Above all else, the Jim Shaffer Group’s leadership development services help clients get better operating and financial results—the what. But we also help them get there by building and nurturing a culture and climate that values customers, people and a spirit of continuous improvement—the how. Blending the what and the how helps sustain the improvements over time.
Specifically, we:
- Help leaders clarify their business strategy and align their goals, rewards, recognition, work processes and communication to that strategy.
- Assess organizational climate and culture and identify gaps that could block successful strategy implementation.
- Strengthen leadership, from the CEO to first line leaders.
- Build and implement communication systems that connect people to the strategy and help them continuously improve.
- Design and implement initiatives that target specific areas of improvement.
- Integrate the cultural and technical aspects of lean six sigma and other transformations.
Examples of our work and leadership development services:
- ITT Corporation leadership believes that to improve and sustain successes realized by implementing lean/six sigma that it needs to imbed the change in the company’s culture. It asked the Jim Shaffer Group to help integrate the technical and cultural aspects of change—the hard and the soft—into its lean transformation efforts. In our first project, on time delivery went from 70-95% and quality improved 40%.
- Owens Corning’s flagship facility needed to improve its overall operating and financial performance, especially safety. We helped the operation undergo a 180-degree turnaround by strengthening its leadership bench and re-invigorating the commitment of its 1,200 salaried and union employees. The engagement helped reduce accidents by 82%, improve sales by 24%, productivity by 15% and reduce cost per pound by 8%. We improved safety, productivity, costs and cycle time in eight other Owens Corning operations.
- FedEx Express needed to increase U.S. export volume in one of its largest US operations. By reducing silos between functions and aligning strategic goals and incentives, we helped increase revenues by 23% and achieved a 1,447% return on investment. We replicated the success across five other FedEx regions, increasing sales by $6.1 million and achieving a 1,660% ROI.
- ConAgra Foods wanted to reduce accidents in one of its plants, then replicate what that plant accomplished across a business unit. We helped strengthen leadership, increase employee involvement and align various organization systems to generate a 35% reduction in accidents. During that time, turnover declined 27%. ConAgra then asked us to help improve quality in one of its largest distribution centers without negatively affecting productivity. We improved its quality by 65%. Productivity increased 16%.