Case Study in Management & Employee Training
The U.S. managers of one of the world's largest and fastest growing pharmaceuticals expressed concern for what they saw as conflict and friction among many employees at all levels of the organization. The multinational company had recently acquired two pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., resulting in an employee composition that ranged from some who worked 20 years in one company becoming newcomers in the newly—created company to new hires without prior experience with any of the companies.

After conducting a series of focus groups and in—depth interviews with a cross section of employees, Roy Brown & Associates made several recommendations. Among them were the design, development and implementation of a series of Change Management Training workshops for managers and Team Building Training for employees. Designed specifically for the company, the curricula for both training efforts concentrated on the value and contribution each employee brought to the new organization and how each employee increased the opportunities for success.

Case Study in Workforce Diversity Training
A large center located in a vast government agency, this Roy Brown & Associates client has an increasingly culturally diverse customer base. As well, some of the employees of the center recognized a need to discuss their own differences including leadership and working styles. Roy Brown & Associates coached managers through an internal research and analysis process to determine the organizations training needs. Working together, they created a diversity learning experience program and customer service training for all employees.

Case Study Two in Workforce Diversity Training
A Washington, DC metropolitan area based research firm is growing quickly with an impressive listing of federal government clients. As its number of government contracts continues to grow, so does the need to expand its number of employees. The firm wanted to be sure it was recruiting and retaining a talented and diverse workforce. Roy Brown & Associates was engaged to conduct an analysis and make recommendations to the firm. After extensive research and planning sessions with senior management, it was clear that there were existing issues regarding diversity and respect in the work place, so the work had to begin there.

Roy Brown & Associates created a curriculum for diversity training for existing employees and an on—boarding curriculum for new hires. Development of an internal diversity council — whose role is to keep management aware of employee concerns regarding a respectful workplace and to make recommendations about how to resolve them — was a crucial step. The council, comprised of employees from all levels of the organization, is convened monthly and is facilitated by a Roy Brown & Associates consultant.

Case Study Three in Workforce Diversity Training
A large multinational oil company was faced with the challenge of getting its most senior level management team to work collaboratively. This team was responsible for all the company’s oil production in a country outside the United States. The team was divided into two groups and each group was accusing the other of being racist.

We divided the large group into two smaller groups based on racial makeup and assigned a consultant that fit the profile of each group to work each smaller group. The purpose was to find out what perceptions and assumptions the groups were making about each other that was preventing them from being able to work effectively as a team.

The process we used was to ask each team to respond to a series of questions and to chart their answers on easels. The questions were all in the context of their day to day work experience.

The questions were:

• As a member of your group what are your advantages and what are your disadvantages?
• What are some of the challenges you face in trying to work with the other group?
• What do you think are the other group’s advantages?
• What do you wish the other group would not say about your group?

When this part of the process was completed we allowed each group to view the information without comment and dismissed for the day. The next morning we facilitated an open discussion. The groups were surprised that some perceptions and assumptions appeared on both lists and this allowed the groups to develop operational team norms and behaviors that allowed the team to move forward and become a successful management team. Operating successfully certainly did not happen instantaneously. The team began each meeting with a mission statement that helped guide their work and helped them to see the connection between their ability to manage together and the company bottom line. And every member of the management team participated in week-long “valuing differences” sessions.

Case Study in Executive & Employee Coaching & Counseling
A small Washington, DC-based research firm hired a new executive vice president to assume the responsibility of managing the company, its current client relations and a staff of researchers, project managers and writers. Aside from a personnel manual delineating the basic policies of the company - essentially legalese, the company offered little assistance for a new executive. But the company is led by an intuitive CEO who knew the new EVP needed help to succeed. Roy Brown & Associates was retained to assist the EVP.

After careful assessment of the company's organizational structure and in-depth interviews with the existing staff, Roy Brown & Associates recommended several steps for the company and its new EVP. One-on-one coaching of the VP included assessing the EVP's management style and that of the staff of the company to discover where management differences may become barriers. Specific goals for the EVP were described in a written plan for success, including strategies for coaching employees. As well, the EVP and Roy Brown & Associates set goals for establishing a performance management program; a realistic organizational structure and the appropriate documentation for position descriptions and salary ranges.

Case Study in Reengineering Business Processes & Structures
A bestselling author and motivational speaker is also president and CEO of a company that manufactures and distributes products that emanate from the author's books and speeches. As well, the author is considering buying a production company that would create television programming, also related to the books and speeches. At a glance, the existing structure of the company and the consideration of a production company all made sense. There was one major problem: the company was hemorrhaging capital despite the major infusions of cash provided by the author.

Roy Brown & Associates was retained by the CEO of this multimillion dollar corporation to ascertain the problems and to correct them. Following several weeks of desk audits, employee interviews, and assessment of the company's overall output, we made a few recommendations. Among them was the elimination of several positions that resulted in duplicative efforts and combining them into several other positions. Many of the processes for dissemination of materials and products were streamlined, resulting in better time management and a decrease in the time it took to get products to customers. We recommended the CEO provide executive counseling for managers whose positions became more crucial to productivity and outplacement and career counseling to employees whose positions changed or were eliminated.

Case Study in Conference & Meeting Planning
When a local university wanted to launch a new Institute directed to a specific audience, it found it could not use the services of its own events planning department. Roy Brown & Associates was engaged to plan this five—day seminar for 50 participants. The firm provided a full-range of services, including solicitation of keynote speakers for the opening dinner and closing luncheon. After consulting with the Institute's director on the actual content and logistical concerns for accommodating the seminar, we began by presenting a complete agenda of needs and logistics. The timeline we prepared made the client aware of every task to be accomplished, the deadline and time frame for each and the Roy Brown & Associates consultant responsible for each.

Roy Brown & Associates negotiated and managed all vendors including audio visual needs of presenters, photographers, audio transcriptions, caterers and menus for two meals and two snacks each day of the event, signage, and collateral materials. Each participant received a binder with updated programs, presentations, resource materials, and seminar readings.

The meeting was a success, receiving rave reviews from participants and presenters. Roy Brown & Associates will manage the 2004 meeting.

Case Study in Employee Assistance Program Support
A large mental health firm located in the North Carolina area received a contract to provide child and family therapy to county Medicaid beneficiaries. The volume of work proved to be too great for the company to handle with the number of employees onboard. Roy Brown & Associates was retained as a subcontractor to conduct the intake and assessments for the Medicaid families and to monitor case work files.

Roy Brown & Associates consultants scheduled and interviewed more than 100 clients and provided assessments to the mental health firm's therapists. While the mental health firm conducted patient treatment, the treatment files were reviewed monthly by our licensed clinical therapists. In the end, the mental health firm was more productive and the county Medicaid clients received the best possible care and customer service.