Case study

Project Management

Project management is defined as the of managing and coordinating the resources, both human and material, throughout the project’s life cycle, using modern management techniques in order to reach predefined goals of scope, quality, cost, time and satisfaction of identified stakeholders. Centered around results, project management or management by project is a fundamental way of managing organisations.

Case study #1 – small-medium project

The company had a small-medium project to implement (increasing its location’s size, acquiring a new team and new equipment), limited resources (both human and financial) and a lot of good will, After having determined the project’s parameters and impacted employees with the company’s president, the project was launched.

In such a context, focus was placed on forming and training the project team, establishing a solid project plan and a dynamic FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis), in order that the project may be able to function in as much of an autonomous way for most of the project duration’s. This enabled the project to keep its costs under control, timelines were reasonable and well managed, the president well informed of the team’s progress at pre-established key milestones.

Case study #2 – More challenging project

The organisation had a more challenging project to implement (merger between two organisations with new management taking over, resources being reduced, new work structure, etc). Although much work had been done by consultants (HR, lawyers, etc) before the merger, no one yet had a true overview of the big picture of the new organisation or of how they should be localised in their new offices.

In such a context, there is much at hand to take care of. A multidisciplinary team must be put together which will require strong coordination and direction. As the HR team who had been involved thus far also had some resources who could be involved in work organization, we worked with them for this aspect of the task force. Another team member was also assigned a work package for Change Management, which in this case required much attention. Another resource was assigned to training and documentation and finally, another resource was assigned to the logistical aspect of the changes and merger. Finally, a project manager was assigned to orchestrate all of the different work packages. Although many resources were required, each was not necessarily required throughout the duration of the project, however most were quite active immediately before and after the official opening, so being surrounded by a team of specialist made a significant different in the results.

By collaborating and involving key resources at the appropriate time, the company was able to make significant savings both in terms of time and money, was able to merge both teams smoothly and have a great launch and strong team spirit starting day 1.

Business Process Management

Case Study – Dentist office

Our client, an established dentist office had little turn over in terms of hygienists, however it was a different story in the role of receptionnist. When this role was vacant, it happened quite frequently that the role would remain vacant for a period of many weeks before it could be replaced, which would cause additional stress on remaining employees, on top of the that created by the training. A couple of items were put in place in order to deal with the issue, one of which was to help with the training by documenting processes, to simplify the training process, provide solid references and share best practices.

In this context, a study of processes was completed in order to standardize and optimize processes for receptionists, document and simplify the learning process for new employees in order to make the take-over process quicker and provide increased autonomy to new employees as early as possible.

While completing this exercise, we not only developed the training document (reducing overall training time by more than a third), but we also identified an important number of « best practices » amongst different receptionists and hygienists, enabling to increase their efficiency and effectiveness with the clinic’s patients.

Process enhancements

Case Study #1 – Sales support

Our client had a beautiful challenge. His sales had rocketed and his sales support, who was supporting two sales support was no longer able to make ends meet. As one of the sales person was also the president of the company, the second sales person was getting the short end and would be leaving the company if nothing was done shortly.

By reviewing the various processes in place and improving some of the internal steps, administrative timelines were reduced in such a way that the sales support was now able to meet the sales force’s need. New forms and tools had to be created and implemented and mini-meetings implemented which enabled better communication and solved issues much more quickly.

End result: The firm was able to continue to increase its sales without increasing its salaries!

Change Management

Change is ever present in today’s organisations. We all must deal with new and evolving constraints from regulations, the environment and client needs! But change is not always easy to deal with, especially if you didn’t initiate it but have to deal with it! That is why Change Management as a topic interests so many different professions including psychology, sociology, organisational consultants, etc…

Whether you want to or not, change will have an impact on employees and if change is important, you must take it into account. We can help you analyse and plan the change management activities to help your teams deal with the change your organisation needs to implement in order to succeed.

Case study – Important role / task changes for an employee group

Our client, a financial service provider, was implementing important changes which would have important impacts on roles and responsibilities for an large group of employees. It was therefore very important to deal with these changes delicately and to help them deal with this change with doigté, otherwise this would have a negative impact not only on these employees, but also on their peers and their clients.

The work was therefore completed diligently, analysing impacts on tasks, other similar positions (from an HR position, how these employees could be helped and repositioned? What were their options, etc) In this context it is especially important to ensure that all hierarchy levels are well prepared to deal with questions. When dealing with change, no-one has all the answers, but it is important to know where to go with your questions, to know that your employer is there to support you and answer your questions during the period of change. The Change Management and Communication plan we prepare helped the leaders create that environment for their teams.

Training

Case Study – New position being created in an Investment Firm

Our client, an Investment Firm, had decided to modify the way it dealt with part of Compliance in Investment files. In doing so, a new position had been created. As such, we were mandated to create a learning program for employees in this new role.

As such, we used part of the existing standard program, web-based pre-recorded elements, class-based elements, which were particularly interesting and highly worthwhile given the high number of participants in this wave, and some virtual / LiveMeeting classes.

New employees were also on a 90 day Follow-up program, where their work was supervised in a stricter fashion and where they benefited from more coaching.

No matter what type of company you own, we have the type of training you need or we will build it for you!