Examples of Bristlecone Learning's Work to Accelerate Performance

Organizational Culture Change
How do you change an entire culture (in this case, over 5000 employees) from “command and control” to ferocious cooperation? First, you need a CEO or a COO who is invested in a culture change and will do whatever it takes to achieve her or his vision. Secondly, you need a management team that is genuinely ready to support the change. Finally, you need an outside “change agent,” in this case, Bristlecone Learning. We were retained to develop an experiential training curriculum using our own materials and some licensed, proprietary materials that would translate across all functional areas and hierarchies for this international marketing and manufacturing client. Along the way, we were also tasked with coaching and consulting for the various senior teams throughout the company to show them how to enhance and sustain the positive direction of the culture shift.

City of Durham – Building Performance for Hearing Officers
When the City of Durham (NC) wanted to train a corps of City employees to serve as hearing officers, Bristlecone Learning was there to provide the design and delivery of the program. Our team worked with City officials and current hearing officers to customize a solution that met the City’s training objectives and came in under budget. Our 30-hour program included sessions on conflict resolution and negotiation; federal and state laws; presiding over the hearing process; and writing agreements, as well as simulated hearings for practice.


Strategic Re-Design
Aligning the Strategy with the Customer
Panicked by the events of 9/11, clients for this mid-sized (300 associates) architecture and design firm cancelled almost one third of the contracted work for the year, creating dire cash-flow, morale and customer service problems for the firm. How long will the cancellations last? Will business ever return to pre-9/11 levels? Should they reduce the headcount they worked so hard to build, knowing it will have a significant impact on the culture and efficiency of those left behind, or should they try and maintain status quo in hopes of a quick economic rebound? Finally, can the 20 top managers in the firm plot-out a strategy to address the future?

We were asked to help design, guide and facilitate the process of answering these questions. Our first order of business was to understand what was really going on with the customer. We asked their customers several questions. What did they need? What were their fears in these changing times? How could the firm help? Our second order of business was to do the same with the staff. Our third step was, with the 20 top managers, to plot a short-term, mid-range and long-term strategy – including contingencies based on various worldwide, regional and market scenarios. The result was a 5% headcount reduction based on seniority, no defections of clients and staff, the birth of a new business unit, and returns that reached pre-9/11 levels within 12 months.

Execution and Process Improvement
A large, very successful construction company hired us to develop a team building training for them. Our initial assessment indicated that the client’s employees were more than skilled in working together as a team, what they lacked, however, were the tools to take a project and “chunk” it down into manageable pieces with clear lines of accountability and ownership. They also lacked skills to track and follow through on the work performed by others but related to the project. These skills collectively make-up what we call “execution”, and they comprise their own unique category of learnable tools and discipline.