Case studies

Starting point

Until that point the mortgage business had essentially been dealt with by local bank branches. The new plan was to move the most suitable employees from the branches and create a new central organizational unit for them all in a Customer Service Center at head office. This change incorporated two fundamental dimensions: A new team, the Customer Service Center, had to be created and trained in a very short time at head office. Stucki pointed out at a very early stage that the greater hurdle in this change could in fact prove to be acceptance at the branches. These branches not only had to surrender valued and qualified employees to head office; they also feared they were losing some of the portfolio as well as customer relations to head office. The branches had also been designated to focus more on customer acquisition in the future which did not go down well with those tasked with the job.

What we did

We created a team development process with the designated employees of the new Customer Service Center. This took place as part of a kickoff meeting and two 1.5-day seminars. The major goals included getting to know each other, establishing trust and, above all, how to deal with change. With a slight delay, a second process saw all branch employees involved in a one-day seminar. Once again, the focus was how to deal with the forthcoming changes. Expectations, fears, worries and uncertainties were noted and discussed. The bridge to head office had been built.

What we learned

A review at the end of the project that was held in conjunction with the management and a follow-up seminar later on with all employees of the Customer Service Center revealed that everyone agreed that the centralization of the mortgage business had in fact been effected with virtually no problems. Everyone also agreed that this would not have been possible without the involvement of Stucki and without the focus on the uncertainties the employees felt due to the forthcoming changes. It was very special for us that the bank was prepared to involve all employees in the process, regardless of hierarchy and workload. We “Stuckis” will never forget the seminar day, for example, with around 40 ladies (and one gentleman) who work on the front line in the branches. The participants did not even lose their enthusiasm and motivation in the pouring rain. The experience and the core messages of the “Four-room apartment of change” model will be remembered for a long time to come – something our client has often confirmed.

Starting point

Our client is a global player and sells and manages catering concepts. The client has around 28,000 points of sale in Switzerland. The organization totals around 900 employees who, given the setup, are naturally employed on a local basis. This form of organization makes very specific demands of the leadership crew. Under the leadership of the HR Manager, the core competencies demanded by the company were defined using the Lominger criteria. A second step entailed tailoring the employee assessment instrument to suit these criteria. The third step aimed to have leaders reflect on their own behavior in view of these defined leadership competencies. And Stucki was involved.

What we did

Keen perception, dealing with changes, innovation management, setting priorities, presentation skills, courage to lead, fairness toward others, setting up effective teams, integrity and trust were all competencies that had been defined by the customer. Based on these competencies we devised a tailor-made 1.5-day program which would employ our tried and tested Stucki method. The participants were to be given the opportunity to reflect on their behavior within specific simulation tasks based on the defined criteria and then to draw conclusions for their everyday work routine. The seminar was held four times, each time with 30 participants. The tasks to be dealt with by the participants had been carefully based on customer requirements. Particularly in the reflections, we resolutely discussed the competencies defined by the company.

What we learned

The seminars took place at different times of the year. It was fantastic to see that in every seminar, the learning atmosphere was excellent – regardless of the conditions outside. The program was run in close collaboration with the HR Manager. This cooperation was a genuine enrichment for us and worked very well. We were once again impressed to see how the Stucki method simultaneously appealed to participants of all hierarchy levels to an equal degree. Because everyone is solving the same task together, they can all draw on a specific experience they have been through together with the relevant observations. They draw conclusions for their everyday working life from the reflections they have together with the Stucki trainers. We often hear that this is one of the aspects that makes the Stucki method so particularly valuable.

Starting point

Our client decided to attend a Stucki leadership seminar. Feedback from earlier seminars was the reason why the management decided to focus on the leadership development of the executives in the coming two years. Leadership principles were to serve as the guideline for future leadership behavior. A leadership mission statement for all of Switzerland was created in a bottom up process in close cooperation between the customer and representatives of Stucki. And this was a major challenge – as the leadership mission statement had to be created while taking into consideration valid corporate principles, the competency model as well as current and future requirements. The deployment and implementation is taking place over a period of two years. The aim is to create a leadership culture which is beneficial both for our client and the employees and, in turn, for their clients.

The benefit for the participants and the company

• Strong and motivating leadership as the basis for remaining on a profitable basis
• Shared understanding of leadership for corporate-wide company culture
• Focusing on leadership
• Individual reflection of own style of leadership in comparison with the leadership mission statement and a corresponding further development of leadership behavior
• The leadership mission statement as a reference for leaders and employees

Seminar concept Preparatory work

In a first step, a target/actual analysis was carried out on important basic issues of leadership in questionnaire-based interviews throughout the group over all hierarchy levels. A project team with representatives of all business units as well as Stucki trainers then set about defining the principles – a challenging job! An optimized leadership mission statement was drafted in finely coordinated workshops and with the support of Stucki trainers. The high level of identification and broad acceptance throughout the group was the result of an enriching collaboration. The management finalized and approved the newly defined leadership mission statement.

Stucki seminar

• Presentation of the leadership mission statement by a member of the next highest executive level
• Discussion and interpretation of the leadership mission statement in small groups
• Creation and discussion of a tried and tested personal profile for all members of the executive team
• Drafting a simple, authentic and vital communication tool for communication with the next level down
• Objectives for personal further development

Transfer

• Implementation of the mission statement in own everyday leadership routine
• Deployment of personal development goals
• Follow-up discussion
• Verification of own progress
• Dialog with individual members of the management

Starting point

Our client holds an international management seminar once a year. Stucki Leadership & Team Development AG was commissioned to develop a module with activity-oriented training for this seminar.

The objectives we are pursuing are as follows:

• Development of personal leadership competencies
• Experiencing the leadership principles in practice
• Promotion of independent thinking and action
• Gaining a deeper understanding of how teams work and what can favor a transformation into a high-performing team
• Developing capabilities, solving complex problems in a multicultural environment
• Recognizing fundamental motivation factors in everyday leadership routine

Immediate benefit for the participant

• Finds out about and experiences the content of the leadership principles in practice
• Develops his/her leadership skills
• Recognizes the factors and criteria of a high-performing team
• Becomes more aware of his/her personal leadership behavior
• Develops personal decision-making and responsibility skills in a multicultural environment

company

• Greater identification of the individual leader with the leadership principles and thus the company
• Fewer leadership errors and support of culture of trust
• Reduction of intercultural barriers

Starting point

This client contacted us to organize an executive team development training session. In spite of or perhaps because of greater pricing pressure and a challenging competitor environment, the management team had decided to take steps in the area of leadership and team development. The company’s vision, recorded in a concise statement, was the basis used to define the process. The significant points of this statement in terms of our work (selection):

• We define clear and measurable goals which spur us on to above-average performance.
• We see the full picture and are fully aware of how important our task is for the entire company.
• We are open and honest with each other and treat each other with respect.
• We can take criticism and handle it positively.
• We are prepared to critically review what we have done to date and what we do currently.
• We feel responsible for our actions.
• We think about solutions and not about problems.
• We create an atmosphere in which enthusiasm, creativity and satisfaction grow with our own work.

The objectives for the leadership and team development process were defined as follows in close collaboration with the CEO and the Head of HR:

• Recognition of the criteria and features that distinguish a high-performing team.
• Experiencing and practically implementing the leadership principles.

Benefits for the participant

• Finds out about and experiences the content of the leadership principles in practice
• Develops his/her leadership skills
• Recognizes the factors and criteria of a high-performing team
• Becomes more aware of his/her personal leadership and team behavior

company

• Greater identification of the individual leader with the leadership principles and thus the company
• Fewer leadership errors and support of culture of trust

Starting point

Our client was looking for a qualified team of speakers for the block week “Change and project management”. Together with the designated course leader, we developed a concept for this block week. The following objectives were defined and also successfully achieved: Knowledge- and experience-based extension of project management expertise with

• Analysis of own supplied projects
• Acquisition of specific PM knowledge through theoretical training
• Application and training of PM capabilities in real situations
• Reflection of project processes with definition of success and failure factors
• Transfer of what has been learned to personal everyday project routine
• Compilation of what has been learned in a final document

Immediate benefit for the participants

• Extension of project management knowledge
• Greater leadership quality in everyday project work
• Increased insight in own real projects
• Identification of stumbling blocks and success factors in projects
• Drawing parallels to own corporate culture
• Drafting an individual user-friendly PM manual

Seminar concept

The project lead training was carried out in accordance with the concept of the learning company. The distinguishing features of this concept:

• The participants experience 1:1 the dynamics and the area of conflict between line and project organization structures
• The actual product of the company is learning, in other words the further development and consolidation of (social) competencies
• The high degree of self organization encourages self-dependent thinking and acting

Kick-off module initial information

The participants

• Are given information about their training
• Describe their own participant projects
• Apply for a position in the learning company

Seminar module learning company Initial phase

• The executives were prepared for their role in the learning company (the participants could apply for a leading position)
• The seminar host explained the targets, organization and working methods of the seminar

Working in a learning company

• Presentation of theory in workshops with external speakers
• Customer projects in the form of activity-oriented tasks
• Project: environmental analysis of the projects brought along by participants
• Drafting of a manual for project leads (based on the experience made during the week)

Assessment

The participants reflect on and present their learning content

• From the workshops and speeches
• From the participant projects
• From the customer projects

Liquidation of the learning company

The participants reflect on and present their learning content from the learning company

Content focus

• Basics of PM
• Project organization
• Project environment analysis, the project as a social system
• Project steering and control
• Project controlling
• Dealing with conflict and resistance
• Leading projects in a target-oriented way
• Adapting leadership style to the project organization
• Deliberate compilation of project teams
• Area of conflict – line/project organization

Starting point

Our client decided to train its executives in different leadership qualities with a dynamic, target-oriented and multi-level leadership seminar. With a mixture of different learning methods in different learning environments and situations, leaders should be given the opportunity to get to know their own style of leadership better and make better use of existing potential. The leadership competencies seen by the management as being of top priority should thus be trained intensively.

Defining key competencies

The first step saw the CEO, head of training and Stucki as an external institution draw up the relevant key competencies together. From the 67 possible leadership competencies defined by Lominger, eight were selected which are crucial to the successful leadership of the company in the coming years.

Verification of key competencies

In a second preparatory step, the defined key competencies were verified in an activity-oriented executive workshop with the extended board. Which ones are relevant? Where is the greatest need for action or the greatest deficit? Accordingly, which competencies should therefore be trained first/most intensively? Selected leaders are now trained specifically in these competencies in two-module seminars.

Immediate benefit for participants and company

• Understanding of individual leadership profile
• Understanding of the profiles of the other leaders in the company
• Recognition of your own needs and the needs of employees (leading yourself and others effectively)
• Training coaching competencies
• Recognizing and extending your own leadership competencies
• Extending social competencies
• Improving multitasking qualifications
• Increased understanding of art

Seminar concept

As already mentioned above, the training was to be divided into two modules, each of which should last around 1.5 days. The two modules should take place with a gap of around three months between each other so participants have the time to actually apply what they have learned and then use experiences made during the gap in the second part for the purpose of further consolidation. The organization of both modules should be identical in terms of time: Start on the evening of the first day with introductions and first working steps. Intense continued work on the following day, rounded off by lunch with all participants on day three.

Module I

The following are the focal points of the first module:

• Insights personal profiles with individual evaluation
• Leadership course: leading people with similar and opposing personality structure
• Giving and taking feedback
• Drafting feedback questions for own employees and line managers (360° feedback “light”)
• Verification of own leadership profile
• Coaching: theory, then practical part with description of an example, depicting a case right through to providing a specific solution
• Transfer safeguarding and work plan
• Presentation: leadership as a top priority

It is important to select a balanced mixture of theoretical input, involvement of the everyday work routine as well as indoor and outdoor tasks to cater to different styles of learning and to work in different environments.

Module II

The following are the focal points of the second module:

• Guest speaker talking about leadership (learning from the experience of others)
• Task: organize a scintillating evening with guest speakers on further leadership topics
• Verification of transfer safeguarding: Which measures in Module I were successful? Why?
• Complex leadership simulation: draft offer for practical system. Follow by presentation, negotiations and reworking. After evaluation of the best offer: integration of the weaker work group for production and system operation.
• Creation of a personal teaching plan for the future
• Art talk
• From thee to five stars (Gault Millau). Comparison with another service provider rounded off with lunch in a five-star hotel.

Content focus

• Personal profile/own leadership profile
• Experiencing and reflecting leadership in complex and different situations
• Coaching
• Dealing with several projects all going on at the same time
• Drafting a personal teaching plan
• Transfer safeguarding
• Understanding of art