Client Stories

Client need

A leading global healthcare organization faced a critical challenge post-pandemic: the well-being of their nursing staff. With burnout, early retirements, and a labor shortage threatening the quality of care, they turned to BTS for a solution. Together, we set out to strengthen nursing leadership, build resilience, and ensure sustainable, high-quality patient care in this new era.

Solution

In collaboration with BTS, the organization developed a two-month, immersive program designed to strengthen leadership capabilities and build resilience among their nursing staff. Leveraging in-depth interviews and an understanding of the organization’s unique culture, BTS created a customized simulation that mirrored the real-world challenges nurses face daily.

The program, delivered virtually over two and a half days, combined pre-work, engaging kickoff sessions, and realistic hospital scenarios. Participants from diverse teams worked through complex simulations, receiving feedback and engaging in reflective exercises. Key components, including actionable “Go-Dos” and a follow-up accountability check-in, ensured that the learning was sustained and immediately applicable to their roles.

Results

The impact was transformative. The program not only reignited engagement but also fostered a deep sense of ownership and leadership among nurses. Participants rated the experience an exceptional 4.8/5, with a net promoter score of 91%, reflecting the powerful alignment between the program and their real-world challenges.

Beyond the numbers, the program drove tangible shifts in behavior—nurses reported enhanced teamwork, stronger decision-making, and a renewed sense of purpose in their roles. Many credited the experience with helping them build the confidence and resilience needed to navigate the complexities of post-pandemic healthcare, leading to improved patient outcomes and more cohesive teams. The lasting effect? A healthcare organization better equipped to support its frontline leaders and deliver exceptional care.

Testimonials

“We were able to discuss the challenges faced in various hospitals and get ideas to solve the issues.”

“Fantastic moments and realistic dilemma options that allows us to really reflect on our choices.”

Go-Do reflections  

“Practicing listening skills has helped to keep the dialogue open. Staff are more willing to bring out discussion points freely. Listening intently allows me to understand the information being presented to me, and not make a decision midway through the conversation. Staff feel that they are heard. I have learnt to refrain from the temptation of jumping to conclusions or forming opinions about what is being said. Use the coaching methodology instead of being prescriptive.”

“I managed to meet my Nurse Manager and staff on the ground daily and spend at least one to two hours with them. We had a great discussion, and I listened to the problems the Nurse Manager was facing with staffing constraints—high turnover of staff and managing junior nurses. I worked with her to manage the staffing issues, and the Nurse Manager and staff fed back to me that they appreciate my time and efforts spend with them.”

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Client need

A global multinational pharmaceutical company was at a critical juncture with the appointment of a new CEO. This leadership change spurred a broader effort to reassess and redefine leadership expectations, aiming to improve operations across the organization. The company sought to evaluate its leaders against these new operational standards and identify strengths and gaps in the organization.

Solution

The company partnered with BTS to design and implement bespoke 360-assessments for 1,800 senior leaders and 180-assessments for 9,100 people managers with three or more direct reports. These assessments were strategically developed to provide insights at both an individual and global level, thereby aligning leadership performance with the newly articulated corporate goals.

Results  

The initial rollout of the 360-assessment involved approximately 1,800 leaders globally, including 700 executive directors or higher. The success of this phase led to the program's institutionalization, with the CEO endorsing its annual continuation to support end-of-year performance reviews and broader leadership development.

Encouraged by the results, the company expanded the initiative to include a 180-assessment, reaching an additional 9,100 people managers. This broader assessment effort cascaded the leadership development strategy down through the managerial ranks, reinforcing the company's commitment to fostering an inclusive and effective leadership culture.

The insights gained from these assessments enabled the company to identify where development efforts should be focused, ensuring that leadership across the company is well-equipped to drive future growth and innovation.

Client need

A multinational beverage corporation embarked on an ambitious strategy to drive revenue and brand growth by fostering cross-functional Revenue Growth Management (RGM) collaboration at scale. Traditionally, revenue and brand growth strategies were crafted by experts within individual functions. This shift to shared responsibility demanded a transformative change in leaders' mindsets, knowledge, and behaviors. By embracing this collaborative approach, the organization aimed to significantly enhance global efficiency, effectiveness, and value creation. To achieve this, the corporation partnered with BTS to design a comprehensive RGM development program tailored for global and regional leaders across functions. This program was designed to deepen these leaders' understanding of the global revenue growth strategy, strengthen their acumen for integrating consumer/shopper and customer insights across RGM levers, and empower them to identify and seize profitable growth opportunities.

Solution

The resulting program was customized to align with the organization's RGM framework, fostering consistency and cohesion while simultaneously building RGM capabilities. The initiative was launched both in-person and virtually, reaching 679 leaders and RGM practitioners across 24 countries. Participants were organized into cross-functional teams, immersing them in collaboration, skill-building, practice, and discussion through a tailored business simulation. The objectives of the program include:

• Developing a common understanding of the revenue growth framework and recognizing the significant contributions of each function.
• Achieving sustainable revenue growth through holistic decision-making and the establishment of a robust governance model.
• Identifying profitable growth opportunities in the face of evolving market conditions.
• Comparing and contrasting strategies to better discern where and how to invest for long-term growth.
• Sharing and experimenting with best practices across regions.

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To achieve these objectives, leaders and key account managers were asked to:

• Prepare for the experience by engaging with RGM modules and a simulation case study.
• Engage in team competition within a dynamic and fictional, yet realistic market – setting strategies and making hundreds of decisions to achieve the highest revenue growth and profitability across three simulated years.
• Participate in facilitated debrief sessions, where they share and receive feedback and coaching, identify key learnings, and discuss how to integrate these insights into their roles.

• Absorb new concepts, knowledge, and perspectives through knowledge-sharing and best practice sessions.
• Translate their learnings into reality by committing to concrete on-the-job actions during an application session.

Though the simulation aspect was largely consistent worldwide, learning paths varied in purpose, level, and sophistication based on the local needs of each region, which accounted for differences in customary channel partners, trade spend, and more.

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Results

Global roll-out is still underway. However, evaluation of the program’s effectiveness to this point demonstrates that:  

• 92% of participants rated the program Good or Very Good.
• 65% of participants agreed that they better understood the organization’s RGM framework.
• 78% of participants reported that the program improved their RGM knowledge.
• 85% of participants stated that they would recommend the program to a colleague.

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Six months after the first initiative, three-fourths of the top leaders who participated agreed that they had achieved business results made possible by the program.

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Testimonials

“Now, when colleagues from channel development are asking for initiatives, they are not only looking for volume and value share, but consider impact in terms of revenue, shopper, and consumer lens.” – German participant

“Impressed by the professionalism of the session and how close to reality the simulation was.” – Flemish/Luxembourgian participant

“Superb course, brilliantly facilitated. Really enjoyed the mix of experience, capability, and the roles — so much value to be had running this as a system and with representatives from teams that aren’t always close to the commercial agenda or the strategy.” – British participant

"Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to stop and think and look at strategies.” – Spanish participant

Introduction

Imagine a personalized, AI-based companion that allows you to rehearse your strategy presentation in a secure environment before sharing it with your teams and colleagues. What if this tool could also provide you with instant, customized feedback and actionable advice to enhance your authentic communication?

Client challenge

A leading global agrichemical company faced a strategic pivot, grappling with the dual challenges of adopting new technology and enhancing internal alignment. The updated strategy focused on leveraging innovative technologies and a commitment to sustainable value to navigate shifting market dynamics. A critical component of this strategy was ensuring that leaders across the organization could effectively communicate this vision, transforming the strategy into a dynamic, guiding principle driving the company toward its ambitious goals.

Strategic goals‍

1. Enhance strategy communication coherence
2. Advance crop protection innovation
3. Promote global agricultural sustainability

‍Solution

The initiative began with the creation of an AI-based companion app, designed to support leaders in articulating their strategic vision. This app, available on smartphones, enables leaders to express their strategy stories through video, voice, or text. Upon submission, the app delivers immediate, personalized feedback highlighting strengths and identifying improvement areas. This interactive feedback allows leaders to fine-tune their messages, enhancing clarity and effectiveness. With these insights, leaders are prepared to confidently share their polished strategy narratives, fostering a unified vision and driving cultural transformation.

AI strategy companion journey

1. Learn the basics: Understand the core principles of strategic communication.
2. Record your strategy narrative: Capture your strategy story in your own words.
3. Receive immediate, AI-generated structured feedback: Obtain tailored feedback from the AI companion, focusing on strengths and areas for improvement.
4. Refine and rehearse your messages: Use the feedback to enhance your communication, ensuring clarity and impact.
5. Confidently share the strategy with teams and peers: Present your refined strategy with confidence, driving alignment and engagement.

Results

The project culminated in significant achievements that highlighted both strategic and cultural advancements:

1. Enhanced leadership alignment: The top 100 leaders achieved unprecedented alignment with the revised strategy, ensuring a cohesive and purpose-driven advance.
2. Demystification of AI: By integrating AI technology into their daily workflow, leaders gained practical experience, understanding its benefits and applications.
3. Promotion of individual development: The initiative sparked personal growth among leaders of varying experience levels and backgrounds. Tailored feedback and the opportunity to refine their strategic communications empowered them to enhance their leadership skills significantly.

By leveraging BTS’s innovative solutions and AI technology, the company was able to navigate its strategic pivot successfully, ensuring that its leaders were not only aligned with the new direction but also empowered to communicate it effectively.

Client challenge

A multinational medical device company aiming for rapid growth adopted a new customer-centric strategy, placing patients at the heart of its sales operations. This shift sparked a strong demand from front-line staff for clear guidance on how to integrate customer-centric practices into their daily activities.

To ensure effective alignment, the company engaged BTS to facilitate the rollout of this strategic shift during their upcoming National Sales Meeting. The objective was to realign the commercial team’s behaviors to support the new patient-focused vision. BTS responded by developing a comprehensive engagement solution, including a simulation specifically designed to involve key stakeholders such as Healthcare Professionals (HCPs).

BTS solution

Creating a playbook: "What great looks like"

BTS worked closely with the client to pinpoint key moments in the customer journey that were crucial for fostering customer-centricity across all commercial functions. This involved evaluating both frontline interactions and the collaboration among internal teams. These pivotal moments formed the basis for a tailored playbook aimed at addressing specific organizational challenges and enhancing customer focus throughout the company.

‍Preparing managers for their role in the change

‍To align and equip managers for effectively coaching the new vision, BTS organized pre-session meetings. These sessions prepared frontline managers not only for on-the-job coaching but also to serve as crucial table coaches during the National Sales Meeting.

‍Activating a customer-centric change with employees

At the National Sales Meeting, BTS introduced a customized, moments-based simulation that replicated key situations from the new customer journey playbook. Over 900 participants engaged in this four-hour immersive experience, which highlighted specific moments from the playbook. The simulation challenged participants to practice new customer-centric behaviors through real-life scenarios, followed by a debriefing of each moment, sharing of success stories, and discussion of real-world challenges. At the session's conclusion, participants received a copy of the playbook to apply these insights in their daily work.

Results

Feedback from the rollout indicated that employees were fully engaged with the new strategy, actively participating in their learning and adapting their behaviors at crucial moments. The combination of the simulation and the introduction of the playbook played a key role in advancing the company's customer-centric vision.

The US Commercial Team reported significant gains in understanding their role in customer-centricity, with a 14% increase in clarity by the end of the session. Prior feedback had highlighted a demand for clearer guidance on customer-centric behaviors, which this session effectively addressed:

• The number of participants who reported an excellent understanding of what it takes to be more customer-centric more than doubled, marking a 138% increase.
• Those reporting partial, very little, or no clarity decreased by more than half, showing a 66% decrease.

Additionally, the leader of the sales organization observed a notable increase in the inclusion of customer stories during meetings and planning sessions, which has driven more customer-focused actions across the organization. With these positive outcomes, BTS continues to support the company in scaling customer-centric initiatives and behavioral transformations.

Client need

A leading global energy infrastructure provider recently acquired a key competitor, a strategic move to boost its energy solutions portfolio, expand its footprint in vital regions, and tap into new avenues of growth in the energy transition sector. The acquisition not only broadened the company's product offerings but also positioned it to capitalize on recurring revenue streams from new innovations.

Recognizing the critical role of organizational culture in successful integration, the company partnered with BTS during the crucial "first 100 days" period. This approach would proactively address the culture challenges associated with integration, and leverage culture as a catalyst for integration rather than an inhibitor. Specifically, the initiative focused on identifying and addressing potential challenges in combining the two organization’s ways of working. By proactively managing these cultural nuances, the company sought to ensure seamless integration.

Client need

A leading fashion retail company found itself at a crossroads post-spin-off from its larger parent company. With a new CEO at the helm, the executive team was determined to usher the company to a better, stronger future. In recent years, the company’s brand perception has taken a hit and loss favorability in the marketplace. With the momentum of a new CEO and strategy, the company turned to BTS to help address culture challenges and chart a path forward.

The client need:

• Evolved corporate values: The organization needed to redefine their values and codify their new aspirational culture.
• Executive alignment: The newly appointed executive team needed to align on the company's direction and values.
• Brand perception: The company was challenged with shifting the public perception of the brand, thus requiring a strategic approach to rebuild trust with the market.

Solution

At the beginning of the engagement, BTS assembled the executive team to participate in a series of alignment sessions designed to create an aligned vision about shaping the future culture, values, and ways of working across company. The goal of these sessions was to foster a shared vision amongst the leadership team on what needed to shift culturally to transform the company and regain the hearts and minds of the market.

Elements of the executive team alignment journey:

1. Culture assessment: An assessment designed to collect data on the existing culture to give the team an honest and real perspective on how the current culture is experienced across the organization.
2. Values re-articulation: A series of executive alignment sessions and focus groups conducted to shape the company's values and ensure they reflected the desired culture.
3. Leadership commitments: A set of leadership commitments, or expectations, aligned with the organization’s values to drive behavioral change at all levels of the organization—making the values practical and tangible.
4. Playbook creation: Crafting playbooks for both leaders and individual contributors that outline the critical moments and behaviors necessary for cultural transformation.
5. Engagement of the organization: To shift way of working and create the conditions for the values to stick, a series of digital engagement experiences was designed for leaders to cascade and engage their teams’ in the new values.

As a result, the organization would achieve a more cohesive and streamlined organizational dynamic, successfully reduce ambiguity, and cultivate a shared understanding.

Results

At the end of this journey, the organization was proud to have achieved the following:

1. Enhanced leadership alignment: The executive team was aligned on the new values and commitments, fostering a unified vision for the company.
2. Cultural embedding: The new values were integrated into talent processes and business operations, creating a consistent cultural foundation.
3. Positive perception shift: The organization experienced a positive shift in brand perception, with the executive team receiving overwhelming support from the board.
4. Simplified performance management: The values were seamlessly integrated into performance management, influencing talent acquisition and selection processes.

While the full impact of the culture transformation is still unfolding, early employee feedback is strong. The new values have already started shaping daily activities, emphasizing a sense of purpose, collaboration, and accountability throughout the organization.

The new CEO and the board of directors also expressed immense satisfaction with the transformation, noting that the new values perfectly captured the essence of the company's new vision and charted a clear and concise direction for the future.

*Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher*Facing rising threats to wild species and habitats, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) experienced a surge of support for and investment in its people and mission. To equip its more than 4,000 scientists and staff based in over 50 countries for the unique challenges that WCS leaders face in the field, WCS sought to develop its talent. Thus, WCS selected BTS to create an engaging learning journey, both customized to fit its leaders’ specific needs and aligned to the organization's mission to “save wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education and inspiring people to value nature.”The resulting learning journey, Amplify, helped scientists and conservationists scale their leadership impact. Through the six-month leadership journey, WCS identified two primary learning objectives: 1) leaders were clear about what is expected of them and how to lead in specific leadership moments, 2) leaders developed more effective mindsets, skills and behaviors described by the WCS’s new Leadership Principles.To develop WCS’s Leadership Principles, BTS conducted interviews across the organization to ensure that the language and context of the principles were customized to the unique experiences of WCS’s leaders. This research resulted in seven Leadership Principles, including Collaborate with Curiosity, Connect with Purpose and Foster inclusion, which serve as the red thread connecting every aspect of the learning journey.The goal of Amplify was to ignite a shift towards more people-focused leadership, transforming the way they inspired, motivated, supported, and enabled their people to achieve an even greater impact in saving wildlife and wild places. The program combines in-person workshops with virtual small-group discussions to create greater levels of self-awareness, intentionality, peer accountability, and support. Throughout the journey, participants wrestle with realistic leadership scenarios that have practical application.Amplify is viewed by WCS Executive Leadership as an important enabler to scale the capacity of hundreds of WCS leaders around the world as they continue to strengthen their impact to educate and save critical wildlife species and habitats under threat by climate change, poaching, rural and urban development and even war. The initial cohorts of Amplify focused on regional, country and park directors of large conservation programs that protect endangered species and habitats. Moving forward, BTS will support the delivery of Amplify to additional senior leadership audiences throughout WCS.BTS was able to offer WCS as a mission-driven not-for-profit (NFP), the option of coaching pods via BTS Spark, our social impact arm, that provides leadership coaching to the education and NFP sectors at NFP pricing. This hybrid BTS & BTS Spark style contract can be a model moving forward to support NFPs and maximize our impact.Looking ahead into 2024 and beyond, BTS is committed to extending the reach of Amplify to encompass a broader spectrum of senior leadership within WCS. The effectiveness of this endeavor will be measured, in part, by the level of engagement reported by participants and employees, alongside assessments of enhanced leadership capabilities across the organization.

Client need

A telecommunications company was undergoing a transformation; they were shifting from a traditional Telco (Telecommunications Operator) to a TechCo (Technology Company) Platform business. The organization recognized that human-centric leadership would be critical for achieving and maintaining this future state.

Previously, the company had excelled in efficient execution, but also struggled with employee engagement and waning buy-in. To foster a higher level of employee engagement and leadership maturity, which would positively contribute to the company's long-term success, the organization decided to create an executive development journey. As part of the solution, the organization partnered with BTS. Together, the organization and BTS elected to leverage insights from Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, the best-selling book that helps leaders tap into their teams’ native genius to produce better business outcomes, in the solution. Leveraging this approach would help them implement the new human-centric leadership framework across the organization.

The Solution

The executive leadership development journey included the following:

• A launch call to communicate the purpose of the journey, build excitement, and set expectations.
• A tailored 360-assessment for executives and other senior leaders to increase self-awareness.
• A one-day in-person workshop, which included a powerful Multipliers simulation designed to shape leaders' mindsets and drive impactful behaviors and action planning.
• Actionable tools and Go-Dos, which are commitments to take action back on the job, to apply the insights gained.
• “Pod” or small group coaching sessions to ensure accountability and develop a plan for the future.

Unlike many traditional development programs, a relatively large portion of the workshop, approximately 30 percent, was spent on individual action planning through coaching, as well as collective team action planning through a facilitated working session. This allowed the CEOs to more effectively take ownership of sustaining the learnings from the program. Leaders actively put insights into practice on the job, cultivating new leadership habits over time.

Results

As a result, the program captured these key metrics:

• Leaders rated the effectiveness of the mindset shift was rated between 98 and 99 percent
• Leaders committed to a total of 560 Go-Do actions
• Based on the organizations’ annual culture audit, after the program, the organization’s score in Leadership increased by 3 points
• Qualitatively, 11 out of 12 CEOs who participated in the program reported a significant increase in alignment and engagement. Their average rating was a 4.0+ out of 5 level shift

To date, 250 leaders have been through the program

Client need

A leading financial services company identified leadership alignment as a key strategic goal. They aimed to widen their leaders’ perspectives of the business and their strategic decisions. Additionally, the organization wanted to address critical leadership skills gaps, enhance trust and empowerment levels, and cultivate a talent development mindset.

The solution

The organization partnered with BTS to design and deliver a customized learning journey for their SVP and high potential Director and VP populations.  The solutions, depending on leader level, were between eight and 12 weeks long, and included:

• An Enterprise simulation in which participants compete in teams to build a strategy and run the bank using the strategy over a three-year simulated timeline.
• A moments-based leadership simulation based on Liz Wiseman's Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, which helps leaders tap into their teams’ natural genius to produce better business outcomes.
• A series of small group coaching sessions that:
• Create shared learning and act as follow-up for leaders’ commitments to operate as Multiplier Leaders.  
• Challenge participants to recognize the “signals” they send that may make it harder for other leaders to operate as Multipliers.
• Go deeper on adjacent topics like trust and driving a culture of Multipliers.

Results

The results of the organization’s engagement survey showed that participant’s teams rated their leaders more favorably in the following areas:  

• 11 percent improvement in the "opportunity to learn."
• 10 percent improvement in the "safe to speak up" factor.
• 9 percent boost in "effective collaboration."
• 6 percent increase in the overall employee engagement index.

Furthermore, most of the leaders’ managers (81 percent) rated their employees' performance improvement as a result of the learning journey as “high” or “very high.” Due to the program’s success, the organization decided to expand the use of Multipliers, incorporating it more deeply into the organization.

Participant quotes

“Having the team debate the issue, trying to see both sides, discussing, then all agreeing to a solution led to higher collaboration, more buy-in, and better execution.”

“I have noticed progress in the way that the team presents issues to me now. It is no longer just a presentation of facts and then a pause while they wait for me to suggest a solution. They come in prepared with their own views and we talk though each item.”

Client need

A technology and manufacturing company of specialty glass and technologies recognized a need to build the leader mindsets and capabilities that would support their leaders in shifting from a ‘command and control’ structure to ‘doing more with less’ across levels of the organization.   To build and expand leadership mindsets in a virtual environment, the company partnered with BTS to create an interactive program to equip leaders with the necessary skills to grow across cultural and organizational boundaries.

The Solution

To help leaders better engage their diverse teams, they participated in the BTS Multipliers Simulation, which is based on Liz Wiseman's book, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter.The Senior Leader Journey includes the following:

• A kickoff call, followed by a 360 Assessment, Hogan assessment, and virtual individual assessment (VIA).  
• A 1:1 Coaching Journey consisting of four sessions between the leader and a coach to debrief their assessment results and align on an action plan to support their priorities and leadership development.  
• A Multipliers simulation Experience to explore key moments and their tradeoffs and the accidental diminishers tendencies that can unintentionally diminish others  
• A Business Simulation Capstone featuring a 3-round business and strategy simulation demanding an enterprise-wide consideration of tradeoffs and priorities, an exploration of shareholder value, deep-dive on empowering as a Multiplier and a Leader Lab for greater awareness of how to lead and engage teams.

The Manager Journey contains the following:

• Four half-days dedicated to exploring Multiplier moments.  
• These moments are supported by targeted know-how and application.

Results

The program helped leaders:

• Build self-awareness about their leadership mindsets and the impact they have on their team.
• Learn to "multiply" the talent and intelligence of others, applying specific mindsets and behaviors to bring out twice the intelligence of their teams.
• Avoid "Accidental Diminishers," which are actions and words that, despite the best of intentions, lessen their team's contributions.
• Reach their own "a-ha" moments by working through challenging scenarios, participating in rich virtual discussions, and reflecting on their own interactions in a risk-free environment.
• Recognize and thank people for how they contribute to the team with their Natural Genius.

Participant quotes

“The multiplier mindset is powerful. I experimented recently on a critical resource re-allocation request to execute a resource move from project A to project B. […] It turned out that my team was able to provide great suggestions for an optimal alternative solution with no impact to project A while making project B customer happy.”  

“I'm asking more questions in meetings to unlock the team's ideas/insights...I'm focused more on active listening and empowering the team to execute our plan.”

Client need

A leading pharmaceutical company tasked its executives with creating a sense of shared vision within the organization while inspiring individuals to think outside the box. Due to the organization’s matrixed environment, executives often worked with team members from different functions outside their direct supervision. As a result, the executives struggled to encourage team members to achieve shared goals or contribute beyond their functional expertise. Recognizing this challenge, the organization identified the need to evaluate its top executives. The organization partnered with BTS to create and conduct a comprehensive assessment for a select group of top-level executives to improve how they empowered their teams.

The solution

Over the course of five months, BTS worked with the company to develop a group of enterprise-focused leaders. The journey was data-driven; every objective was developed in alignment with the organization’s Success Profile, or competency model, which outlined the capabilities and supporting behaviors key for success in role. The journey employed diverse learning modalities, which balanced individualized objectives with group learning experiences. Executives also had opportunities to enhance their peer networks at every step of the journey.  Insights from Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, were a critical part of the journey. Wiseman’s approach helps leaders tap into their teams’ native genius to produce better business outcomes. Leveraging this approach, leaders were able to develop the critical leadership skills needed to empower their teams in the context of real-life business challenges. Specifically, participants:

• Developed a Multiplier mindset to get the most intelligent contribution from their colleagues, their teams, and their cross-functional partners.
• Identified their own multiplier and accidental diminisher behaviors (which are actions and words that, despite the best of intentions, lessen the team’s contributions) and how to avoid potential diminisher moments.
• Learned to cultivate a Multipliers culture, which enabled sustained growth for all leaders in the organization.

Participant quotes

“The self-reflection and Multipliers tools have been invaluable to me and my team. I’ve realized I can change my style and use these tools. I don't always have to rely on my instinct - because if I did, I will only be a multiplier a fraction of time…”

“The Multipliers Experiments have helped me step away from a defensive position and turn what would have been venting sessions into productive conversations where the whole team is focused on next steps.” “I now know when to give my direct reports the room to share their thoughts and how to make the space for them to say what THEY want to achieve. I’ve seen my direct reports smile and light up when I ask more questions.”

Client need

This life insurance company was experiencing significant headwinds with a declining Advisor Market, high turnover of partners to new entrant competitors, and complex new technology solutions causing disruption. The requirement was to improve the capability of the team, so they can provide a best-in-industry experience for their Partners. Their Partners are the Financial Planners, Licensees and Financial Planning teams that provide Life Insurance products to their customers.

"I honestly wish that more carriers were able to do what you have done with our practice. You have demonstrated that you know who we are, what we are about, what our plan is moving forward and most importantly that you are invested in us."

The solution

The program was implemented over a 6-month period. After extensive consultation with the business and customisation of content BTS delivered the following:

1. Alignment and Mindset Simulation – BTS co-facilitated with the General Manager / key sponsor a session that helped employees align to the strategy and understand how their role contributed to this. They then experienced an immersive simulation to focus on growth mindset shifts required to be successful in current environment. BTS used its proprietary platform called Pulse to deliver a highly experiential virtual experience.
2. Core program – the core program branded ‘Partner Centred Conversations’ was implemented to provide a core meeting structure and approach when engaging with Advisors. This consisted of 4 x half day sessions
3. Leader program – leaders of the various divisions attended a workshop to coach to the ‘Partner Centred Conversations’ framework.
4. Acceleration Series Modules – Short virtual development sprints designed to go add additional tools specific to the audience requirements.
5. Coaching PODs and Go-Do’s – reinforcement activities were interspersed throughout the program providing opportunities for practice, on the job allocation and peer-to-peer learning.

Results

The organisation have seen significant behavioural shifts and changes to the approach in how they engage with the Advisors.

• 92% 6 months after the program quotes for their products have doubled compared to the previous year.
• 6 months after the program the number of active advisers has increased by 40% compared tothe previous year.

Client need

A global software company based in Europe wanted to engage their resellers more effectively. They would need to rally the whole organization and business partners to focus and deliver on their individual and global targets. In order to do so, the organization asked that BTS design a two-day development program to help align and upskill the organization’s commercial and product management teams.

The solution

The resulting program met participants where they were, engaged them with purpose, and had a thoughtful plan for follow-ups to reinforce the key messages and alignment created during the event.To start, the organization partnered with BTS to conduct an initial assessment that highlighted a third-quarter sales slowdown. This meant that the fourth quarter would be critical in order to meet annual sales objectives.BTS also identified that the company's sales mindsets and methodologies were primarily transactional, and that people needed to gain certain skills through training to engage with potential customers more effectively.

In addition, the COVID crisis limited the face-to-face interactions among the sales and product teams, making it more challenging to maintain focus and alignment.BTS helped the organization develop a straightforward five-step sales process; a clear purpose; and an understanding of how to build the ownership, accountability, and commitment needed to improve the organization’s sales culture. In addition, BTS helped the organization sell and market more effectively by retooling their value proposition.To enforce the idea that teams should experience the new mindsets, behaviors, and skills in a safe environment before applying them in the real world, the two-day learning event included sales simulations, role-playing exercises, teamwork challenges, and handling objections.

The simulation focused on running a reseller’s business and experiencing the overall sales process. The teamwork aspect of the simulation blended strategic messages, product information and demos, and sales experience around real-life examples. Another critical component of the simulation communicated ways that storytelling builds and conveys impactful messages along a red thread.

Results

The training program and new sales process were both resounding successes. The program turned passive participants into active builders of the software company’s future, leveraging digital solutions that allowed them to experiment with the expected mindset shifts. As a result, participants from the sales team reported feeling more confident and better equipped to engage with potential customers.

The organization saw a significant increase in the number of leads generated, as well as in the conversion rate from lead to customer. The organization successfully met their sales targets and closed out the year with a strong Q4. Based on these results, the organization decided to pursue more quarterly sprints the following year that would focus on each step of the sales cycle.

Client need

A leading Australian financial institution recognised the critical role of coaching in driving customer service excellence, employee engagement, strategic priorities and adaptability. Despite prior investments, a gap existed between coaching theory and its practical application among some leaders; hindering the organisation’s ability to navigate rapid changes effectively. Leaders perceived coaching as an additional task rather than an integrated behaviour, leading to inconsistency and uncertain outcomes. The organisation needed a solution that would bridge this 'knowing/doing gap', foster a coaching culture, and align coaching practices with its strategic priorities.

The solution

To address these challenges, the organisation partnered with BTS to design a blended learning program aimed to shift leaders' mindsets and equip them with practical coaching skills that could seamlessly integrate into their daily work. The solution consisted of a mix of virtual workshops, gamified simulations, peer pods, eLearning, and reinforcement activities. The content was tailored to specific business units, ensuring relevance to leaders' roles and challenges. The program's design principles focused on embedding learning into the workflow, creating a safe learning environment, and measuring mindset shifts.

Results

The blended learning program delivered transformative outcomes for the organisation. Leaders experienced significant mindset shifts, transitioning from perceiving coaching as an added task to seamlessly integrating it into their roles. Engagement and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) were high, with participants embracing the interactive format and practical applications, resulting in a reported program NPS score of 9.0/10.  The organisation also noted an increase in engagement over the course of the program for both participants and their frontline banking teams (7% improvement), leading to: improved satisfaction; enhanced learning opportunities; and better alignment with strategic objectives, business goals, customer values and change initiatives (15% improvement in respondents feeling supported in efforts to adapt to change) *. Overall, the program catalysed a cultural transformation across the organisation’s different divisions, fostering a shared coaching mindset, and positioning the organisation for sustained growth, adaptability, and customer-centric excellence.

‍*Results as reported from the bi-annual Employee Engagement Survey

BTS partnered with a multinational bio-pharmaceutical company to create a scalable and accessible virtual version of its in-person assessment center administered to talent with the potential to ascend to critical, senior leadership roles. Central to the design was giving high-potential talent the opportunity to experience a “day-in-the-life” of a senior leader at the company.  

To deliver on that, BTS worked closely with the company to develop a multi-component Virtual Individual Assessment (VIA) experience that included a business case pre-read, written business challenges, role-play exercises, and a debrief interview. Since 2019, around 30 unique VIA experiences for critical roles that span all functions of their business have been developed.  

The partnership has proven very successful, providing data on high-potential talent’s current performance in the capabilities critical to success in those senior leadership roles. The assessments also provided insights on targeted talent planning and development initiatives to close the capability gaps at both group and individual levels. In 2022 alone, 500 participants worldwide engaged in one of these experiences, resulting in a 41% promotion rate, compared to a 14% promotion rate for non-participants.

Challenge

After a merger, an identity management software company redefined its customer engagement methodology (CEM) and needed to prepare frontline sales managers to successfully coach their teams on what great looked like. In the methodology, they fused both the workforce and consumer sides of their business to show their customers that a unified identity solution could provide a better understanding of who their customer was across multiple websites.

At the end of 2021, the organization’s next step was to prepare their frontline sales managers to coach the salesforce to be successful with the new methodology. The organization had a half day scheduled for these managers before their sales kickoff at the beginning of 2022. To achieve this goal, the company partnered with BTS to design a simulated version of a coaching conversation focused on the discovery and vision creation stages of the CEM.  

Solution experience

BTS worked with the organization to design a three-hour workshop. BTS created a role-play simulation for the frontline sales managers to conduct a one-on-one session with a sales team member. This exercise was designed to train managers around appropriate questioning and feedback techniques and how to inspire behavioral changes in their teams.

The frontline sales managers underwent a self-paced training course to prepare for the experience. At the event, they applied their skills in the simulation and received feedback from the senior executives who were role-playing the sellers.

During the coaching session, four key elements were emphasized: sharing an effective deal study, understanding the potential impact of this deal, identifying the current gaps, and working collaboratively to take actions for improvement. The managers then practiced these aspects in a ten-minute phase, followed by two rounds of discussions focusing on their discovery and vision creation plan.

Feedback was given using a scorecard approach, ensuring consistency in assessment and providing a holistic picture of the organizational abilities. The scores were then compiled and returned to the client, along with additional insights.

Outcomes

The simulation experience refined the frontline sales managers’ coaching skills and gave senior executives a broader understanding of the company’s capability levels. The simulation was not solely about coaching the managers but engaging them to launch the CEM initiative strategically.

As a result, the client achieved their goal of ensuring managers could drive behavior change and align their teams with the new initiative, allowing rapid implementation. Consequently, even during typically challenging periods, such as the year's end, the team could move quickly and effectively from the first week of sales.

“It is now integral to every weekly forecast call to RVP and every forecast call to Sales Directors. It is still part of the change management process as it rolls out with required rigor across all sales teams.”

Client Need

A communications platform company needed help driving engagement with new and existing customers during critical sales moments. To achieve their desired strategic outcomes: revenue growth, increased share of wallet, improved customer satisfaction, and enhanced employee engagement, the organization’s sales teams would need to shift towards a GM mindset.

The company partnered with BTS to drive new and improved customer engagement approaches across its go-to-market teams. In service of this vision, the organization’s 2022 commercial sales kickoff focused on organizational and cultural alignment, value adoption, and behavioral change to shift the entire organization’s purpose. The experience served as the foundation for continued excellence, driving ownership, accountability, and agility.  

Solution

In collaboration with the organization, BTS leveraged their Great Framework to identify the most important critical sales moments to success in the new year. BTS designed a workshop centered around their sales tool/model, allowing leaders, sellers, and solution engineers to collaborate on critical moments necessary to sustain change and exceed targets.  

Over the course of 12 weeks, BTS and the organization designed a three-hour immersive board game simulation using BTS’s proprietary application-based learning platform. The workshop enabled more than 2,000 participants to leverage resources, data, and analytics to create a strategy to expand stakeholders within an account. The experience drove deep discovery conversations to understand customers better and used outcomes to align and communicate a holistic value proposition.  

As teams, the participants competed over two rounds, investing in sales actions and weighing tradeoffs for eight critical sales moments based on real-world scenarios. In addition, teams were challenged to drive key metrics, including customer satisfaction, operational excellence, and opportunity value. After each round, facilitators debriefed participant decisions to highlight key learning points and real-world applications.  

Results

The organization’s 2022 commercial sales kickoff experience was successfully delivered to eight cohorts across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific and Japan. The results were remarkable, according to the stakeholders, with very high feedback scores across multiple sessions, demonstrating the effectiveness of the enablement program. Following the workshop, participants committed to specific “Go-Do” actions they would take back to their day-to-day roles.

Client Quotes  

“Great session. Helped my team focus on how to address a multistage sales process and how to expand the reach.”

“Loved how interactive the simulation was! This is what we’ve been asking for!”

“This was such a good, thought-provoking session. A lot of it came down to having a good group since we were able to have a great discussion on the pros and cons.”

Client need

A multinational brewing company needed to enhance its existing Revenue Growth Management (RGM) framework. The organization had comprehensive playbooks, dashboards, and tools in place, but the utilization and belief in the framework was limited. The senior leadership team, including RGM leaders, was not effectively leveraging the available data-driven insights and decision-making capabilities. The organization was challenged to create a mindset shift that would drive alignment across the board.

To achieve this goal, the organization partnered with BTS to develop the capabilities needed to execute ​the Revenue Management initiatives and drive increased revenue and profitability.  

Solution

While the organization had laid the foundation for RGM and had RGM leaders in place, its people needed to shift their mindsets and behaviors to fully leverage the framework. To do so, the organization focused on aligning the senior leadership team and instilling a belief in data-driven decision-making.

BTS worked with the Head of Growth Management globally to understand the organization’s challenges and conduct interviews to identify areas for behavioral change. The resulting program included a business simulation that promoted alignment and drove organizational engagement. The solution was rolled out through a two-day program, with 242 candidates from 24 operating companies participating simultaneously.  

The journey included:

1. Plan: Leaders received a detailed case study describing a fictional business and Operating Company. They were tasked to develop a strategy to drive Revenue Management using a Strategy Map tool.  
2. Do: Leaders oversaw a simulated Operating Company in cross-functional teams to drive profitable and sustainable revenue growth in a competitive environment. They leverage insights and analytics to drive Revenue Management across all five pillars while managing multiple regions, channels, and brands.​
3. Reflect: Leaders received feedback on the simulation decisions and results.
4. Apply: Revenue Management experts delivered supporting content between simulation rounds reinforcing key learning points around Revenue Management.
5. Implement: Teams identified and committed to individual actions to drive Revenue Management back on the job.

The program was leveraged globally to ensure consistency across the different regions.

Results

The most significant impact of the RGM intervention was the adoption of revenue growth at the senior leadership level. This resulted in a change in behavior and mindset throughout the organization. It shifted the siloed approach of individual RGM leaders to a collaborative effort to drive the business.  

The program facilitated ongoing discussions, provided comprehensive data-driven insights, and encouraged partnership to identify revenue opportunities. On average leaders rated the overall experience a 4.55/5 with approximately 400 follow-up actions submitted.

As a result, the organization:

• Strengthened its focus on revenue growth with an increased drumbeat and engagement across departments.

• Gained a clear understanding the five Revenue Management pillars.
• Learned how to use data analysis tools to support decision-making effectively.​​
• Improved customer relationships by understanding their priorities, constraints, and the impact of Revenue Management initiatives on customer profit pools​.
• Collaborated cross-functionally to make better Revenue Management decisions.
• Made decisions to drive value and not just volume​.

• Better balance Revenue Management initiatives across the portfolio.

In conclusion, the organization significantly improved RGM by aligning senior leaders, fostering collaboration, and instilling a belief in data-driven decision-making.

Necesidad del cliente

Una organización global de bienes de consumo, enfocada en aumentar la participación en el mercado y duplicar los ingresos para 2030, identificó las palancas estratégicas asociadas con RGM como habilitadores fundamentales para avanzar hacia sus objetivos de ingresos. La organización buscaba impulsar el crecimiento orgánico mediante:

• Definición de precios inteligente, efectivos y basados en información
• Mejorar la combinación de productos y clientes para impulsar ganancias
• Asignar estratégicamente las inversiones en canal, por preferencias, comprador y estableciendo los términos y condiciones adecuadas
• Obtener el mayor rendimiento en la actividad promocional
• Crear una arquitectura de empaques de precios proactiva, innovadora y basada en datos importantes

La organización se encontraba en una etapa temprana de capacidad RGM, con diferente madurez, comprensión y fluidez según la región. Para garantizar que todos los empleados dentro de los equipos comerciales tuvieran una comprensión común de los conceptos de RGM, la organización se asoció con BTS para crear un programa de desarrollo de RGM consistente a nivel globalmente para sus equipos comerciales.

Solución

BTS cocreó un programa de gestión del crecimiento de ingresos en colaboración con la organización. La iniciativa fue diseñada para llegar a todos los niveles de liderazgo dentro de la función comercial de la organización. El itinerario fue diseñado para poder ser completado de manera asíncrona y autogestionada, lo que significa que los líderes participantes podían acceder a las aproximadamente 4 horas de contenido en los momentos que mejor se adaptaran a sus horarios individuales. Este método de también aseguraba que la organización tuviera a sus empleados mejorando sus habilidades de manera constante y consistente.

Todos los empleados comerciales tuvieron la oportunidad de experimentar los módulos 101, mientras que unos pocos seleccionados tuvieron la oportunidad de pasar por los módulos 201, determinado por su desempeño en las evaluaciones que siguieron a los módulos anteriores. Cada módulo sumergió a los líderes en el aprendizaje a través de simulaciones empresariales y "momentos", que son escenarios reflexivos formados según experiencias diarias de la vida real con tensiones y puntos de decisión de RGM.

Los líderes pasaron por el programa con el objetivo de obtener su certificación RGM, un reconocimiento conseguido al completar con éxito todos los módulos y obtener un 85% en la evaluación posterior al programa. La certificación también garantizaba que los líderes participantes poseían un conocimiento más profundo y consistente de RGM, contribuyendo a una madurez RGM más consistente en todo el mundo y, a su vez, ayudando a la organización a activar su estrategia 2030.

Resultados

Al iniciar actividades RGM, la organización logró:

• Construir capacidades de crecimiento y rendimiento que abordan objetivos a largo y corto plazo para impulsar los ingresos netos.
• Experimentar un crecimiento beneficioso que alimenta la inversión y compense las presiones de costos en el P&L.
• Centrarse en los comportamientos y preferencias de shoppers y consumidores, manteniéndose relevante a lo largo su evolución.
• Contabilidad en las inversiones de canal y cliente con selectividad e intencionalidad
• Adoptar un enfoque integral para volumen, precio, punto de venta y mix.

Adicional a mitigar la inflación de costos, la implementación exitosa RGM impulsará un crecimiento eficaz a través de un enfoque estratégico e integrado de principio a fin de la cadena de valor. Los líderes participantes habrán desarrollado un conocimiento más profundo y también habrán construido nuevas mentalidades y habilidades en torno a la fijación inteligente de precios, la arquitectura del punto de venta, la optimización de la inversión en canal, la gestión de mix de producto y la arquitectura de precios y empaques basada en datos relevantes.

Al construir capacidades comerciales críticas y universales adaptadas en datos, análisis e información de compradores/consumidores/clientes, las actividades RGM permitirán que cada representante de la organización llegue a más compradores, logrando en última instancia su nueva estrategia al aumentar el crecimiento, el consumo y la participación en el mercado en todo el mundo.

Client need

A global consumer packaged goods organization, focused on increasing marketing share and doubling revenue by 2030, identified the strategic levers associated with Revenue Growth Management (RGM) as critical practices for advancing towards their revenue targets. The organization sought to drive organic growth by:

1. Ensuring smart, effective, and insights-driven pricing
2. Actively shifting product mix and customer mix to drive profitability
3. Strategically allocating customer investments
4. Driving the highest return on promotion activity
5. Creating proactive, innovative, insights-driven price pack architecture

The organization was at an early stage of RGM capability, with maturity, understanding, and fluency differing by region. To ensure that all employees within the commercial teams had a common understanding of RGM concepts, the organization partnered with BTS to create a globally-consistent RGM development program for its commercial teams.

Solution

BTS co-created a revenue growth management program in partnership with the organization. The resulting initiative was designed to reach all leader levels within the organization’s commercial function. The journey is self-paced, meaning that participating leaders could access the approx. 4 hours of content at times best suited to their individual schedules. This method of delivery also ensured that the organization had its own people upskill themselves, rather than outsource facilitation.

All commercial employees had the opportunity to experience the 101 modules, while a select few were given the opportunity to go through the 201 modules, which was determined by their performance on assessments that followed the 101 modules. Each module immersed leaders in the learning through business simulations and “moments,” which are thought-provoking scenarios modeled after real-life day-to-day experiences with RGM tensions and decision points.

Leaders went through the program with the goal of achieving their RGM certification – an accolade earned by successfully completing all modules and scoring an 85% on the post-program assessment. The certification also ensured that participating leaders possessed a deeper, more consistent knowledge of RGM, contributing to a more consistent RGM maturity across the globe and, in turn, helping the organization activate its 2030 strategy.

Outcomes

By initiating RGM activities, the organization will:

• Build the growth-and-performance capabilities that address long- and short-term objectives to drive net revenue
• Experience profitable growth that fuels investment and offsets P&L cost pressures
• Center on shopper and consumer insights, staying relevant throughout shifts in consumer behaviors
• Manage customer investment requests with prudence and selectivity
• Take a collective management approach to volume, price, trade, and mix

Beyond offsetting cost inflation, RGM programming will drive profitable growth through a strategic and integrated end-to-end approach. Participating leaders will have developed a deeper knowledge of — and also will have built new mind- and skillsets surrounding — smart pricing, trade architecture, trade investment optimization, mix management, and insights-driven price and package architecture.

By building critical, universal commercial capabilities that are rooted in data, analytics, and shopper/consumer/customer insights, RGM activities will enable each participating representative of the organization to reach more buyers, ultimately achieving their new strategy by increasing growth, consumption, and market share around the world.

Client need

A British multinational consumer goods organization sought to transform its global net revenue management (NRM) strategy by building alignment, mindset, and capabilities for its revenue growth managers, sales directors, marketing directors, and business development leaders around the world. Specifically, the organization’s leadership team needed a solution that would instill foundational knowledge of trade investment analytics and promote an NRM-centric mindset for its more senior leaders.In service of this vision, the organization partnered with BTS to create a bespoke, scenario-based diagnostic tool for its global business development leaders.

Solution

BTS and the organization designed an interactive, story-driven diagnostic and digital learning experience for the 70+ general managers of each regional function, as well as thousands of leaders at other levels throughout the organization. Each 60 – 90 minute diagnostic session consisted of 7+ scenarios of four to 12 questions each. All things considered, however, the solution was much more than just a diagnostic tool: participating leaders engaged in highly effective introspection and discussion, generating great insights into the organization’s alignment, mindset, and capability-building needs. The program incorporated digital learning elements such as:

• Helpful resources: case studies and lists of best practices, delivered through the organization’s existing learning management system to deliver results in the flow of work.
• Gamified storytelling: leaders completed tasks and earned “coins” that they could use to purchase the organization’s consumer goods in “stores” to mark the end of each story.
• Roles-based game: leaders tested out new strategies in simulated real-world market conditions by going through a branching game — in other words, “climbing” a “logic tree” of cause and effect.

All digital learning materials were designed to adhere to the organization’s unique branding constraints so that they could be used in perpetuity.

Results

The learning program has been in place for two years already, and the first phase launched at maximum capacity. Because the diagnostic tool yielded results according to leader level, function, and geography, the organization gathered insights that would inform scalable, specific, and impactful strategy moving forward. BTS facilitators are now working with the organization’s leaders to close these NRM knowledge gaps through more targeted interventions.

Following the learning program, the organization gained its very first AA-accessible (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Level AA, meaning acceptable compliance) digital solution and story driven learning experience. BTS was called upon to advise the organization’s Global Learning team on accessibility across its digital learning platforms and projects, as well as create an internal marketing strategy for the new learning initiative.

Client need

A leading telecommunications organization in the Middle East had long partnered with BTS on strategy implementation and business acumen-building initiatives. Two years into the partnership, the organization embarked on a new strategic direction: providing digital services such as fintech, on-demand video, IoT enablement, analytics, and cybersecurity. To bring this transformation to life, the organization’s mid-level managers needed to shift existing mindsets and behaviors and develop the requisite digital knowledge.

To execute key strategic objectives outlined in the new strategy, the organization and BTS co-created a digital excellence program that combined the organization’s existing curricula on IoT with BTS’s expertise in AI- and data-driven decision-making. The organization had already embarked on two training initiatives: the knowledge transfer program, which fostered a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration by tapping into the organization’s collective intellectual capital, and the specialty development program, which sought to position employees as trusted digital advisors by cultivating specializations according to industry trends. Together, the organization and BTS incorporated both initiatives into a single, streamlined digital learning journey.  

The solution

To reach both target audiences, executives (general managers and vice presidents) and mid-level leaders (section managers and directors) attended specifically-designed versions of the digital excellence program to address each group’s specific needs.  

Busy executives experienced an abbreviated version of the journey, while mid-level leaders went through a longer program, which included an additional day of AI training and an additional two days of data-driven decision-making training. For the AI component of the program, BTS facilitators built a simulation that leveraged BTS IP on the topic. For the data-driven decision-making portion, BTS built a big data simulation with input from the organization’s senior data scientists.

The program is comprised of six modules, each of which was carefully designed to address specific technologies relevant to the organization’s growth trajectory. As a result of the experience, people would become better equipped to drive innovation, adopt emerging technologies, and lead their teams towards the organization’s strategic goals.

• Module 1, Data-driven decision-making: A two-day, BTS-led experience to help leaders understand how to frame business problems like data science problems in order to derive strategic insight from the organization’s big data.
• Module 2, Innovation leaders lab: A one-day experience equipping leaders to create an environment in which innovation can flourish.
• Module 3, Artificial Intelligence for business growth: A two-day, BTS-led experience about capitalizing on artificial intelligence to drive business growth.
• Module 4, Master classes: Two-day sessions featuring the organization’s internal experts on exploiting cyber security, 5G, and cloud technologies.  
• Module 5, Emerging technologies: A four-day, joint-facilitation effort covering IoT, smart cities, and robotics.  
• Module 6, Digital excellence symposium: A daylong set of internal expert-led knowledge sharing sessions featuring data visualization, drones, and other emerging technologies.

Results

To date, the initiative has reached eight cohorts of leaders. 87.6 percent of those leaders reported that they would recommend the program to a colleague. Given the program’s success so far in transforming the traditional telecommunications organization into a digital services provider, the organization plans to run many more cohorts in the future. Overall, the experience has catalyzed the organization’s continued growth by empowering its middle management to navigate the digital landscape with confidence.

Background

A multinational, multibillion-dollar manufacturing company with 30+ subsidiaries was facing several imminent retirements at the C-level. Each case required a decision: promote, move, or hire. The organization had a strong “promote from within” culture and talent strategy and sought to accommodate the retirements by either elevating current employees to new roles or moving people laterally.In some cases, the retirements and necessary placement decisions were several months out, while others required immediate decisions cases. This posed a problem for the organization. Although the executive leadership team (ELT) had ideas about which moves to make, they lacked sufficient data on the larger bench of senior leaders across the enterprise to make these decisions confidently. In addition to the lack of data, any decisions would also have ripple effects throughout the organization, creating new vacancies.The ELT recognized that this lack of sufficient data on senior leaders was a significant issue that they urgently had to do something about. The organization engaged BTS to assess both its leaders’ leadership capabilities and business acumen, which they saw as vital to the organization’s future success. In short, the organization wanted to ensure that the leadership moves they made were supported by objective data.

What we did

BTS partnered with the client organization to create a series of assessment experiences for both executive and non-executive levels across the organization, leveraging a blend of psychometric tools, interviews, role plays, and business simulations.

Executive-level roles

Critical to gathering data on internal candidates’ suitability for executive-level roles was providing the opportunity for them to experience and practice the roles themselves—or at least simulated versions of the roles. To provide such an experience for candidates, BTS created a multi-day business leadership simulation, conducted entirely in a virtual environment, consisting of several elements:

1. Psychometric assessments to gain insight into candidates’ behavioral styles and default tendencies. A BTS leadership assessment expert trained in the use of such tools interpreted each candidate’s results and aligned them against a profile of a successful executive at the organization.
2. Career accomplishments and experiences survey for candidates to document their key accomplishments and experiences to date. By leveraging the data provided in survey format, each candidate was interviewed by a leadership assessment expert and a business acumen expert to dig in and learn more.
3. Multi-round simulation during which candidates worked in teams to run a fictitious business over the course of multiple “years.” To serve as the backdrop, the fictitious business was designed to resemble (but not mirror) the actual business, complete with financial statements, competitors, products and services, etc. Creating a fictitious business in this manner provided the fidelity needed to make the simulation feel “real” for candidates while affording the flexibility and space for creative freedom to make the business digestible for all to ensure a level playing field, regardless of background or current role.

In running the business, teams of candidates made decisions and investments across different areas of the business (e.g., product areas, distribution, operations, and investment management). They tackled real strategic trade-offs in the business, including unexpected challenges that mirrored the reality of executive-level roles at the organization. As candidates made decisions and tradeoffs, they could monitor a real-time dashboard displaying key metrics important to the business (e.g., revenue, operating profit, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction).

Throughout the simulation, leadership assessment experts used detailed behavioral checklists to observe each candidate individually—their interactions with the team, contributions to the discussion, rationale for decisions, etc. This information provided valuable insights into candidates’ behaviors under stress, decision-making styles, and other important capabilities.

4. Behavioral role plays with leadership assessment and business acumen experts provided additional insights on each candidate individually. Role plays were based on the same fictitious business described previously and coincided with the business simulation.

During the first role play, which took place before the team began working together to run the business, candidates developed and presented their own strategy—as President—for running the business over the next 3-5 years. In this scenario, leadership assessment and business acumen experts played the role of board members, asking specific questions about the candidate’s business strategy to gain insight into their thinking and priorities.

In the second role play, which took place after the second “year” of running the business as a team, candidates also played the role of President and conducted a town hall meeting with the entire company. Leadership assessment experts played the role of moderator, asking questions of candidates to dig into their description of the state of the business, their vision for the future, the implications of both to the broader team, etc. In both role plays, assessors followed detailed scripts and used behavioral checklists to ensure consistency across candidates.

Following the experience, BTS assessment experts looked across all sources of data on each candidate, triangulated patterns in results—patterns of behavior, decisions, etc.—and provided the following:

1. Detailed reporting and debriefs with the executive team. For each candidate, the leadership assessment experts prepared a report summarizing their strengths, development opportunities, and likely support needed if placed into roles of greater scale, scope, and complexity. These reports were shared and debriefed with the executive team, allowing them to ask the leadership assessment experts specific questions regarding each candidate.
2. Debrief discussion with each candidate, during which the leadership assessment experts walked through their findings and helped candidates make sense of the information considering their own career journey. Candidates were also able to access six-month 1:1 coaching journeys with a BTS coach.

Non-executive leadership roles

In the case of non-executive leadership roles where both internal and external candidates were being considered, the client organization did not have the luxury of utilizing a multi-day assessment experience akin to what was used for executive-level roles—such an experience would not have been practical, particularly for external candidates. Therefore, a modified approach was defined for each role, leveraging some or all of the following elements to ensure internal and external candidates could be evaluated consistently for a given role:

1. Psychometric assessments, including BTS’s Panorama (a measure of reasoning and critical thinking) and a personality assessment, to gain insight into candidates’ behavioral styles, default tendencies, and cognitive capabilities. Like their use in executive assessments, a BTS leadership assessment expert trained in the use of these tools interpreted each candidate’s results and aligned them against the success profile for the target role.
2. Career accomplishments and experiences interview with a BTS leadership assessment expert to gain insight into the candidate’s career, interests, accomplishments, etc.
3. Virtual assessment center consisting of the following:
   1. Business case requiring candidates to learn about a fictitious business, their situation, challenges, etc., and to make decisions regarding the case.
   2. Simulated in-box consisting of new information for the candidates, and, in some cases, decisions they need to make.
   3. Role plays with simulated direct reports, peers, and leaders based on the case, challenges, and characters within.

This 3-hour experience, administered entirely virtually, was designed to give candidates, and hiring leaders the information they need to make great employment decisions. For candidates, the assessment allowed them to see what it feels like to perform the job, giving them insights into the alignment between the demands of the job and their own capabilities and interests. For hiring leaders, the assessment yielded deep insights into the candidates’ capabilities and demonstrated behaviors.Then, BTS leadership assessment experts looked across all sources of data on each candidate, triangulated patterns in results—patterns of behavior, of decisions, etc.—and provided the following:

1. Detailed reporting and debriefs with hiring leaders to discuss candidates’ strengths, development opportunities, and likely support needed if selected for target roles. This information was then leveraged by hiring leaders in final interviews with candidates to make hiring decisions.
2. Debrief discussions with internal candidates (and external candidates who were hired), during which leadership assessment experts walked through their findings and helped candidates make sense of the information considering their own career journey.

Outcomes

First and foremost, the insights generated by the assessments provided the information necessary for candidates, hiring leaders, and the ELT to make the best decisions possible. When making employment decisions, both candidates and hiring leaders alike must make these decisions with eyes wide open.On multiple occasions, for example, the process prompted candidates to inquire about the realities of target roles, which led to deeper discussions between candidates and hiring leaders about expectations, requirements, etc. This information was crucial for candidates to self-evaluate the alignment between the role available and their own capabilities, interests, and needs.For hiring leaders and the ELT, the assessments provided deep insights into candidates’ capabilities and capacity to take on new roles—sometimes of greater scale, scope, and complexity than current roles. Leaders then leveraged this information in subsequent conversations with candidates as well as internal talent and succession planning discussions to make the most informed decisions possible.In the case of executives, for example, the assessment process provided deep readiness insights on the organization’s most senior leaders, which has already led to the selection and placement of multiple leaders into new executive-level roles. Furthermore, additional leaders were identified for succession into future vacancies at the highest levels of the organization. The executive assessment process and the insights it revealed led to two fundamental shifts in the ELT’s perception of and reliance on assessments and, ultimately, led to utilizing assessments for hiring non-executive leadership.

Context matters

One of the roles for which a new executive needed to be identified and placed was president for the company’s largest business unit, accountable for more than 20 percent of the company’s revenue across 30+ business units. Two frontrunners being considered, both of whom were strong contenders with track records of great success. However, the key difference between the candidates was that one sought independence from the ELT, seeing them as stakeholders who should be brought in only at critical milestones for input and oversight. The other candidate sought to partner very closely with the ELT, looking to them for detailed guidance on the future direction and strategy of the business unit.Without knowing anything about the context of the situation, it may seem that the former candidate—the “independent” one—might have been better aligned with the role of president. The reality, however, was that the ELT expected to play an active role in the business unit—they wanted to be closely involved in major decisions impacting the business. Business analysts may debate whether this was the right approach for them, but it was the reality of the context in which the new president would operate.BTS helped to paint two pictures for the ELT based on results from the assessment – what the future would look like if each of the two candidates were selected for the role. The decision for the ELT was easy. The phrase “must run all major decisions affecting the business past the ELT for approval” was nowhere in the role description, but in reality, this was critically important.

Assessments provide insights, not just confirmation

The most impactful outcome for the organization was the fundamental shift in the ELT’s collective mindset from “assess to confirm” to “assess for insights.” Prior to partnering with BTS, the ELT thought they knew the leadership moves they needed to make to accommodate the imminent C-level retirements. They sought objective assessment data to confirm these moves. After the executive leadership business simulation and the resulting insights, one member of the ELT noted, “If you can open our eyes by providing these kinds of insights on people we already know, imagine what kind of insights you can give us on people we do not already know.”Ultimately, this collective shift in mindset has led to an ongoing partnership between BTS and the organization. In partnership with BTS, the organization continues to successfully evaluate and hire both internal and external candidates for executive-level and senior leadership roles across the enterprise.