Supporting a non-profit navigating the closure of a business division by helping them rally organisational support & live out core values
The organization was undergoing a major strategic shift
This strategic shift necessitated major changes. The leadership team faced a critical decision regarding closing one of the business divisions that comprised at least a third of the organisation’s work force.
Closure of the unit would lead to letting-go of one third of the employees. This seemed to be in contrast to the organization’s culture and values.
The leadership team sought an intervention which could help (a) forge a shared understanding on culture and values of the organisation (b) help the leaders take a difficult and critical decision that best addressed the business imperatives while honouring the organizational values.
An intervention was designed using the MBTI® instrument
The MBTI® was instrumental in helping the leaders
- Understand their MBTI® Personality Types and those of others in the team
- Recognise the impact of their personality types on their decision making styles
- Develop respect for the diversity of perspectives available in the team to create richer solutions and support each other in implementing the decisions.
Another instrument, the Organisation Character Index (OCI), which is based on the MBTI® framework was administered to a representative group of employees in the organisation to gather their qualitative feedback about the perceived MBTI® Personality Type of the organisation. This helped the leaders develop a deeper understanding of the perceived culture and the values of the organisation.
The Organisation Character Index helped the leaders recognise the necessity of flexing their leadership and communication styles to build organisational support for the decision.
The leadership team was able to chalk out a strong plan of action
This plan of action allowed them to go ahead with strategic initiatives that had been identified. The knowledge of their organisational character helped the leadership team craft communication strategies and choose appropriate methods of implementing their strategy.
Their biggest achievement was that within months of this intervention, they were able to implement changes they had been deliberating upon for years. They devised an employee separation scheme that was managed with utmost dignity and empathy.
They sought the help of their donors and other stakeholders in outplacing the employees whose jobs became redundant owing to the dissolution of the business unit.
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