Successful Assignments

Project communications: World Health Organisation's Vision 2020
- Creating leadership communication to support global healthcare enterprise

Situation:
The Australian key support group of 20 main eyecare agencies had reached a critical impediment in their support of the WHO's Vision 2020 project. Despite comprehensive technical solutions, there was no overall strategy or operational framework to co-ordinate their differing organisational approaches and resources.

Background:
The World Health Organisation committed to the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness (35 million cases) through their Vision 2020 program. Avoidable blindness causes huge humanitarian and economic costs worldwide. The Vision 2020 global alliance includes UN agencies, governments, eye care organisations, health professionals, philanthropic institutions and individuals. Despite best efforts over time by individual agencies, avoidable blindness has skyrocketed, and is now beyond any one agency's reach. The WHO therefore sought to co-ordinate the talents and resources of agencies worldwide. The challenge was initially taken up in Australia by four major eyecare agencies. This increased to 20 main, and 50 subscribing agencies.

Solution:
The agencies agreed to set aside traditional boundaries and rivalries. Strategy had to be prioritised over implementation, with all constituent programs embedded into an overall strategic framework. Each agency could then understand how its role supported delivery of the whole program.

Implementation:
The four founding agencies first needed to understand each other's unique strengths and weaknesses. Then the large problem had to be broken down into a lot of small ones – the constituent projects – and a gap analysis conducted for each to produce a needs list. Some 14 projects, on and offshore, were evaluated with tailored plans made for each. This created an overall resources evaluation, timescale and monitoring base to enable each agency to apply itself effectively as a part of the whole project to deliver Australia's commitments to the global WHO initiative.

Outcomes:
Competing Australian agencies agreed for the first time to work together.
Problem evaluation shifted from technical/medical to purely strategic.
Component strategies were defined with agreed metrics and outcomes.
Resource procurement for each component was strategised.
An overall project timescale reduction of 50% was forecast.
Australian agencies would be able to deliver on the promise.

Stakeholder communications: IT infrastructure security ASX listing
- Creating leadership & enterprise communication effectiveness to support Initial Public Offer

Situation:
Client planned to float the company, with a name change, to fund global expansion. A public relations campaign would create investor awareness and support for the float. However, research revealed that an enterprise-wide approach to improving communications was needed to support growth plans.

Background:
Company was founded in 1993 to market hard security systems. Within 6 years it had evolved to become Australia's leading IT infrastructure security provider. With a highly profitable operation, and an increasingly international client base, the company was positioned for rapid expansion to capitalise on its unique market opportunities. The immediate challenges included selling the company's name change to key stakeholders and listing in an environment strongly negative to IT and Dot Com floats.

Solution:
A comprehensive 360° audit was recommended to measure the company's communications readiness and effectiveness. The audit process would uncover perception gaps and identify communication requirements for both a successful IPO and ongoing growth. This would lead to the development and implementation of appropriate internal and external communications strategies.

Implementation:
The audit revealed that changes were needed to support leadership, management and internal communications through the future of rapid growth and structural change. Negative perceptions of key stakeholders, actual product and value proposition were discovered to be limiting the company's longer-term effectiveness. These required fundamental shifts in marketing, leadership, communications strategies and internal culture. Major communication were needed to shift from being a technology wizard to a customer service organisation, and from low-level competitive vendor to a trusted Boardroom partner. Earl redefined the company's vision & mission statements, developed blueprints for new leadership communications and changed market and product concepts which led to the discovery of a significant new external marketing resource. He worked directly with the CEO, executive team, lead advisors and brokers.

Outcomes:
- Communications:
The company succeeded in winning full support for its name change on the ASX. Management and internal communications were significantly improved to support the proposed future rapid growth environment.
- Float:
The offer closed early, 7 times oversubscribed. The IPO received a positive media blitz on float day from the major financial press. The share price jumped 30% on opening, while the company achieved its desired $A10 million investment, to give a market capitalisation of $A40 million.

Outcomes:
Company won full stakeholder support for its name change on the ASX.
Management communications reconfigured to support rapid growth.
Offer closed early, 7 times oversubscribed giving market cap of $40 million.
Company received a positive media blitz from the financial press.
Share price jumped 30% on opening, and remained high.

Pitch communications: Leading minerals producer
- Communicating to fast-track a new national financial reporting system

Background:
Client operated multiple accounting systems at its production, maintenance and administration sites around Australia. These non-aligned systems prevented the client from obtaining timely management accounting information and the client was unable to meet new ASX financial reporting rules. A single accountancy system would have to be created, and the resulting changes to overall reporting would require extensive organisational changes to support them.

Solution:
Firstly, a comprehensive submission was developed for presentation to the Board for a $14 million investment to create a single accounting regime for the entire group, tailored to the specific needs of the minerals and resources sector. Secondly, the client's Chief Financial Officer was trained to a high level in executive presentation skills in order to deliver the submission to the board and win approval.

Outcomes:
The CFO's pitch succeeded and the development program started immediately.
Twelve months after implementation, $35 million in direct savings was achieved.
Over 5 years, the benefit was predicted to be $160 million.

Merger communications: Property services leader
- Creating a post-merger leadership culture to support international growth

Background:
Newly merged entity needed to compete with new competitive market entrants. The secret to growth and market dominance was by refocusing all senior partners to look outward and actively develop business - a disturbing message that sounded like having to become sales people. The company wanted to double turnover from $25 million to $50 million in three years.

Solution:
An intense personal communications program was developed and all senior personnel run through it. The program was based on developing live pitches with real and high-value outcomes, thus ensuring full engagement at senior levels. The program involved a three-day workshop with significant personal coaching work done before and after the workshop.

Outcomes:
Exceptional gains in business and pitching capacity with over $40 million coached.
Evolution of pre-merger cultures into a strong, cohesive post-merger leadership culture.
Significantly better use of knowledge capital through cross-functional teamwork.
Company reached $50 million turnover in just 18 months; half the time planned.
Company rose from being small local player to largest provider in Australian.
Later became an international player, spreading to China, South East Asia and the Middle East.
Extremely high level of key personnel retention, thus retaining all the benefits of the program.

Growth communications: State Government regional development
- Creating a competitive business development environment to attract inward investment

Situation:
Rapid growth in the Government's success in attracting inward investment and major manufacturers to set up operations in regional Victoria required senior departmental executives with stronger corporate and interdepartmental communications skills.

Solution:
A series of three-day programs were designed and implemented to train Administration Managers in the Department of State & Regional Development's business growth unit. The focus was firstly on upskilling bureaucrats to meet international business expectations, and secondly, to enable them to co-ordinate processes within a range of separate Government departments to fast-track commercial programs.

Outcomes:
Red tape blocking enterprise development was removed from the planning and approvals process.
Fast ways were developed to secure multinational manufacturing bases in regional Victoria.
Significantly inward investment and increased employment generated in regional Victoria.
New export markets developed to strengthen Victoria's regional competitiveness.

Executive communications: Australia Post Corporate
- Creating self-awareness and key skills to support the succession planning program

Situation:
As part of a succession-planning program, the client's senior management strata needed to develop a culture more suited to serving external clients, and focus more on business results. Such a paradigm-shift would not only advance careers towards roles of increased leadership, but ensure the client capitalised on its marketplace advantages and delivered on its charter to Government.

Background:
The client was a bureaucracy becoming a competitive corporate, operating in a highly competitive and open marketplace. It is Australia's largest employer and provides services from traditional post and parcel to consumer bill payment and hi-tech order fulfilment for a range of retailers. The client had just implemented a succession-planning program to create from its own ranks the leaders of the future.

Solution:
Develop and deliver a three-stage executive communications training program for the senior management strata, tailored to meet the client's unique cultural and business situation.

Implementation:
Stage One was an in-depth survey of participants' current skills, experience and attitudes. Stage Two was a two-day workshop program, based on extensive research into the client's business background and future challenges. Much of the program was designed to support the client's vision and mission statements and refocus participants on urgently creating the future.

Outcomes:
Research revealed how low underlying self-confidence and personal communications levels were.
It also uncovered hidden major losses from current communications practices and methodology.
Participants experienced big personal wins, by developing live business presentations during the workshops, ranging in value from $500k to $6 million. 98% would recommend the workshop to others in Post.

Cultural communications: Leading Australian superannuation services
- Creating a visionary leadership culture to support national growth

Situation:
A dysfunctional organisation where rapid expansion had seen a high staff churn, dilution of culture and loss of employee confidence, with marked divisions opening between longer serving employees and new hires. The situation had reached a critical stage and highlighted an urgent need for improved internal communications and strengthened leadership. There was significant disharmony in the workplace.

Background:
The client is a division of one of Australia's oldest funds management companies.
The parent company is deeply traditional and conservative, with flat growth, whilst the client is young, vibrant and experiencing fast growth. The parent company's new, and young, Managing Director was looking both for a fix to stem the worst of the client's immediate problems and for ideas that, if proven workable, could be introduced across the whole organisation against a background of noted conservatism and resistance to change.

Solution:
Introduce a culture of open and effective communication as a first step to actively engaging employees in a conversation for the company's future. This would lead to improved leadership behaviours, closing of workplace divisions, reduced staff churn and pave the way for creating a more stable and viable future.

Implementation:
The client, as a first step, took advantage of the upcoming Annual Conference to capitalize on the parent's mantra of Communications for Growth. The three-day conference took on the form of a themed workshop to educate employees in key areas of effective communications, uncover the problems currently holding them back and involve everyone in articulating practical solutions.

Outcomes:
92% of participants understood for the first time what their company had achieved and where it was going.
96% of participants understood for the first time the opportunities for themselves and their division.
100% believed that the conference achieved its goals and was wholly worthwhile.
Post conference polling registered significant need for further communication-related training, including leadership, negotiation, communication and conflict resolution skills, meaning that staff development plans could be made.
Management had ensured that employees understood and would support wide ranging change initiatives, meaning significantly decreased resistance to change.