Case Study Company A:
Electronic Evidence Corporation
Company Profile
Company A is an industry standard-setting, full-service electronic discovery leader offering straightforward, and technically enabled eDiscovery solutions delivered by exceptional client-focused professionals.
Company A is the nation's first company created to address the impact of electronic evidence on litigation. Founded in 1987, Company melded the expertise of a variety of disciplines by hiring lawyers, technical experts, records managers, and project coordinators, and forming a new discipline that addressed the challenges of electronic discovery.
Today, Company operates internationally, working with many of the world's largest law firms and corporate legal departments. The company headquarters is in Washington, with regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C.
Annual Revenues: Available upon request
Employees: Available upon request
Situation
The CEO and founder of Company A was spending more of his time on the road representing the company in speaking engagements as a known and respected expert in the area of electronic evidence, discovery and review. In addition, his prominence in the industry made it imperative that he meet with key clients on a regular basis. This meant that he was often away from the office 3 weeks per month.
CEO(A) felt that it was necessary to bring in a new CEO(B) to fulfill the daily company management role. This would enable CEO(A) to continued his marketing and public relations efforts as the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Company A. In order to ensure that his new CEO(B) and his executive team were aligned with the business goals of Company A and focused on delivering the objectives that he and the Board had set for the business the CEO(A) came to CEO Services for help in guiding Company A through the transition process.
That process began with the CEO(A) and CEO Services developing a strategic plan, implementing that plan and coaching the executive team on how to deliver the goals of the strategic plan prior to the arrival of CEO(B). Once CEO(B) was on board, CEO Services facilitated a 2 day strategic planning and alignment meeting involving the new CEO, the executive team and the Chairman of the Board. The goal and outcome of that session was to bring CEO(B) and the executive team into alignment on the goals and objectives of the company in the current year as well as establishing a 3-5 year plan. CEO(A) also asked CEO Services to facilitate the weekly executive team meetings until CEO(B) was on board so that they could be more productive and focused on strategic discussions rather than tactical discussions.
Solution
Barry MacKechnie (CEO Services Founder) initiated his proven methodology and process for helping CEOs and business owners to get their business rallied around a strategy for delivering strong growth and higher profits.
MacKechnie met with CEO(A) and reviewed the objectives of the company for fiscal year 2007. With that information in hand, MacKechnie created a one-page strategic plan that provided a clear roadmap for 2007 and visibility out for the next 5 years.
Five key 2007 initiatives (objectives) were identified that needed to be completed throughout the remainder of the year, and MacKechnie met with the executive team to review the strategy and implement the initiatives process. MacKechnie worked with each member of the executive team to identifying what they and their teams needed to accomplish in 2007 to deliver the goals that the CEO had set for the company. They were also tasked with identifying the how they would measure progress toward their goals. The rule that was adhered to was: If it cannot be measured it cannot be a goal.
Benchmarks, timetables and measurements were set for each of objective, and the executive team then met and discussed the initiatives set up for 2007. Each executive focused on what they needed to complete to deliver their initiatives, as well as on the "sub-initiatives" that their direct reports would have to deliver to improve team performance and to support the objectives. MacKechnie worked with each member of the executive team and their teams to create initiatives for every individual in the company.
"MacKechnie facilitated a two day planning session involving the new CEO(B), the Chairman of the Board (CEO-A) and the executive team. The session resulted in confirmation and clarification of the strategic plans that had been established earlier by CEO(A). The team reviewed and identified critical market segments within their industry and mapped out strategies that focused on improving market share and maintaining the company's record of 20 straight years of record growth.
Client Comments
“Barry's systematic approach to developing and implementing strategic plan throughout the company made the process easy to understand and easy communicate to my executive team and new CEO. Barry's approach of working with my executive team as a group and then working with each member individually resulted in a comprehensive plan that was quickly adopted. Barry's ability to put each individual at ease with the process facilitated the speedy implementation of the strategic plan and the individual and team initiatives, goals and objectives throughout all of the operating divisions within my company.”
“Having MacKechnie's program in place at the time the new CEO joined the company provided a common path upon which the company was focused. This allowed the new CEO to focus on the strategic plan and the goals that were established through MacKechnie's program right from the start. I believe that the time needed to transition to the new CEO was shortened dramatically by Barry's efforts.”
“I have worked with a lot of consultants over the past 20 years, and MacKechnie stands out due to his professionalism, his diligence and his ability to accomplish a lot in a short time without getting in the way of the company's day-to-day efforts. His model of focusing on a comprehensive strategy and then drilling down to the individual level is a smart one, and he is able to integrate all of the participants in a way that makes them feel involved but not overwhelmed.”