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Case Study 1

Situation

A top-ten national mortgage company was seeking to implement automated processes for their sales and support staff. This would aid them in increasing efficiency, growing market share, and achieving greater levels of regulatory compliance. Historically, the company had operated with a decentralized structure which led to numerous silo organizations struggling to work together productively to achieve specific results. Remote branches were often at odds with corporate implementations. Up against limited resources, an aggressive schedule and communication barriers, the team was required to develop standard processes, gain commitment to them, and implement them in over 200 branch offices with over 3,000 employees spread out across the country.

Challenge

The goal was to create an effective project team organization that could gain the trust and confidence of the customer organizations, and execute new automated standard processes in a decentralized, entrepreneurial sales organization. With a limited budget and limited resources, the project team was required to develop credibility and trust with key stakeholders, sponsors, and customers in the sales organization. Barriers to trust were high. The sales leaders had limited experience working together and were used to running an entrepreneurial business. The project team, though recognized by management, had no formal authority to change any processes or procedures. The project team had to convince all sales branches that new standard processes were better than their current processes. Finally, implementation of these new processes needed to occur during peak sales cycles, when motivation to change was at its lowest.

Solution

Through MyProjectAdvisor workshops and weekly coaching sessions, MyProjectAdvisor developed and mentored the project team to allow them to successfully execute this demanding strategic process automation initiative. MyProjectAdvisor coached team members in effective project management methodology and processes. But more importantly it taught them how to develop trust-based relationships with sales team leaders, their operations staff, and their peers; how to effectively use consultative leadership to gain buy-in and support for strategy and tactics; and how to develop courage to take on additional responsibilities and lead within the organization. Key success metrics, such as productivity increases and cycle time reduction, were used to measure success for the automated process standardization. They were met on schedule. Individual project team members also excelled by increasing their leadership roles within the organization, taking on more responsibilities, and achieving repeated successes. They are getting more out of their project management training and enjoying greater job satisfaction.