Case Study

Using CTT Tools and Business on Purpose Change Methodology

Amy Powell worked with the CEO of a company in the financial services industry who had been inspired by the book Firms of Endearment. She used the principle of conscious leadership as the framework for his coaching.

The CEO decided to run a culture change program and asked Amy to design the program. The following are the steps in the process we went through:

Part 1. Work with Senior Leadership Team (SLT)

Presented the principles of Conscious Capitalism to the SLT
Conducted Individual Values Assessments (IVAs) with each member of the SLT, and one-on-one feedback sessions with each member of the team
Debriefed a Team Values Assessment for the SLT and facilitated a discussion of the values the team believed the business needed to work toward.
Conducted a Purpose Session with the SLT, identifying the purpose of the business.
Formed a subgroup of the SLT: two members who had a strong commitment to Conscious Capitalism and to the culture change program.

Part 2. Create a unique framework for whole-system change.

With the purpose at the center, and with input from the culture team, Amy developed the following expanded framework and components to the program.

Part 3. Culture Survey and feedback

We completed the culture survey within one month. After discussing the results with the SLT, we conducted a debrief with the Extended Leadership Team (All leaders who had a team reporting to them).

As a result of the survey, we identified the following areas of focus:

Employee fulfilment
Employee recognition
Accountability
Coaching and Mentoring

The results were then shared in a town hall meeting with all staff, introduced by the CEO.

Team results were shared with each leader and with each team in the business.

Following this, we conducted focus groups with nearly half of the staff, asking for their help in identifying ways that we could make progress on the company’s four areas of culture focus.

Part 4. Group Coaching for leaders

We ran monthly group coaching sessions with the Extended Leadership team, helping them explore how they might bring certain principles to life in the organization. These included:

Purpose and values
Stakeholder win-wins
Conscious leadership
Conscious culture
Coaching skills
Creating strong team bonds
Team accountability

Part 5. People Leader Day: Working Groups kickoff

We knew that these changes needed to be internally-driven, so we created working groups that were led and championed by various members of the ELT. Working groups included:

Higher purpose
Capability framework
New operating model
Social leadership
Reward and recognition
Accountability
Coaching and mentoring
Employee fulfilment
Talent acquisition

Part 6. Upward feedback on CC Principles

We developed a questionnaire based on the principles of Conscious Capitalism and administered it to everyone in the organization, asking for feedback on their leaders. The results were confidential, used only to provide feedback and coaching for the leaders

Part 7. Retest (16 months later)

The retest showed considerable improvement, with a significant reduction in organizational entropy. Following this work, employee engagement was at an all-time high, the organization had achieved every business metric (including profitability metrics) it had aspired to. This was achieved without additional investment in the business. In addition, the company and the CEO won significant industry awards.