CASE STUDIES

OUR BLOG

LEADERSHIP

Who Should Be On Your Leadership Council?
When Service Firm Leaders Perfect Deliberation, They Reignite Growth
Five Reasons Service Firm Leaders Should Score Their Business Monthly
What Should You Expect From Your Service Firm Leadership Team?
Do You Have A Leadership Team Or A Leadership Council?
Ten Traits Of Organizationally Healthy Professional Service Firms
To Grow Your Professional Service Firm, Prize Culture Over Strategy
TP35: The One Tipping Point Mid-Size Service Firms Must Address To Keep Growing
Seven Reasons Most Mid-Size Service Firms Don’t Grow Very Much
Five Reasons Mid-Size Service Firms Need A New Leadership Operating Model
How Leaders Can Address The Growth Tipping Point For Mid-Sized Service Firms
Five Reasons Professional Service Leaders Should Prize EQ Over IQ
Why Mid-Size Service Firm Leadership Teams Need Collective Objectives To Grow
How To Grow Your Mid-Sized Service Firm: Jealously Protect Your Focused Energy
Why Professional Service Firms Should Consider Circle Of Seven Mentoring Networks
How A Leader’s Energy Field Impacts Team Productivity
Don’t Trade Misery For Money: How Professional Service Firms Can Leverage The Great Resignation
Strong Personality Vs. Strong Person: The Makeup Of A Leadership Council
Custer Or Marshall: Why Mid-Size Service Firms Must Choose Their Leadership Model
To Grow Your Mid-Size Professional Service Firm, Define And Defend Your Values
If You Want To Grow Your Mid-Size Service Firm, Establish A Formal Leadership Council
Want To Grow Your Professional Service Firm? Focus On The One
If You Want To Grow Your Midsize Professional Service Firm, Align Your Leaders
Why Midsize Service Firm Leaders Must Think Like Entrepreneurs To Grow
How To Grow A Mid-Size Professional Service Firm Today
Why It's Important For Great Leaders To Tell Great Stories
How Great Leaders Persuade Using Word-Pictures
How The Say-Do Ratio Influences Trusted Advisor Status And Profits
Why Service Firm Leaders Should Nurture The Entrepreneurial Instincts Of Their Top People

SALES

Five Strategies For Midsize Service Firms To Break Through Revenue Plateaus
How Pro Service Firms Can Fix The ‘Drop Everything — Chase Money’ Problem
Prospect, Originate, Navigate: How To Fill Your Professional Service Pipeline
To Grow Your Mid-Size Professional Service Firm, Think Carefully About Your Promise
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 7
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 6
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 5
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 4
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 3
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 2
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 1
How Mid-Size Service Firms Can Acquire Great New Clients On LinkedIn
Five Ways The Consultative Sale Improves Profits
How To Win The Complex Service Sale Consistently
Do You Choose Clients Or Do They Choose You?
How To Market & Sell Professional Services Today
How To Break The Grip Of Rainmaker Culture
How Content Impacts The Service Sale
How To Know When Prospects Are Ready
How To Pull Prospects Into Conversations
Nurture Organic Relationships Online
How To Build Relationships With Jaded Prospects
Do Prospects Want To Buy Or Be Sold?
Close Deals Faster Using Proof Statements
How To Get Mindshare With Busy Decision-Makers
How To Get Great Prospects Leaning In
How Digital Marketing Creates Sales Funnel Velocity
Digital Marketing Perfect For Complex Sales – Part 2
Digital Marketing Is Perfect For The Complex Sale
Your Best New Client Is Looking For You
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 3
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 2
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 1
Do This to Fill Your Sales Funnel
What You Must Do To Acquire New Clients
An Audience Of One
How to Attract New Ideal Clients
Are You A Content Marketer Or A Thought Leader?
Consider The Source: Theorist Or Practitioner
Why Pain Points Are Not Enough

MARKETING

How To Market Managed Services - Part 3
How To Market Managed Services - Part 2
How To Market Managed Services Today – Part 1
Why Service Firms Need A Multichannel Digital Marketing Strategy
Does Your Website Attract Ideal Clients?
Why Service Firms Need The Ultimate Digital Marketing Stack
The Myth Of The Time-Starved Service Buyer
Do You Choose Clients Or Do They Choose You?
How To Market & Sell Professional Services Today
Why You Need A Generous Brand
How Content Impacts The Service Sale
Are You Measuring Your Time Funnel?
How To Get Mindshare With Busy Decision-Makers
How To Get Great Prospects Leaning In
How Digital Marketing Creates Sales Funnel Velocity
Five Digital Marketing KPIs
Do Your Users Experience Content Regret?
Content Registrations Are Not Enough
Is Your Website Open For Business
How To Build A Great Digital Marketing Plan
Digital Marketing Perfect For Complex Sales – Part 2
Digital Marketing Is Perfect For The Complex Sale
The Value Of An Idea Driven Website
Who Benefits From Your Content?
Your Best New Client Is Looking For You
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 3
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 2
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 1
How To Get The Greatest Value From Content Marketing
Why You Should Absolutely Give Away Your Best Ideas
Do This to Fill Your Sales Funnel
What You Must Do To Acquire New Clients
An Audience Of One
How to Attract New Ideal Clients
Are You A Content Marketer Or A Thought Leader?
Consider The Source: Theorist Or Practitioner
Why Pain Points Are Not Enough
How To Nurture Ideal Prospects

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CASE STUDIES

THE IMPACT WE’VE HAD ON OUR CLIENTS

ENGINEERING FIRM BREAKS THROUGH OLD BARRIERS WITH ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH & LEADERSHIP ALIGNMENT INITIATIVES

LEADERSHIP STALEMATE DISSOLVES AS THE ORGANIZATION ADOPTS A NEW STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR A MORE PROSPEROUS FUTURE

The Client Situation

An engineering firm in the U.S. had been grappling with a problem for several years. Although the firm was financially successful and had long-standing and prosperous client relationships, they were challenged with a leadership stalemate. The founders had hired a consultant to help them establish a new leadership team because the founders were near retirement. Yet, there were numerous indicators that the new leadership team was not working out. The founders were reticent to make major changes because they didn’t want to lose employees whom they believed were loyal to the new leaders, most of whom were long-term employees.

But the problems were undeniable. Morale was low. Staff conflicts were persistent. Teamwork was in the tank as team leaders rarely supported each other and often directly contradicted each other in front of staff, which created confusion. Inappropriate behavior, which should have been quickly addressed, festered for months. While the leaders kept internal conflicts out of view from clients, productivity was down, deadlines were in danger of being missed and clients could sense something was wrong.

The Shattuck Group’s Recommendations 

As we began speaking with the founders of this firm, it was clear that they had made many very good decisions in the past. The founders had adopted a certain leadership style that had worked very well for them, empowering the company to grow from nothing to several million dollars in revenue every year. For nearly two decades, they had grown steadily with consistent profitability and effective governance.

But as the founders began to cede control of the business to the new leaders, trust fissures opened up between these leaders and between the leaders and the founders. To help us understand the complexity of the issues at hand, we interviewed everyone on the leadership team and several influential employees in different departments. We concluded that no one was acting in bad faith. The new leaders sincerely believed that they were acting in the best interest of their team and of the company. They all felt that the positions they advocated for and the objectives they were trying to achieve would advance the company. It was quite a conundrum.

While we knew the stalemate had to be broken, we also recognized the very fragile nature of the alliances that had formed. If the founders took action that the leaders deemed to be aggressive, a mass exodus could ensue, leading to an outright implosion of the business. The stakes were very high. After careful analysis of the entire situation, we recommended the following services:

Principal Coaching—to guide the founders through this challenging situation.

Organizational Health—to address cultural and behavioral issues while enhancing collaboration.

Leadership Council—to serve as a ballast and guide for the business going forward.

Leadership Alignment—to get clarity about where the business was heading.

Mentorship Coaching—to cross-pollinate bonds between members of differing teams.

The Service Package

Our engagement began with Principal Coaching, holding numerous in-depth conversations with the founders to understand why they believed the new leadership model had not worked out. What became very clear, after just a couple of conversations, is that the founders and the new leaders shared very different risk profiles, which meant they also had very different priorities.

While the new leaders faced risks to their careers—if the business failed—they were young enough and talented enough that they could find new jobs. They had little to lose compared to the founders who were late in their careers or already retired. This may, in part, explain why the leaders had been so entrenched in their positions and often unwilling to compromise. Our assessment was that these younger leaders, as well-intentioned as they might have been, prized being right over being effective. The founders agreed with our analysis and were emboldened to take action.

One of our first initiatives was to introduce Organizational Health to the entire company. We highlighted the concept of Servant Leadership as the only real form of leadership. We provided everyone in the company with reading materials to support these ideas. We were surprised at how quickly staff read the materials and began to discuss the ideas.

We leveraged these ideas to help form a new Leadership Council. This council took immediate action on defining the values of the organization, particularly their minimum standard values. This made it clear that certain behaviors which had been endemic to the culture were no longer allowed. Because the Leadership Council owned the definition and explanation of these values for others in the firm, there was no radical upheaval. There was no mass exodus even as problematic behaviors, one-by-one, began to disappear. Self-governance took hold. 

We also led a Leadership Alignment initiative to break through some of the conflicts that had held the organization back. As we got the founders and leaders talking about the future, it became clear that certain leaders had very different notions of where the business should be headed than did the founders. This moment of clarity emboldened the founders to ask certain leaders to sit in different seats on the bus. Eventually, some of these leaders left the organization. But most of the people on their teams did not leave because they were regaining confidence that the business could thrive under the Servant Leadership model.

One of the reasons this happened is because we led a Mentorship Coaching initiative to cross-pollinate people of influence on differing teams. We sought to define who was influential within the company and which departments they were assigned to. We intentionally setup circle of 7 mentorship teams with people from different departments. This cross-pollination broke down silos, got people from different departments talking to each other on a daily basis and substantially improved teamwork.

The Client Results

Within a year of these initiatives being complete, this organization was radically improved. The leadership stalemate was over. The financial interests of the founders were protected and secured. The new Leadership Council took responsibility for defending the values of the firm and for quickly addressing situations that had once lingered. Client relationships were preserved and client concerns were fully addressed.

Teamwork and morale improved substantially even as the mentorship program gave people hope for more opportunities within the business. Long-term employees remained committed to the business and focused on their clients. Younger employees looked forward to the future. Maybe most importantly, the founders conducted a search for a new CEO and found a great person for the role. This person stepped into a very different situation than had been present the year before, empowering the new CEO to chart a course to even more future success.

CASE STUDIES

OUR BLOG

LEADERSHIP

Who Should Be On Your Leadership Council?
When Service Firm Leaders Perfect Deliberation, They Reignite Growth
Five Reasons Service Firm Leaders Should Score Their Business Monthly
What Should You Expect From Your Service Firm Leadership Team?
Do You Have A Leadership Team Or A Leadership Council?
Ten Traits Of Organizationally Healthy Professional Service Firms
To Grow Your Professional Service Firm, Prize Culture Over Strategy
TP35: The One Tipping Point Mid-Size Service Firms Must Address To Keep Growing
Seven Reasons Most Mid-Size Service Firms Don’t Grow Very Much
Five Reasons Mid-Size Service Firms Need A New Leadership Operating Model
How Leaders Can Address The Growth Tipping Point For Mid-Sized Service Firms
Five Reasons Professional Service Leaders Should Prize EQ Over IQ
Why Mid-Size Service Firm Leadership Teams Need Collective Objectives To Grow
How To Grow Your Mid-Sized Service Firm: Jealously Protect Your Focused Energy
Why Professional Service Firms Should Consider Circle Of Seven Mentoring Networks
How A Leader’s Energy Field Impacts Team Productivity
Don’t Trade Misery For Money: How Professional Service Firms Can Leverage The Great Resignation
Strong Personality Vs. Strong Person: The Makeup Of A Leadership Council
Custer Or Marshall: Why Mid-Size Service Firms Must Choose Their Leadership Model
To Grow Your Mid-Size Professional Service Firm, Define And Defend Your Values
If You Want To Grow Your Mid-Size Service Firm, Establish A Formal Leadership Council
Want To Grow Your Professional Service Firm? Focus On The One
If You Want To Grow Your Midsize Professional Service Firm, Align Your Leaders
Why Midsize Service Firm Leaders Must Think Like Entrepreneurs To Grow
How To Grow A Mid-Size Professional Service Firm Today
Why It's Important For Great Leaders To Tell Great Stories
How Great Leaders Persuade Using Word-Pictures
How The Say-Do Ratio Influences Trusted Advisor Status And Profits
Why Service Firm Leaders Should Nurture The Entrepreneurial Instincts Of Their Top People

SALES

Five Strategies For Midsize Service Firms To Break Through Revenue Plateaus
How Pro Service Firms Can Fix The ‘Drop Everything — Chase Money’ Problem
Prospect, Originate, Navigate: How To Fill Your Professional Service Pipeline
To Grow Your Mid-Size Professional Service Firm, Think Carefully About Your Promise
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 7
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 6
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 5
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 4
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 3
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 2
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 1
How Mid-Size Service Firms Can Acquire Great New Clients On LinkedIn
Five Ways The Consultative Sale Improves Profits
How To Win The Complex Service Sale Consistently
Do You Choose Clients Or Do They Choose You?
How To Market & Sell Professional Services Today
How To Break The Grip Of Rainmaker Culture
How Content Impacts The Service Sale
How To Know When Prospects Are Ready
How To Pull Prospects Into Conversations
Nurture Organic Relationships Online
How To Build Relationships With Jaded Prospects
Do Prospects Want To Buy Or Be Sold?
Close Deals Faster Using Proof Statements
How To Get Mindshare With Busy Decision-Makers
How To Get Great Prospects Leaning In
How Digital Marketing Creates Sales Funnel Velocity
Digital Marketing Perfect For Complex Sales – Part 2
Digital Marketing Is Perfect For The Complex Sale
Your Best New Client Is Looking For You
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 3
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 2
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 1
Do This to Fill Your Sales Funnel
What You Must Do To Acquire New Clients
An Audience Of One
How to Attract New Ideal Clients
Are You A Content Marketer Or A Thought Leader?
Consider The Source: Theorist Or Practitioner
Why Pain Points Are Not Enough

MARKETING

How To Market Managed Services - Part 3
How To Market Managed Services - Part 2
How To Market Managed Services Today – Part 1
Why Service Firms Need A Multichannel Digital Marketing Strategy
Does Your Website Attract Ideal Clients?
Why Service Firms Need The Ultimate Digital Marketing Stack
The Myth Of The Time-Starved Service Buyer
Do You Choose Clients Or Do They Choose You?
How To Market & Sell Professional Services Today
Why You Need A Generous Brand
How Content Impacts The Service Sale
Are You Measuring Your Time Funnel?
How To Get Mindshare With Busy Decision-Makers
How To Get Great Prospects Leaning In
How Digital Marketing Creates Sales Funnel Velocity
Five Digital Marketing KPIs
Do Your Users Experience Content Regret?
Content Registrations Are Not Enough
Is Your Website Open For Business
How To Build A Great Digital Marketing Plan
Digital Marketing Perfect For Complex Sales – Part 2
Digital Marketing Is Perfect For The Complex Sale
The Value Of An Idea Driven Website
Who Benefits From Your Content?
Your Best New Client Is Looking For You
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 3
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 2
Why Service Firms Should Focus On Ideal Clients– Part 1
How To Get The Greatest Value From Content Marketing
Why You Should Absolutely Give Away Your Best Ideas
Do This to Fill Your Sales Funnel
What You Must Do To Acquire New Clients
An Audience Of One
How to Attract New Ideal Clients
Are You A Content Marketer Or A Thought Leader?
Consider The Source: Theorist Or Practitioner
Why Pain Points Are Not Enough
How To Nurture Ideal Prospects