Substantiate

More from the Same: Professional Services, Law

In regulated markets, companies can find it difficult to differentiate their product or service offering from that of their competitors, leading to lacklustre margins. Whilst this legal services firm had a really clear point of difference in their market-leading approach to community work, they used the Rally methodology to develop a strategy to maximise overall revenues and to evaluate and decline a merger opportunity. The exercise also helped to increase bandwidth in the senior management team and to create a slightly more equitable work-life balance.


More from More: Manufacturing, Fleet vehicle graphics

During any merger, there is a period of reduced staff performance whilst new management working practices are established and the implications are understood by the enlarged workforce.  When acquiring a specialist low volume design and graphicsagency, the MD of this market-leading fleet vehicle graphics company wanted to limit the effect on the customers of both entities and protect overall revenue. To this end we used the Rally methodology to fast-track internal communication, reduce barriers to communication, build trust and thus maintain an engaged workforce.  This minimised the impact on customers and reduced the transition period and enable the business to achieve its aggressive timescale plans for the merger.


More from the Same: Retailing, Leisure/high ticket

As new companies grow, they often find it difficult to make the transition from an entrepreneur-led venture into an organisation with more stable revenues. Aware of this challenge, the accomplished management accountant CEO of this three year-old specialist (high ticket) retailer in Australia used the Rally methodology to take a dispassionate “outside in” look at the business. The result was a greater understanding of the core target market, a more customer-focused working environment and a more engaged staff, all of which improved management bandwidth. The business scaled right back to their core area of expertise, became an industry expert and was also able to replace problematical product lines with more profitable ones that were consistent with the expectations of their core customer segments. This created a more cohesive offering that not only increased turnover by double digit growth each year over the next three years but also brought a concerted focus on higher margin, more profitable product lines. A second engagement, three years further on, was used to hone the strategy and create useful organisational norms as the business expanded to a second location.


More from Less: Manufacturing, Furniture

In situations of extreme financial duress, management bandwidth is stretched to breaking point, making it difficult for even highly experienced & capable managers to make competent decisions. Within this high-end specialist manufacturer, the Rally methodology allowed the management team to focus clearly on overcoming a significant business challenge, secure a new primary customer and subsequently bring in new working practices to enable the senior team to focus on growth.


More from the Same: Marketing, Financial Services

Even successful businesses need to periodically take stock of their internal and external environment in order to maximise long-term revenues. The Rally methodology enabled this well-run marketing services company to better understand customer needs, focus on new customer segments and devise more effective ways of approaching business development. It also helped them to optimise their internal working practices and develop a new organisation structure to allow the business to scale.


More from the Same: Financial Services, Trading

Managing a team which is split between geographically distant locations (or even just in different buildings) can challenge even brilliant executives. Exacerbated by cultural differences and the variation in proximity to head office decision-makers, this market-leading European bank was experiencing exactly this challenge within one of its key teams. The Rally methodology is designed for this type of problem. We worked with staff and management at their local and UK sites to understand perceptual differences, create a dialogue around the challenges and draw out implementable solutions.


More from the Same: Manufacturing, Aerospace

In many organisations there are loyal long-term staff who are unhappy in their current role for a variety of reasons and are performing sub-optimally, representing a significant drain on staff energy. With heavy reliance on its project managers to hit important customer deadlines, the HR Manager of this major manufacturer wanted a fast and effective way to support a series of staff who had a diverse range of challenges. The Rally methodology was ideally suited to providing a personally tailored resolution without taking staff out of their working environment. A separate engagement successfully mitigated the risks of litigation from a disaffected employee facing redundancy.


More from More: Marketing, Direct Experience

Well-established players need to constantly innovate in order to mitigate the risk of failure due to an unexpected shift in market conditions. This listed Australian market leader in Direct Experience marketing wanted to diversify into a new sector and the Rally methodology was used to allow an internal team to hit the ground running. Generating their first client during the initial Rally exercise, the new division went on to be more than 20% of business revenue within two years.


More from the Same: Manufacturing, Food & Drink

The costs of replacing longstanding staff, with their deep organisational knowledge and well-established internal and external networks, are often prohibitive. This can lead to a real quandary when they are the ones resisting changes that would allow the business to grow. This is where the Rally methodology really comes into its own. Reporting to new investors and with the help of an interpreter, we worked with staff & management at this previously state-owned Polish manufacturer to develop a plan to restructure the organisation along market-driven lines. The engagement also allowed the business unit MD to fully appreciate the extent to which he had been standing in the way of change, a message the new investors had been unable to convey.


More from More: Fintech, Money transfer

The management of high-growth companies often juggle complex time and funding challenges in a bid to ensure that all stakeholder needs are satisfied, requiring an agile-minded workforce to adapt to constant growth and change. This award-winning technology disruptor within the remittance market used the Rally methodology at an early stage to develop a recruitment & on-boarding framework, support on-going hiring and later to enhance team performance & productivity through tailored learning & development and executive coaching.


More from the Same: Marketing, Digital Branding

At some point in the development of a company it is likely that even a talented owner-CEO will lose interest in ‘business as usual', with serious implications for the financial stability of the business concerned.  In the case of this successful 15 year-old branding agency, the Rally methodology was used to mitigate this risk and increase management bandwidth by elevating an internal candidate into the role of MD.  This freed the owner to view the company from a more objective investor’s perspective & allocate time to more exciting challenges.


More from Less: Manufacturing, Lighting

Successful turnarounds require really adept financial management, bold operational changes and savvy customer relationship building, but they also often need to raise morale or engage a disheartened workforce. Working with a seasoned turnaround team we used the Rally methodology to better understand the skills, aspirations and frustrations of employees & teams and resolve longstanding interpersonal & process challenges. This enhanced internal communication, improved employee understanding of the business & turnaround initiative and helped create foundations on which to rebuild employee pride in the brand.