platform for company leaders to go deep and explore business challenges and opportunities.
• Execute – activities to ensure application and reinforce learning back on the job.

Throughout the Leader Lab experience, participants engaged in an enterprise simulation where they managed a fictitious company that closely resembled their organization. The simulated company had built strong relationships with its past customers.

However, technology and evolving consumer needs added pressure to meet expectations. Facing these challenges in a simulated environment enabled participants to debate in teams, determine the best possible course of action, and make decisions with input from across different sectors of the business.

After each simulated round, participants took part in facilitated sessions, led by BTS coaches, to explore:

• The results that their decisions had on their performance
• The difficult trade-offs they faced
• How they communicated and effectively worked as a team

In one-on-one conversations, coaches helped participants identify specific leadership strategies and challenges revolving around three central themes:

• Balancing priorities: recognizing the fundamentals, growing in mature and emerging markets, understanding end-to-end business operations to enable an enterprise perspective.
• Innovations in customer-centricity: prioritizing investments that address the voice of the customer, and driving growth through disciplined investment.
• Leading in the industry: balancing organic and inorganic growth when achieving growth, and driving long-term value for both consumers and the broader ecosystem.

Ultimately, these sessions prompted participants to commit to action and hold each other accountable.

Results

Afterwards, participants provided feedback through comprehensive surveys, yielding the following results:

• Quality of sessions
  • Most participants were highly satisfied with the program.
  • Over half reported that they were “very satisfied” with all aspects of the program, which included customer focus, operating models, relevancy of content, time with BTS coaches, and engagement with peers and leaders.
  • Most believe that the program will positively impact their career growth and development, as well as found it applicable and inspiring.

All of the participants agreed that the Leader Lab content was relevant to their challenges as leaders, the insights generated during exercises and debriefs were helpful, and that they learned something new in the process that will influence future behaviors and decision-making.

Client need

An international bank was facing serious competition from Fin Tech firms, fast-changing customer needs, digital innovation requirements, and an old, slow, constraining structure. To stay relevant they needed to quickly shift to Agile and stand up streams that would drive change at pace. This required structural, procedural, and organisational change, as well as mindset shifts for leaders and teams.

To achieve this goal, the organisation partnered with BTS to devise a coaching solution that targeted mindset shifts at a deep level, creating a disruptive moment for leaders to accelerate the rate of change.
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“Our engagement survey increased by six points. Our target was 77, and we exceeded that with a score of 79. This is a significant improvement. We have a highly engaged team and I have no doubt that this experience contributed substantially to the result. There is now more transparency in speaking up when things aren’t going right; we have really seen this happening in the last month. I attribute this change to the program we did with BTS.”

- Leader of bank

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The solution

The company set a target to shift mindsets so that:

• Employees saw customer and enterprise success as the goal, not just personal and individual gain.
• Healthy risk was considered natural, and failure was an opportunity to learn and grow
  
  – a better option than playing it safe.
• Resources were seen as shared and owned by the enterprise, instead of seeking personal control as the only way to succeed.
• Embracing conflict and tension were considered constructive and creative challenges that led to better customer outcomes.

There were several experiences that helped to disrupt and shift the mindsets, which included:

• A digital, virtual, moments-based simulation experience, which helped employees explore specific moments when they would be challenged to implement new agile behaviors. This approach was team-based and surfaced the true moments of tension so that they could be addressed and planned for.
• Virtual, personalised 1:1 coaching to create deep mindset changes on topics such as engaging others, building commitment and support, influencing, personal authority, speaking up, and challenging the status quo.

Results

The experience leveraged a control group to measure the mindset changes for those receiving the 1:1 coaching. Across the six critical mindsets the firm sought to address, there was an average 17.3% gain in the coached group in comparison to the control group.

Coaching groups’ confidence in their ability to lead and influence others increased by 11%.

In the simulation experience the average score was 9.03/10, and 24 respondents reported an NPS of 75.

Client Need

A cloud-based software company was experiencing rapid growth, marked by multiple acquisitions, thousands of high-performing sales transactions, and rising expectations. As a result, the company needed a more consistent go-to-market approach and customer-engagement methodology.To meet this need, the organization’s leaders designed an immersive, simulation-based program that would cascade this new approach to all 29,000 of its sales, solutions, and customer-success group members. The organization partnered with BTS to design a simulation-based learning experience to deliver the training at a global scale in a simple, immersive modality.If executed successfully, this program would be the single largest training program in the company’s history, ensuring organization-wide adoption of its bold new go-to-market strategy, tools, and practices.

Solution

To reach the organization’s 29,000 employees, the program was launched worldwide both virtually and in-person. The two-day experience comprised 300 sessions facilitated by 900 of the company’s sales leaders. In addition, 150 people from BTS offered supplemental support during the sessions.Prior to starting the program, BTS held a series of workshops to equip the program facilitators with extensive resources and training to ensure a seamless experience for participants. The program was closely modeled after participants’ day-to-day work, but designed as a gamified experience that would shift mindsets.In cross-functional teams, participants assumed crucial roles within a simulated account team. Together, the team made collective decisions, responded to critical moments, and advanced customers through the sales cycle, competing against other teams to drive customer success and run the best simulated account team.The competitive aspects of the program kept engagement high, but—more importantly—enabled employees to interact and cooperate, prompting them to break out of silos and gain a better understanding of how to collaborate.A virtual dashboard created by BTS tracked participants’ choices, the resulting outcomes, and kept score. The team best aligned with the new go-to-market and customer-engagement methodologies would win the competition.A team’s overall score was measured by three metrics that captured participants’ abilities to collaborate across all functions:

• The likelihood of a deal closing.
• The value that the team delivers to its customers.
• How well the team works together.

Throughout the program, participants gained a greater understanding of:

• What it looks like to support great customer success throughout the entire account engagement process.
• How to leverage the new methodology to accelerate deal cycles and share this knowledge with the extended team.
• How to balance short- and long-term goals to maximize customer success and company growth.

Results

• 30 days after the completion of the program, the organization reported a 54 percent increase in pipeline generation and a 40 percent increase in tool adoption.
• Based on the results of the initial program, the company plans to make this program the standard training for all distribution employees.

Testimonials

• “The exercises working in the group helped me think through the methodology and apply it to my everyday work.”
• “The [program] was a great way to immerse myself in the methodology and learn from a variety of my peers across different roles.”
• “It was a genuine thrill to see how completely the [simulation] captured EXACTLY what we were looking for, and what our teams need to be successful.”

Client Need

As part of their talent development strategy, an American dairy organization’s needed to equip its high-potential employees to reach the next level of leadership. Thus, the organization partnered with BTS to design and deliver a customized, interactive, and experiential learning solution: the Leader Lab.

By combining assessments, a business simulation, and role-plays, the Leader Lab develops the critical business and leadership skills required to execute an organization’s specific strategy. Pre- and post-program assessments helped the organization pinpoint critical knowledge gaps and benchmark progress; the simulation challenged teams to respond to realistic, high-pressure business dilemmas with limited resources. All of this increased participants’ understanding of their clients’ and prospects’ most critical profitability drivers, and allowed the high-potentials to observe fundamental leadership behaviors.

Solution

To develop its high-potential employees, 20 of the organization’s leaders went through a two-day, customized Leader Lab experience, which featured:

• Pre-work:
  • A personality test that measured each individual’s preferences and style, and identified behavioral watch-outs.
  • Reading a business case containing key information as well as business and financial context for the simulation.

• A virtually-facilitated business simulation:
  • In groups of four, high-potentials assumed fictional roles representative of the organization’s leadership team.
  • These teams competed by running a simulated organization over three rounds, each of which represented one fiscal year.
  • Facilitators examined, scored, and debriefed the teams after each round in a central virtual classroom. Leaders received reinforcement on the critical moves needed for success.

• Role plays allowing high-potentials to practice anticipating and responding to various obstacles.

• An immersive assessment that evaluated high potentials’ performance in the face of business challenges.
  • Team-specific assessors observed participants in breakout rooms, measuring each participant’s behavior against the client’s competencies model.
  • Participants then presented their decisions and results to a select group of senior leaders.

After the assessment center, BTS facilitators created a written report describing each individual’s strengths and areas of development related to the specific competencies needed to perform in their role. Furthermore, the experience concluded with the participants enjoying a one-hour debrief session alongside the assessors to better understand the report and obtain individual development insights.

Results

The program was an overall success. Participants were pushed out of their comfort zones and challenged to understand the business from the leadership perspective. Following completion of the Leader Lab, the majority of participants met the organization’s “critical-quality” expectations, preparing them to advance to the next level of leadership.

Client Need

A leading communications network provider made a major acquisition of an organization of equal size, increasing their influence in the industry. The addressable market doubled with the new product and services mix, creating a significant, immediate opportunity to create cost and revenue synergies.  

The organization recognized that culture would be a gating factor to capturing these opportunities and delivering on their commitments. Culture was a lever both companies had paid less attention to in past acquisitions, resulting in a patchwork of organizational values, relationships, and ways of working. In fact, according to results from the enterprise risk assessment leading up to the merger, culture ranked as the second highest risk to the organization’s success.  

To realize the aspirations of the newly-combined organization, the organization partnered with BTS to help align all employees to a single purpose, vision, values, and ways of working.  

Solution

BTS addressed major parts of the culture and strategy together by engaging the organization at various levels. The following approach would allow employees to understand, define, and engage the organization in its future state:

• A culture diagnostic that would help employees understand the current culture of both organizations, and uncover the biggest cultural strengths and risks within each that could either accelerate or hinder progress.

• Executive Alignment Sessions during which the organization’s top 25 leaders defined and committed to the future-state purpose, vision, values, and ways of working. In addition, leaders prioritized the most practical and tangible shifts that the organization needed to implement. By identifying the pivotal moments in their operating cadence, leaders recognized the need to alter their behavior according to the aspirational values and culture.  

• Virtual Working Sessions that pressure-tested pivotal moments across various levels, functions, and geographies in the organization and gathered data on the existing knowledge gaps.  

• A Culture Playbook that codified the most pivotal moments in their operating cadence in terms that captured the aforementioned values and culture.

• An improved structure for team meetings and workshops intended to accelerate the transformation and engage leaders with the new vision in a fun, engaging, and impactful way.

• Defining leader expectations linked to the vision level by level, embedding them into the performance management and leadership development process.

Results

As a result of this work, the organization devised simple yet meaningful ways of working that leaders across the organization created and “owned.” The culture playbook and leader expectations brought aspirations from words on a page to fruition.

One year after the work was concluded, the organization completed another Enterprise Risk Assessment. As a result, culture had decreased from the second-largest risk at the time of acquisition to the twelfth-riskiest factor. The organization also accelerated the results of the integration, delivering on synergy target commitments one year ahead of schedule.

Successful integration requires cultural buy-in at every level of an organization. By grounding purpose, vision, and values in mutually-attainable behaviors, employees from both organizations became motivated, embrace change, and operate in an agile manner.

Testimonials

• “I am really encouraged that we got momentum [before the acquisition was finalized], and the alignment session occurred in the week we joined forces as one company. It sends a very positive message to the entire company and reinforces the importance of culture to our future success.”
• “This work is foundational in defining who we are and the opportunities we have in becoming a leader in the industry.”
• “In truth, the culture work [the BTS] team led with us has mobilized our teams and served as a rally cry throughout the pandemic. Serving as our True North! Very cool.”

Client need

A multinational medical device and healthcare organization needed to better understand, practice, and apply the critical capabilities of effective leaders.

To achieve this goal, the organization partnered with BTS to design a program for over 20,000 of its leaders. Together, they facilitated meaningful conversation amongst participating teams, coaching each leader to develop these critical capabilities over a four-phase journey.

The solution

Throughout the 12-week virtually facilitated journey, which was delivered in 13 languages, participating leaders learned and practiced four key leadership skills:

• Inclusive leadership: respecting and valuing diversity of thought, perspective, and approach
• Building trust: treating everyone fairly and maintaining open and honest communication patterns that inspire teammates to speak the truth
• Creating culture: fostering an environment in which all can thrive but also challenging employees to be at their best
• Coaching and developing: pushing teams to their full potential by assessing individual strengths and development areas

To build these skills, participating leaders followed a framework called “See-Hear-Speak,” which culminated in a module focused on coaching and developing others:

• See: building trust and drive inclusion by making others feel seen
• Hear: helping teammates understand the value of their input
• Speak: creating culture by communicating with clarity and compassion, after seeing and hearing

Throughout each phase, they experienced:

• Learning bursts, or digital scenarios during which to practice these concepts
• Supplemental online training using existing company content
• Go-dos, which are action items to be completed back on the job
• Peer pods, building trust through constructive conversation
• Development of key takeaways and commitments

After wrapping up the 12-week journey, each participating leader received a sustainment plan designed to help incorporate these new skills over a six-month period.

Results

The program yielded completion of over 11,000 peer pods and 269 1:1 coaching sessions. Direct reports of managers who completed the program have meaningfully higher employee engagement-survey scores than those whose managers opted out. Analyzing these scores four months post-program shows positive effects on profit, revenue, safety, and productivity as well.Additional highlights include:

• Overall evaluation score: 4.3/5
• Completion rate of 97%
• Participants gave effectiveness of training a score of 4.2/5
• +129k go-dos completed

Client feedback

"I've seen a big change in my manager. They're listening more and asking more questions, and while they've still got a ways to go to be a good manager, I'm seeing real progress."

“I began to realize that when you step back, you bring forward curiosity. I was able to notice someone else’s state and I know they felt seen because they came up to me later and said ‘thank you!’

“I’m finding more opportunities to get off ‘auto-pilot,’ get out of the box, and be more curious, really listening to others.”

“I’m actively putting myself into a more empathetic mindset. I’m asking my people more questions, probing deeper into the data, and coming back with insights I’ve never seen from them before.”

Necesidad del Cliente

Frente a las desafiantes expectativas de los clientes, una organización multinacional líder en servicios financieros necesitaba transformar su modelo comercial, adoptando un enfoque más centrado en el cliente y basado en la venta consultiva. También necesitaban trasladar este cambio a una red nacional, desarrollando la mentalidad y las capacidades necesarias para ejecutar esta transformación.Para dotar a sus banqueros de las herramientas necesarias para prosperar en un entorno cada vez más complejo, dinámico y digital, la organización se asoció con BTS para diseñar un programa de aprendizaje personalizado.

Solución

El viaje resultante combinó evaluaciones, formación en ventas, formación en productos y actividades en las sucursales. Durante nueve meses, 3,025 banqueros comerciales participaron en un viaje digital autodirigido. Estos líderes financieros adoptaron una mentalidad más centrada en el cliente:

• Someterse a una evaluación inicial en línea, que se utilizó para dividir a los participantes en grupos por nivel de rendimiento.
• Completar los conocimientos prácticos, o tres módulos virtuales guiados que permitieron comprender los motivos de la transformación.
• Poner a prueba los nuevos comportamientos en dos simulaciones sin riesgo, completando los conocimientos adicionales que fueran necesarios.
• Completar tres de los siete sprints diferentes, cada uno de los cuales contiene un Go-Do, que es un elemento de acción para aplicar en el trabajo
• Participar en una evaluación final que determine los planes de mantenimiento.

Resultados

Los participantes informaron de lo siguiente como resultado del programa:

• 215 renovaciones como resultado de los Go-Dos
• El 84% utilizó argumentos racionales para cuantificar el valor de su oferta
• El 88% fue capaz de cerrar la siguiente reunión
• El 90% fue eficaz en la renovación de las ventas de productos
• El 91% cerró acuerdos más rápidamente

Client need

A global metals and mining organization sought a partner in enabling new graduates successfully transition into corporate life. Such a program would help recent graduates examine the organization’s culture, determine whether their own behaviors and values would mesh with it, and adjust accordingly.

The solution

The organization partnered with BTS to co-create the Global Graduate Excellence Program, streamlining new graduates’ transition to and development at the organization. Over a two-year span, the program:

• Explored the organization’s unspoken “rules” which made the difference between success and failure.
• Enabled participants to identify that which limited their potential.
• Provided the skills and tools these new graduates needed as a foundation for a promising career.

The program contained experiences that helped disrupt and shift the graduates’ mindsets, including:

• Virtual, personalized 1:1 coaching on topics such as employee engagement, building commitment and support, influencing, personal authority, speaking up, and challenging the status quo.
• Virtual webinars allowing graduates to experiment, collaborate, and role-play with a small group of peers, covering topics such as transitioning into the organization, creating a personal brand, and building the future.
• A Graduate Summit about supporting development through personal resilience, giving and receiving feedback, and collaboration; the summit integrated the entire journey with a celebration of achievements

These experiences combined all the mindsets and behaviors that were essential to establishing the right habits for recent graduates.

Results

BTS has delivered the Graduate Development Program to 549 graduates across five summits, 110 webinars, and 2,496 coaching sessions. Following program completion, the organization found:

• Increases in efficiency (40%), quality (17%), and retention of leadership talent (11%).
• That 97% of graduates reported experiencing change (51% experienced significant change), shifts in self-confidence (72%), forming productive relationships with people, action-orientation, and decision making. 98% of participants felt that the program met their expectations (exceeded expectations for 60%), and 92% met the program objectives (45% exceeded their objectives set).
• That 97% of participants would recommend the 1:1 coaching, and 94% would recommend the Summit experiences.

Client feedback

• “I have developed deeper relationships with my peers and leaders. This has improved teamwork/morale and lead to better efficiency for both myself, my team, and the company.”
• “The value that I have gained from the program has been enormous. I have been able to target development of key skills that were important to me, of which have significantly improved my personal and professional levels in the workplace.”

Client need

The Abu Dhabi School of Government, established to develop the city’s civil servants, needed to cultivate the right mindsets and capabilities in its mid-career, high-potential employees. These high potentials would lead the Abu Dhabi government into the future as part of an economic development plan that would create a solid succession pipeline across all government entities.

ADSG partnered with BTS to launch the first learning journey designed to achieve this goal, which was called The Leader Program.

Solution

The Leader Program (TLP) aimed to accelerate the leadership abilities and expand the knowledge of over 100 high potential Abu Dhabi government employees. TLP built participants’ abilities to lead through three modules: Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading the Nation through Innovation.

The program incorporated a unique “ecosystem” that enabled participants to experience leadership development as a continuous way of life, and consisted of six elements:

• In-class training: Three, approximately five-day-long modules featuring experiential learning sessions, either virtual or in person, and moments-based leadership simulations.
• Virtual coaching: a four- to five-session one-on-one flexible coaching journey, during which BTS coaches guided participants on the specific mindset shifts that would nurture their growth and eventually benefit society.
• Conferences and events: BTS arranged for access to local and international conferences where participants could build stronger networks.
• Individual projects: Leaders were assigned pre- and post-work tasks for each module, including: seven Go-Do’s (action items to be completed within the flow of work), iLeads (self-paced simulations), self-assessments, online courses, and a Personal Development Plan.
• Meetings with government leaders: At least once every three months, BTS arranged for participants to meet with various high-ranking government leaders to gain perspective through active dialogue.
• Job rotation: Leaders were placed at an organization of their choice in the public or private sector and completed a job rotation over a period of two months.

To wrap up the yearlong journey, participants:

• Prepared, implemented, and tracked a final innovation project that addressed a real-life government challenge.
• Completed an assessment module by presenting the journey’s quantitative and qualitative impact as well as their learnings about leading themselves, their teams, and their nation.

How it works

In summary, facilitators assessed leaders’ progress through:

• Daily surveys tracking knowledge obtained from in-class sessions.
• An “Overall Impact Measurement Survey” tracking concept application.
• Post-module assignments that reinforced concepts.
• Post-module virtual simulations that gauged knowledge retention.
• A job-rotation project measuring the level of learning implementation.
• A “Final Innovation Project” and assessment module designed to ascertain overall learning impact and ROI.

Results

In the following three years after the program, participants’ progress included:

• 99% Go-Do completion
• 94% job rotation project completion
• 29 innovation projects (83% of all) implemented across diverse government entities, yielding:
  • An anticipated 94% improvement in environmental impact
  • An anticipated 97% improvement in long-term citizen happiness

Additionally, TLP won a Gold Brandon Hall Award for “Best Unique or Innovative Leadership Development Program.” A new cohort of 100 leaders are expected to complete the program in the near future.

Client feedback

“[The] leadership development program has really supported me, and has been one of the most gratifying developmental experiences of my career.” – Participant from the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourist

“[The program had a positive impact on wider society] by developing future leaders who are also parents [and] will transfer knowledge not only to their colleagues, but also to their children, who will impact future generations.” – Participant from the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency

Client need

To prepare key talent for senior leadership roles, a multinational pharmaceutical and biotech organization needed to create a development program that would allow participants to practice responding to leadership challenges in a safe space and receive actionable feedback that would accelerate their personal and professional growth.  

To build the capabilities needed for successful leadership, the organization partnered with BTS to create a customized program that touched on areas such as:  

• Fostering an enterprise mindset
• Collaborating across boundaries and siloes
• Championing diversity of thought and perspective  
• Taking risks and showing conviction
• Demonstrating business acumen  

The solution

BTS created a customized Virtual Individual Assessment (VIA) wherein their participants encountered a “day in the life” of a senior leader at a simulated version of their organization. The VIA allowed them to participate in business and social acumen-building activities that mirrored the experiences of leaders working one or two levels above their current role. BTS assessors evaluated their behavior during the simulation, later providing written and verbal feedback.

These were the desired outcomes:

1. Creating self-awareness around participants’ own strengths, development areas, and relative success as a leader  
2. Building knowledge of how the business works and a global network to create enterprise-wide impact
3. Widening participants’ aperture to think more strategically and future-forward  
4. Creating targeted development plans aligned with participants’ goals and aspirations  
5. Accelerating participants’ readiness and excitement for future leadership roles at the organization

Results

This particular program led to the following outcomes:

• 100% of participants were receptive of and agreed with the feedback they received from their assessors
• 100% of participants committed to next steps and follow-up actions, collectively committing to over 300 Go-Dos, which are a set of action items to be completed back on the job
• 40% of participants have been promoted at least once
• 64% of participants are on one or more succession plans
• 92% of participants have remained at the organization

The program was such a success that it spurred the creation of over 15 additional development programs at the organization. These programs were wholly tailored to critical roles across the organization, giving their talent the opportunity to “try on” next-level leadership roles in their desired career path.  

Client feedback

• “What a great experience! I hadn't anticipated the ability of the assessment center to replicate work stress and the challenges faced at work. I was actually happy that I was good at bits I am good at in my job, but more importantly, messed up in the same way I do at work, which made the feedback feel relevant and insightful.”
• “Great opportunity to stress test my learnings and capability, as this role goes beyond my current scope and skillsets.”
• “A good opportunity to hold up a mirror…We all have blind spots, and now I recognize mine.”
• “It’s amazing how you can see in a short amount of time what the core issues are.”
• “This gave me a great opportunity to learn about the challenges of a senior leadership role.”

Client need

Facing challenging customer expectations, a leading multinational financial services organization needed to transform its commercial model, adopting a more client-centric, consultative selling-based approach. They also needed to cascade this change to a nationwide network, developing the mindsets and capabilities needed to execute this transformation.

To equip its bankers with the tools to thrive in an increasingly complex, dynamic, and digital environment, the organization partnered with BTS to design a customized learning program.  

The solution

The resulting journey combined assessments, sales training, product training, and in-branch activities. For nine months, 3,025 commercial bankers participated in a self-directed digital journey. These financial leaders adopted a more client-centric mindset by:

• Undergoing an initial online assessment, which was used to divide participants into groups by performance level
• Completing know-hows, or three guided virtual modules that built an understanding of the reasons for transformation  
• Testing new behaviors in two risk-free simulations, completing additional know-hows as needed
• Completing three of seven different sprints, each containing a Go-Do, which is an action item to apply back on the job
• Participating in a final assessment that determines sustainment plans

Results

Participants reported the following as a result of the program:

• 6,215 renewals were reported as a result of the Go-Dos
• 84% used rational arguments to quantify the value of their offer
• 88% were able to close next meeting
• 90% were effective in renewing product sales
• 91% closed deals faster  

Client need

After adopting a new strategy, a European multinational food packaging and processing organization supported its execution by undergoing an ambitious cultural transformation. Two focus areas of this effort were improving its meeting culture and helping employees learn from successes and failures. The organization’s leaders partnered with BTS to leverage a “sprint” approach to changing behaviors at scale, enabling employees to work in a more productive, dynamic, and capable fashion.

The solution

The first sprint, which focused on meeting management, reached 2,000 employees around the world over the course of two months. The approach included recruiting a network of culture “champions” from all levels and geographies in the organization, empowering them to drive change and implement specific Go-Dos (action items that shift habits in the flow of work) with their colleagues (managers, peers, and teams).Champions were set up for success by:

• Starting with a 3-hour network kick-off and change-upskilling session
• Moving on to a 2-hour sprint kick-off session, going deeper into the “why” and “how” of the sprint topic
• Concluding each sprint with a 2-hour close-out session, assessing impact and ensuring continuous learning

During the second sprint, which lasted four months, an extended set of participants set out to strengthen a culture of learning from success and mistakes. Following the same setup as the first sprint, these culture champions conceptualized growth mindsets, psychological safety, and lessons learned. They also received Go-Dos centered on risk-taking, experimentation, creating psychological safety, and sharing knowledge acquired; all this began a broad movement around learning from both success and mistakes.

Results

Findings from both sprints indicate a clear impact on actual on-the-job behaviors:

• Average hours spent in meetings per week reduced from 21 to 18
• Average number of participants per meeting reduced from 6 to 5
• People who reported positive experiences in meetings increased from 56% to 69%
• Number of people answering affirmatively about having a growth mindset and experiencing psychological safety in their teams increased by 5 percentage points
• Number of people who reported completing “lessons-learned” activities often increased by 23 percentage points

Champions also reported improved curiosity, engagement, discipline, clarity, awareness, focus, and overall outcomes. They also embrace simple interventions that bring efficiency, open up conversations around psychological safety in teams, and apply a growth mindset that colleagues have been longing for.

Client feedback

• “Overall, I have tremendously enjoyed working with you on our project and believe we have really been able to achieve successful outcomes together. Both sprints have had successful outcomes and we have been able to build a very motivated group of culture champions.”
• “It is fantastic to see BTS involved in the other programs. Today we finalized the first sprint, and we already can clearly see concrete results! Well done! BTS is making a difference at our company!”