Our Work.

The legal department of a major municipal utility district was in the process of implementing Documentum, a document management system that would change internal processes and alleviate the need for paper-based files.

They needed to make sure their employees were prepared to use the system on day one.

Emerson conducted a QA audit, which included critical incident technique, cross-organizational interviews and materials review. The findings and recommendations went to the capital project’s Steering Committee, and were instrumental in helping these executives guide the team through successful implementation.

A major container ship facility faced several challenges during a massive ERP deployment that would impact over 1,000 employees. The already complex project was bookended by tight budgets and accelerated timelines.

In response, Emerson created a “vanilla approach” that eased the client through integrating such a large change. Together, we built a bulletproof business case, reenergized their change team and established a foundation for a successful ERP deployment. Work included creating a viable communication plan, user training program and vendor validation process.

While the organization told us they had “never undertaken a change this large,” it was business as usual at Emerson. Regardless of internal obstacles, we made sure their Oracle ERP implementation was made easy and made possible.

A major oil and gas company has a back office system impacting 1,000-plus retail locations in the U.S. and Canada. Emerson facilitated a three-day workshop to plan the dramatic but necessary changes to IT call center support.

The plan included changes to hiring, training, roles, responsibilities, procedures and documentation.

A group of former Tour de France cyclists knows how to run a race, but when the elite road biking company wanted to reinforce their strategic planning, they sought a different kind of expertise.

Emerson led a workshop with the organization’s leadership to create a cohesive direction.

The result was a shared understanding of the organization’s values, purpose, and strategic anchors.

Ensuring that all of its 100,000 employees live the corporate values and culture was vital to a major food producer. When they decided it needed a large-scale analysis of employees in the field, they turned to Emerson.

We visited 19 plants to conduct interviews, run focus groups, meet with leadership teams and tour the facilities. We identified gaps between self-image – who the company said they were on paper – and what employees were experiencing, day-to-day.

After the research phase, we put together comprehensive recommendations to make the corporate vision a reality. We presented our findings to the board, including summaries from each plant, and suggested communication infrastructure improvements to make their values a reality.

You don’t become a petroleum giant and one of the most respected companies in the world by sitting still.

Leadership turned to Emerson to help with internal communication as they absorbed another major brand. We constructed a plan that supported integration with their company-owned stores, their franchisees and internal operations.

We developed a communication plan, analyzed sponsorship, stakeholders and impacts. We then worked with them on a detailed work plan for initial rollout and ongoing communications to support the dual brand strategy. We also developed training for franchise holders.

We were honored to be part of our client’s smooth assimilation of one of America’s most recognizable brands.

When a business technology corporation acquired another company, ​they understood that the stakes were high. This change touched a vast landscape of processes, systems and stakeholders. Our client wanted to preserve the best of both company cultures, so they turned to Emerson for help.

​First, we created a Change Leadership Council to align executives on priorities, messaging, and engagement with front-line employees. We developed a comprehensive change plan that addressed workstreams, skills and behaviors; we created a stakeholder analysis that informed the communication strategy and plan; and we designed communication tools and templates to ensure the quality of ongoing communications. We worked with stakeholders on a behavior and skills impact analysis and a learning strategy.

​The solutions ranged from the strategic (creating message and momentum) to the tactical (changing over email addresses and signage). Throughout, we provided change management coaching to their change leaders – helping our client maintain the momentum needed to achieve a new, unified company.

A west coast environmental agency helps keep one of our biggest cities clean, and Emerson was proud to help. They needed to improve efficiency and free up engineers and inspectors to deliver a higher level of service to the community.

To support their new systems and processes, we implemented a program that included a team of super-users trained to deliver just-in-time, realistic training.

Executives at a major bank wanted to win at an increasingly competitive game in an uncertain financial environment. So when the bank earned poor marks for teamwork during an annual survey, leaders asked Emerson to examine the issue.

We focused on creating an “end state” culture, defining and prioritizing the behaviors that drive the culture, and creating simple ways to practice those behaviors and build momentum. For example, we had them begin each meeting by asking who should be there, but wasn’t.

They concluded each meeting by asking who might be impacted by the meeting and should be brought up to speed. We had the CEO follow up with weekly stories about how the new practice worked. This simple intervention began to focus attention on teaming.

We also used an upcoming Leadership forum to launch discussion between their CEO and the CEO of a partner company, highlighting market and customer perception.

Leaders at one of the world’s prominent hospitality brands were frustrated as they worked to effectively and consistently implement new initiatives across their organization. Emerson worked with them to refine a new change management methodology, then developed a course to turn HR professionals into high-functioning change managers.

The course fully intertwined the new model and participants’ real-life change initiatives, so they learned as they worked.

The program also included on-the-job coaching, peer support and a SharePoint site which provided articles, tools, and a place to post questions and discuss real-time problems.

When the a major professional performing arts organization needed their members to move from paper to electronic voting, they had the technology in place, but not the hearts and minds of the members.

In three short months, we developed strategies and tools that drove unprecedented registration and helped each member to successfully voice their choice for the best in the industry.

A specialty food company wanted to make a bigger impact on the market. They had a new management team, who needed to jell and make an impact, quickly. Historically, they were overly dependent on one distributor; they wanted to expand distribution and increase profitability, fast.

Emerson constructed and ran strategic working sessions with their leadership team over four years. Executives created new working agreements, defined their target culture, made plans to scale the business, and built a 180-day action plan.

Their CEO says, “In four years we doubled sales and increased Ebitda 25 times. Emerson was integral to that performance.”

A major oil and gas company had completed a study of pricing and supply chain issues for a fuel additive. Emerson facilitated the subsequent analysis.

We helped their team identify issues, clarify the problem, and develop alternatives, resulting in alignment around a market position for the product.

A well-known visual storytelling consultancy wanted to implement a new organization that would allow them to grow as they scaled upward.

They asked Emerson to help them transition to a centralized organization that would consistently support the company’s mission.

The Emerson team led leadership through working sessions that produced their toolkit: a message, a change plan, critical behaviors, process designs, and 30, 60, and 90-day plans to implement their strategy.

The CIO of one of the world’s biggest hotel and hospitality companies knew he needed change. His IT organization had to modernize its operating model to lower costs and improve delivery of technology services to internal customers and guests.

Streamlining functionality meant outsourcing some applications while retaining high-value strategic skills, in-house.

The result was an IT transformation project to save the company tens of millions of dollars, improve partnership with business functions, improve speed-to-market, and operate more efficiently. Hundreds would be affected by shifting roles and a reduced workforce.

We helped align senior executives and create the communication strategy and guide the transformation. Since then, IT has achieved dramatically higher efficiency, effectiveness and value.

A major international hotel and hospitality company wanted to revolutionize one of their brands. They hold a leadership position in the competitive business travel segment they pioneered 25 years ago, but they needed an overhaul. They added technology, food and beverage choices and a whole new concept to their lobbies. But leadership realized that the change was more than new offerings in the lobby; they wanted the change to be both efficient and inspiring for their team.

With our help, they anticipated which new processes would trip people up and how to communicate the business transformation in ways that made sense. We equipped brand leaders with tools to sell franchise owners on the change and gave general managers a leadership toolkit. We also enabled associates with a variety of communication vehicles so they could understand, prepare for and embrace the concept.

In the end, this revolution was less about the new lobby and more about motivating managers to lead and helping employees accept a whole new way of doing business.

Emerson worked with the human resource organization of a large U.S. government agency to develop an enterprise-wide human capital strategic vision. The team convened a strategy group to create the long-term mission, objectives and plan for the organization. Emerson designed and facilitated working sessions to align multiple HR strategies throughout the organization. Participants included 30 Unit and Section chiefs from across the department and training groups responsible for HR functions.

The result was a coordinated HR strategy across five entities within the agency. The strategy was successfully presented to the Director.

Our client thanked us for our “incredible work and insight in moving this work forward,” and reported to the Director that the group’s realization that they needed to forecast was “a major breakthrough.”

A charitable organization is making a difference in developing countries.

They bring bicycles to citizens of the developing world to give them better access to education, healthcare, and business opportunities. But they wanted to expand their international reach.

Emerson led their executive team in a working session to align them toward their goal. We helped them evaluate their mission, vision, and values. Once they agreed on those, they set global strategic plans for the next three years.

A major airline was in the midst of a transformation that would impact every aspect of its business.

They chose Emerson to support them through an overhaul to the cargo function. One of the first things we did was to help them create the visual vision.

Working with business process owners and a graphic artist, we turned words into images. Our working sessions resulted in a compelling picture of the cargo project, showing the key changes and benefits at a glance.

A major gas company’s data centers were nearing capacity and unprotected from potential natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes. To address these risks, our client designed a new centralized data center, built new IT infrastructure, and started migration of over 1,200 applications.

They knew Emerson was the company to help.

We prepared our client’s employees to be productive continuously through the changes. We built change plans, communications, and business readiness activities to move our client to new levels of stability and performance.