Our Work.

A major retailer’s traditional brick and mortar stores faced tougher competition in the rapidly changing retail landscape. It was time for executives to “Lead Transformation FORward” – to Focus on the work ahead, to Own the opportunity to lead their teams, and to Reinspire for the future. The company asked Emerson to lead the communication effort for this monumental change.

We worked with them to build a FORward change model that defined the new behaviors leaders would need, including quarterly leader summits.

A major technology company recognized their executives needed greater awareness of and sensitivity to diversity issues to make their multicultural teams more effective. Emerson presented the Broadening the Perspective workshop which helped participants understand diversity and multiculturalism as tools that help companies gain a competitive advantage.

Based on an in-depth cultural assessment, we designed a custom solution that included leadership training, awareness training, and management/team leader training.

The result: innovation and risk-taking behavior – which had diminished due to workforce and environment changes – increased. Company leadership attributed the change to a more affirming and inclusive environment. Comments from participants of the workshop attest to its success: “Exceeded my expectations…. Should be mandatory …for all new hires, middle management and senior executives.” “I now have more consideration for using diversity as a tool instead of just a ‘difference to overcome.’” “My expectations were much lower. I thought it would be a waste of time. I was totally wrong.”

A major food and beverage conglomerate had gone through a merger and was in the process of an enterprise-wide systems implementation. People were feeling overwhelmed, confused, and divided. Leadership engaged Emerson to help them motivate employees to work together, so they could thrive, rather than survive, through the changes.

We began by conducting one-on-one interviews and focus groups with executives and employees to understand the challenges, motivations and assumptions that contributed to the environment. We led participants through activities that changed the way they thought about key business problems. They learned how information could help alleviate confusion and discussed the personal benefits of effective teams.

At the end of the workshop, we provided a robust summary of their work, which included documentation of their frustrations, revelations, and to-dos. Team members reported that they were grateful to be heard and motivated to participate in the change.

A major international hotel and hospitality company wanted to surpass other premier lifestyle hotel brands. The solution was a rebrand from top to bottom, including updated lobbies, modern rooms, the latest technology and employees who understood the needs of today’s high-end traveler.

It also meant getting employees up to speed on the ways the new brand served its customers.

Emerson partnered with our client’s change professionals to pilot the new program in select hotels. This included new standards for cultural knowledge, style and area expertise. We diagnosed readiness for managers and introduced a peer-to-peer feedback tool for employees.

Walk in to one of their hotels today and you will be met by ambassadors steeped in new behaviors and values that reflect the best this premier brand has to offer.

A major credit card company engaged Emerson to help their leadership group create a positive and inclusive work environment. We developed a workshop for executives.

At the end of the workshop, the participants were able to provide real-life examples showing how diverse cultural perspectives can cause workplace misunderstandings, describe how culture impacts work behavior, identify how improved communication skills across diverse teams increase productivity, and list solutions to create a more inclusive and affirming work environment.

Emerson hosted a retreat for a major university’s technology services directors. It was an opportunity for leaders to focus on fiscal year goals and leadership development.

Directors discussed and took ownership of strategic objectives. They also developed consistent messages about objectives to share with technology services employees.

A nickel a day keeps the doctor away, or something like that.

One of the world’s largest providers of consumer and commercial products needed help communicating the value of thoughtful sourcing practices.

Every year, they were paying more than 10,000 external vendors, many of which were only used only once a year – a costly and inefficient practice. Leadership realized that saving just five cents on every vendor dollar would add up to tremendous savings – savings that could be reinvested in their brands. But to do that, they needed every employee to help.

Emerson came up with a branding idea that all employees could relate to: 5 Ways to Save. By following five easy ways to think about spending on indirect goods and services, the company could reach its goal. We worked with our client to create a campaign to generate awareness across corporate headquarters, its brands and its distribution centers.

Employees embraced the challenge and the company is on its way to big savings, one nickel at a time.

Emerson developed and facilitated a North America Marketing Leadership summit, an annual meeting of a major oil and gas company’s 200-person leadership team who gather to establish objectives and address obstacles.

We designed and facilitated an interactive session that helped them internalize the overarching business goals, identify immediate constraints, and develop ways to address them.

After an online realty company was acquired, their new executive leadership team identified three challenges: shared priorities, strategic alignment and consistent execution. They asked Emerson to help them create behaviors to meet those three challenges.

We led the CEO, CFO and VP of HR and their teams through transformation working sessions. The sessions yielded a consistent message, an understanding of their internal landscape, and actionable plans to create momentum and change. We also helped the company build a new product development process, PMO, and cascading goal-setting processes.

With our help, the executive team identified their own measures of success: 1) Employees can describe their top three priorities, 2) employees can describe the company strategy, 3) time-to-decision is reduced, 4) Products, Engineering and Sales work toward a common strategy, and 5) the company meets its financial and performance targets.

One of the largest privately-held clothing companies in the world knew it was time to transform their regionally focused plans into one company-wide strategy. They hired Emerson to help.

We created a four-point change strategy that engaged regional leaders and helped them build transformation capabilities to support the new overall strategy.

We also created the communication plan that helped streamline the transition for this iconic company.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

With over 11,000 SAP users, a power-house pharmaceutical distributor had a challenge on its hands. Historically, they had focused on excellent training for users on major releases and upgrades. But they had few resources to support and enable new employees, or to address the ongoing needs of existing employees.

The good news? Their internal Business Technology Solutions group created a new organization focused on user effectiveness. The leader of BTS asked Emerson to develop both short-term and long-term strategies for the group.

In addition to helping define this client’s approach to organizational transformation, Emerson delivered quick-win SAP training and performance support solutions for two of its key business units. The project created a scalable model to replicate, helping enterprise SAP users stay sharp and effective.