The Rundown
- Morale was low among employees and the culture was described as “fear based”. A new CEO was hired to shift the culture of the organization to a more empowered model.
- illumyx was brought on to establish a baseline measure of their culture, create actions for cultural improvements, and work with a cross-functional group of employees to drive change.
- illumyx successfully developed custom measures of the company’s culture and engagement, formed an internal culture team, and aligned key stakeholder groups to smooth out disruptions.
About the Telecommunications Company
The regional telecommunications company offers business, residential and wholesale customers advanced internet, phone, video and cloud services.
They are a customer-focused business that strives to meet the demands of the ever-connected world.
When Cultural Change is Necessary
In the mid 2010’s, the company underwent a major leadership and management change. At the time, the company morale was at an all-time low, where most employees were staying at the company out of fear rather than pride. Likewise, they ware struggling to recruit new talent due to a bad reputation, impeding their desire to grow.
The new CEO was tasked with leading the organization in a strategic vision and shift the culture from a spectatorship to an empowered model. It was clear to leadership that they needed to work through employee frustrations, rebuild trust, and empower their team to improve the business.
While cultural change was necessary, it involves truly understanding the then current-state. This involves:
- Employee Morale
- Talent Retention
- Operational Efficiency
To provide guidance, the company brought in illumyx, a People Analytics and Culture Consultancy, to develop science-based culture and engagement insights that would reveal the path towards rebuilding pride in the company again.
“The CEO was committed to culture change like few leaders we’ve worked with before,” said Steve Utech, illumyx’s founder. “He weathered quite a few town halls and difficult conversations. He listened, he followed the data, and he really pushed employees to own the change. His persistent and consistent leadership is what really won employees over in the long run.”
The Solution
illumyx utilized their Culture & Engagements Insights Solution to better understand their culture, and create a culture that will benefit them in the future.
After reviewing the current state of the company, illumyx developed a custom culture survey. This identified a baseline measure of their culture, providing leaders with clear areas of improvement.
To ensure deeper accuracy, illumyx worked with a cross-functional group of employees to root out and address problems within the culture. This particular strategy was used to ease resistance from employees and allow them to become the primary drivers of internal cultural change.
Business Impact
The insightful data illumyx provided on culture and engagement, improved the copmany’s culture score from -50 to +40 and successfully re-instilled pride into their culture and internal brand. Additionally, they saw the following improvements:
- +21% communication effectiveness
- +46% teamwork
- +36% employee’s role clarity
- +32% leadership effectiveness
Access to the detailed surveys enabled the organization to take targeted action and generate consistent cultural improvements year over year.
HR reported that it was easier to recruit talent, and felt confident that the new hires would experience the culture as they described it.
In the late 2010’s, the company brought in a Private Equity partner to help drive growth. Despite the period of uncertainty, they continued to see improvements in their culture.
Moving forward, they will be able to take targeted action and generate consistent cultural improvements with the help of their custom surveys. This will allow the telecommunications company to reduce disruption and uncertainty, and focus on growth.
Let us help your leaders lead your organization
Contact us today to discuss how bringing data-driven insights can help transform your organization’s culture.
To learn more visit illumyx.com or reach out at contact@illumyx.com
