We Measure Our Success By Your Results

• Motivated and mobilized in 300 days.
  BP Fabrics and Fibers Company

  When a good leadership team breaks out of its rut, remarkable results happen. Our client, the new president of a $750 million division of a Fortune 50 Petrochemical Manufacturer, was concerned his leadership team was not ready for the magnitude of change needed to move the company from treading water to aggressive growth.

  We worked with the president to develop and facilitate a process which engaged the senior team in assessing their current strategy.  By unlocking their wisdom, they came to their own conclusion about the case for change.  They then developed a new vision, values and strategy. 

  To arrive at a strategic plan, we further helped them assess the required organizational capabilities and formulate an aggressive action plan to realign the organization – within 300 days.

  To move quickly and effectively to implementation, we designed and facilitated a meeting that enrolled the top 120 managers in the new plan and engaged them to develop detailed functional and location plans to execute the change.
   
  Read a more detailed description of this engagement.(PDF) 

  What our client had to say …

  "We made dramatic progress in 300 days.  I don't usually praise consultants in public, but we couldn't have done this without Jackie Sherman." Brad Mortimer Retired President Propex Fabrics Company

• Recently appointed SVP ignites the leadership team of her new division.
  Innovene

  A recently appointed Senior Vice President contacted us to jumpstart her leadership team.  This team was responsible for leading a newly formed $3 billion chemicals division composed of multiple businesses with different structures and cultures. We designed and facilitated a process that resulted in a common purpose, clear roles and responsibilities, and shared commitments to each other.

  In less than one year this new team created deep ownership, alignment and creativity in their employees. The result was a dramatic business turnaround that included a 500 percent increase in profitability, a six percent increase in asset reliability and an eight percent increase in asset utilization
  
  What our client had to say …

  "During the last decade, I have had the pleasure of working with Jackie in multiple roles and scenarios.  Her expertise in effective organization design, change and leadership is unique both because of her truly global, diverse experience base, and because of her deep theoretical knowledge paired with ongoing practical application.    Most recently, Jackie provided team and organizational consulting for me as an SVP over a $3 billion in revenue global operating company of commodity and specialty chemicals. I engaged Jackie to work with me as leader and with my team to become an excellent leadership team.  She thoughtfully created a comprehensive approach to strengthen the team's relationships, vision and action plans that would enable us to effectively deliver our desired performance.  While her approach and design were broad and detailed, her expertise and planning for multiple scenarios gave her the flexibility to quickly adapt and guide our work in response to individual team member needs.  In addition, Jackie provided me with leadership coaching based on an integrated framework that further enhanced the effectiveness of the work with my executive team.  Overall I have found Jackie's work to maintain an important balance of both pragmatism and a commitment to critical and necessary work." K'Lynne Johnson CEO Elevance Renewable Sciences Formerly SVP, Innovene, Global Derivatives

• A prestigious library breaks through a longstanding stalemate.
  Emory University Library

  Our client had tried unsuccessfully for four years to implement widespread organizational change to improve both customer and employee satisfaction in a way that would be supported by leaders, librarians, and administrative staff.

  Our comprehensive approach to this organization redesign involved: developing a new organizational structure agreed to by both leaders and staff; defining new roles and responsibilities that reflected a new culture; and implementing processes for staffing, team development, evaluation and rewards in the new organization design.  They successfully implemented these and other related changes.

  Years later, the project manager, now a senior leader at the library, reflected on the lasting impact of the skill development that was part of how we worked with the library staff, referring to such things as: teaching them processes for decision making; interpersonal and system-wide communication; and various ways of improving their design and facilitation of meetings.

  Read a more detailed description of this engagement.

  What our clients had to say …

  "You helped us with many important changes. Our organization is a different place now. We have greatly improved our communication and decision-making. The three years that we worked together were very rewarding for me and rich with learning. I had very challenging times and I could not have made it through without your support. I believe the library got better results from our reorganization because of your involvement with us." Frances Maloy Division Leader and Redesign Project Manager Emory University General Libraries "I have worked with many consultants over the years and have only highest praise for Jackie's consulting abilities. She worked with a variety of individuals and groups during our project. In each of these relationships she met and exceeded our expectations. We would jump at the chance to re-engage Jackie in the future on any organizational change or organizational development project." Dianne Smith Director of Human Resources Emory University

• A brand new, functionally diverse unit of a Fortune 50 Petrochemicals Company achieves purpose and unity.
  Innovene

  The Senior Vice President headed a newly formed strategy unit of a $26 billion corporate spin-off. The unit contained Strategy, Technology, Marketing and Licensing, which were all directed to quickly add value and develop synergies.  However, 90 percent of the unit's members had not chosen to work there.  Additionally, employees were confused about why the unit included all four teams and were skeptical about the department's potential for impact, since there was no defined need from or credibility with the four operating companies.  An additional challenge was that the unit was geographically split between the US and Europe. 

  In consulting with the Senior VP and his leadership team, we simultaneously built the leadership team, the individual teams, and the entire unit. Within eight months, they had become an integrated unit in which people understood when and how to draw on each others' capabilities. Furthermore, their expertise was sought by the operating companies, and the CEO asked for their counsel on high-profile projects.  Employees were pleasantly surprised by their visibility and enjoyed success as a unit.

• Profitability increase achieved through improved business planning process.
  BP Fabrics and Fibers Company

  We created and facilitated an annual business planning process to develop an integrated company business plan across four business units and seven functions.

  This two-tiered process created a forum for the senior leaders to agree on strategic imperatives and drive improvements in the business.  A critical component was a two-day meeting that engaged the top 120 managers to understand the strategy and develop the implementation plan for their functions and locations. 

  One of the most significant components of this change effort was to engage a broader range of employees in this type of planning   Results included both increased employee engagement and increased profitability.

• Effective meeting design and facilitation enables the division of Fortune 50 Petrochemical Manufacturer to achieve an unprecedented success.
  Amoco Chemicals PTA Business Unit

  We worked with the client team to design and facilitate a technology strategy conference.  During the meeting, members of the business and technology functions developed a technology strategy and implementation plan to create sustainable competitive advantage and establish clear industry leadership.  The conference resulted in agreement on a strategy and an implementation plan, in addition to an action plan that would make significant progress on long-standing, challenging technical problems.

  The business leaders said the results exceeded their expectations in all areas. Many participants reported that the meeting was the best and most energizing technology conference they had attended in their 20-year history with the company.
  
  What our client had to say …

  "Please accept my sincere thanks for your excellent meeting design and facilitation. It really made a successful event!  Your dedication and your support to the design team were essential factors in this success.  You managed to keep us on track with the schedule without constraining the group's creativity.  I was positively surprised with the way we were able to engage such a large group and raise all the critical issues.  And it was quite remarkable to see us achieve consensus around a very good list of action items.  A lot of this was due to your engagement and experience!" Patrick Prevost Strategy & Development BP Chemicals

• Executive Coaching

  Coaching with Jackie has helped me in taking a softer, more personal approach to working with clients. She has an ability to listen very closely, not jsut to the verbal, but also the nonverbal. She knows when to dig deeper and notices what I didn't see about myself before. She has also helped me become more systematic and consistent as a small busienss owner." Micah Porter, CFA, CFP President and CEO Minerva Planning Group, Atlanta     "Jackie got me to slow down, which gave me space to think differently. She especially helped me, in my leadership role, work through getting others to collaborate adn think through challenges on their own. jackie creates a good connection, where I can speak freelya dn feel listened to – it has been valuable for my personal development." Brian Williams VP Development Select Medical Corporation, Atlanta       "You can either win or lose during a transition, so it's important to pay attention to this critical time. The first transition Jackie coached me through was so successful that I have retained her for every work transition for the last 10 years. She helps me get a clear view of the situation and approach it strategically. Her keen observation skills set her apart from everyone else I've worked with." Marian McClellan   "Jackie has been a coach and strategic thinking partner for me since 2004. She is a great listener and her broad base of knowledge provides an outside perspective to think through problems in ways I can't do on my own. jackie helps me dome up with processes, is good at showing me my strenghts, and she helped me add very useful tools to my toolbox."      Executive Director National Association      "Working with Jackie was truly a developmental experience and a real pleasure. She was able to "get to know me" very quickly, using probing questions and strong listening skills, and then effectively used that knowledge to ask challenging questions throughout the coaching experience, helping me look at things differently and explore different options.  Our coaching was done mostly by phone, which can present communication challenges.  She is skilled in handling coaching by phone – knows when to inquire to gather more data and knows when to wait patiently and let the silence "do its work."  She brings a holistic approach to coaching, helping the client discover the connections between different aspects of work and life, and the interdependencies of mental, physical and emotional states.  It is this unique approach, and the resulting new awareness found, which has made a long lasting difference for me." VP Global Diversity Fortune 50 Company       "Jackie’s coaching has helped me to lead better in what can be an emotionally charged theatre environment. She helps me get to the core issues, deal with the bigger picture, and formulate an action plan. She is very responsive and resourceful and draws from her deep experience in both the for-profit and non-profit worlds, which gives us new perspectives and insights." Jennifer Bauer-Lyons Managing Producer Horizon Theatre Company, Atlanta

• Business Process Excellence results in desired cultural change, leading to best financial results to-date.
  Logan Aluminum

  President of a manufacturing company ranked #1 in its industry in manufacturing costs and production effectiveness was under pressure to continue to reduce costs by 5% annually, beyond “plan.”  Convinced there were significant opportunities for cost savings, cycle time reduction, and increased effectiveness within their administrative processes, he had been unsuccessful in gaining interest from his senior team. We designed and facilitated a series of meetings resulting in the top 100 managers understanding the need for change, and beginning to identify improvement opportunities among the administrative processes.  Focusing first on the two most far reaching processes, we then designed an approach that resulted in employees of those key functions convincing themselves of the opportunities for improvement in process effectiveness and cost savings within and across these key functions. Finally, we collaborated with the client’s six sigma black-belts to tailor an approach to redesign those processes that resulted in increased process efficiencies, cost savings, and customer satisfaction.  One year later, the President said:  “BPE culturally changed things for us.  Administrative managers and employees are thinking differently.  And this year we had the best performance in our history – the variable pay.”