“I have had five different outside people comment on the changes they have observed since the program started. They used words like Things are different around here. People are now working together in a collaborative way I didn’t see before. This place is alive all of a sudden! When I came in here two months ago this place was like a morgue! What did you do?” – Financial Institution
“The business plan that you facilitated us through was challenging, exciting, and at times, frustrating. However, it was easier and the most cost effective solution that we had. The business plan that we had been trying to put together before we met you has cost us not only thousands of dollars, but years of our life. Now we have a plan that is flexible and will take us to the next level in our business.” – Photography Industry
“Our annual sales review was amazing—we were blessed with huge growth during a very rough economy. Our business grew nearly $1 million in the past 18 months and we wanted to identify why. When I looked at the calendar, it became rather obvious. This dramatic sales increase started as we were completing your Sales and Leadership development project.” – Insurance Industry
"My daughter graduated from the program a year and a half ago and I'm still noticing the positive effects that the program has had on her. Since she went through the Leadership Program, I've watched her grow and mature and become much more responsible. She has set some goals in life and even asked me about my short term and long term goals for my life!" - Patricia C., Parent of a Rising Stars Participant.
"I think Rising Stars was a wonderful foundation for my son, and an awesome opportunity for all the students. I'm a graduate of Dale Carnegie, and this was like a Dale Carnegie for juniors." - Colleen C., Parent of a Rising Stars Participant
"Their reluctance to create a Dream Inventory is understandable ... after all, aren't dreams for those children of privilege whose parents tuck them in at night? These are kids who live in foster care because they've either been abused, neglected or rejected by their families. These kids can have a hard time believing that they can make happen what they put down on paper. But by Friday a 14-year-old participant had listed 120 dreams, and she was ready to say, 'Maybe I can make these dreams come true!" - Nathan B., Instructor at a Foster School
Case Studies
Through our national Network of Affiliates, the following are examples of results that a few of our clients have achieved. While we developed and facilitated the process, these results were designed and generated by the employees of their respective organizations; therefore the buy-in was very high, the gains were maintained, and the satisfaction levels grew significantly.
Case 1: Public Sector Call Center
Challenges: Average call wait time was 15 minutes, dropped calls averaged 50%, and employee attendance was poor
Action: Implemented Cycle Time Reduction process with a supervisor and a cross-functional team of customer service representatives.
Result: They went from 30,000 calls handled per month to 85,000, 15 minute wait times went down to 45 second wait times, dropped calls disappeared, and employee attendance increased by five weeks per person per year.
Case 2: Custom Printing Company
Challenges: The president wanted the staff to focus more on the customer, had production challenges, and jobs weren’t being completed on time.
Action: Customer Service development process for staff, Executive Leadership development process for the president, and Management development process for the production manager.
Result: Sales, productivity, liquidity, and profitability exceeded goals that were set for the year.
Case 3: Family Owned Electrical Contracting Business
Challenges: Company was struggling through an ownership transition from father to son. Bottom line results remained flat.
Action: Customer Loyalty development process for staff, Management development process for owner to facilitate succession.
Result: Bottom line performance exceeded expectations, achieved double digit growth in service side of business, and business growth enabled the acquisition of another business.
Case 4: Healthcare Organization
Challenges: Organization was seeking leadership development for their senior team to help with their poor communication.
Action: Used D.I.AL.O.G. (organizational evaluation instrument) to bring additional alignment to organization, Executive Leadership development process for senior team, and administered Attribute Index to each participant to use to help with team building and collaboration.
Result: Communication improved, discovered who their high performers were and who was struggling, and shifted job responsibilities based on those facts.
Case 5: Insurance Company and Broker
Challenges: Company was in need of a Strategic Plan.
Action: Implemented Strategic Planning process, Executive Leadership development process, Management development process, and Leadership development process for staff members.
Result: Completed 95% of strategic plan initiatives, and the team is now functioning at a high level of alignment.
Case 6: Non-Profit Organization
Challenges: Pressure from internal and external financial obligations due to the downturn in the economy, increased competition, and they were suffering from lack in donations.
Action: Donor Loyalty Development process and administered Attribute Index to each participant so they could get a better understanding of themselves and the strengths to be improved upon throughout the development process.
Result: Organization began working together more strategically, key accounts were contacted and relationships were strengthened.
Case 7: Stock Broker
Challenges: He was disorganized, taking on too much work he was not good at, and was losing opportunities due to inability to delegate some of his responsibilities.
Action: Over time he was coached through the Leadership Development process, Sales Development process, Strategic Planning process, and Time Strategies Development process.
Result: He is more organized, has an improved relationship with administrative assistant, has begun delegating work, has more time for big-ticket clients, and has helped to grow his client’s investment portfolios from $4M to $8M.
Case 8: Community Hospital
Challenges: Low service levels, high costs and poor morale.
Action: Top to bottom Total Quality Management Implementation, (Strategic Planning, Management and Leadership Development, and Employee Team Training). Aligned their strategy, people, and processes.
Result: Improved financial performance, improved patient and employee satisfaction, and decreased costs. Recognized in the community and state by receiving numerous quality awards.
Case 9: Medical Supply Manufacturer
Challenges: High sales personnel turnover, low new business generation.
Action: Leadership development process for sales managers
Result: Unintended sales turnover was reduced by 86%, with raw savings of $600,000. Higher caliber sales representatives were hired resulting in a reduced learning curve as measured by new business, which improved by 43%
Case 10: Career Management Coaching
Challenges: Executives and other individuals at various companies needed career transition/management guidance to navigate through the challenges of our recessionary economy.
Action: Delivered Career Management Services to dozens of individuals in the areas of career assessments, resume development, interviewing & negotiating, and self-marketing & networking (including social media).
Result: Significantly increased career fulfillment. Clients in existing roles learned to position themselves better and navigate more efficiently within their organizations. Helped define and land new roles for those transitioning into careers that were more closely matched with their skills and interests.
