Archives: Changepartners Stories

Client need

In 2019, Swedbank conducted a cross-group management culture survey, which showed that approaches to successful management had been approached quite differently in different parts of the organization. Although the organization performed excellently, the group’s management understood that in the long run, Swedbank needed to update its management system and management culture to meet the needs of the modern operating environment and, above all, the modern organization.

Our solution

Under the leadership of Leadership Pipeline (LP) Sweden, the development programs of LP leading others and leading leaders were completed for Swedbank and implemented by Change Partners in Estonia. As a result of the 4-day program, all participants analyzed their daily work as a leader, found exact places where the managed team or manager himself would need support, and formulated a development plan that would be implemented with the support of the development partner.

Leader of Others program overview and structure:

Results & feedback

In 2021, three groups of Swedbank Estonia completed the LPI program in Estonia, and an additional two groups are planned for 2022, with a total of more than 100 participants. To the same extent, the program is taking place simultaneously in Sweden, Latvia, and Lithuania.

We measured knowledge, attitudes, and behavior before the training, immediately after the training, and 3 months after the end of the program. The results are benchmarked against the average of the training impact assessments collected by the international training auditor Peopleway.

The rate of application of the principles and skills acquired during the program is particularly significant – three months after the program, participants apply 80% of their learning and this is reflected in their daily activities. This is 37% higher than the international average.

Feedback from participants

“The program helped to raise awareness of how many people we as leaders influence with our leadership style! And that we actually achieve many of our results through those people. I received good insights and tools to use for developing and motivating my team, as well as for setting goals (ie how to structure goals to be more acceptable and measurable).”

“When listening to other leaders in my group work, I always got new ideas on how to develop my team and delegate tasks so that people with different profiles would find new output. In addition, this training motivates to pay more attention to leadership activities. From the survey my team members answered before the training, I found out my own bottlenecks that need special attention.”

Client Need

Playtech is the world’s largest supplier of online gaming and sports betting software. It’s one of Estonia’s 5 unicorns and they provide cutting-edge, value-added solutions to the industry’s leading operators.

One of the most important questions for Playtech HR team has inevitably been: how can they support their leaders in their growth? They decided to focus on growing leadership competencies and unifying their leadership practices.

Our Solution

• Together with Playtech’s HR team, Change Partners helped to create Playtech’s first-ever global development program for new managers, with all people leads from different countries brought together. We held 38 sessions (equal to 86 hours of training time) over a 10-month period for three groups of managers – in total 90 managers.
• Fully virtual training program, using Zoom, polls and other interactive elements

The program consisted of a kick-off session and 5 modules:

MODULE 1 – My Job as a Manager

MODULE 2 – Understanding myself and my team

MODULE 3 – Managerial Communication – why, what, when and how?

MODULE 4 – Building commitment and ability in your team

MODULE 5 – Coaching based Leadership

Modules were supported by leading development tools like Everything DiSC Workplace profiles, Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Behaviors of a Winning Team, as well as different coaching and change management tools to assure implementation on the job.

Additionally, Playtech’s top- and middle managers were also provided separate leadership development program to equip them in leadership roles and assure sponsorship to the project. The top-level program focused on building a winning team; strategic thinking and communication; sponsor role in developing leaders and coaching-based leadership.

Results through client’s eyes

“Nothing helps more than a great partner who tries to understand your needs but has a strong backbone to also tell you if the requirements you want to set are not the wisest. Our recommendation to all other organizations is to choose the best of the best – this partner might cost more but you as you have limited time, you need to take the maximum out of it.”

“The biggest victory moment of the whole process for us was seeing the “eureka” moments on the screen when, after practicing, someone discovered the impact of a newly learned tool or when we could detect a clear shift in a managers’ mind. One could not expect better feedback to their work done.”

Client need

Design agency Velvet had reached a stage in its development where the current structure no longer enabled the company to be managed effectively and to provide sufficient support to its people. They decided to create a layer of middle-level managers by promoting people from within the company to this role. For the new leaders to have better preparation and management tools in their new role and a common understanding of the responsibilities of the leader, we conducted a Leadership Pipeline management program at Velvet.

Our solution

The main goals of our 6-month program were:

• • Set common standards for Velvet’s management levels and describe expectations for different management levels
  • Create clarity on what it means to be a Velvet leader, what skills and behaviors are needed and how to develop as a leader
  • Lay a foundation for a leadership-based culture that is based on taking responsibility

Overview and structure of the Leader of Others program:

Results

We measured knowledge, attitudes, and behavior before the training, immediately after the training and 3 months after the end of the program. The results are benchmarked against the average of the training impact assessments collected by the international training auditor Peopleway.

The rate of application of the principles and skills acquired during the program is particularly significant – 3 months after the program, participants apply 80% of their learning and this is reflected in their daily activities. This is 37% higher than the international average.

Feedback

Velvet CEO Pärtel Vurma

“The biggest benefits and impact of the LPI program came from understanding the role and goals of a leader and in better organizing my work. Understanding that as a leader I achieve my goals through the success of others is important because these people used to be top specialists, whose success then depended primarily on individual contribution. This fundamental principle now allows managers to better understand their role, plan time, and prioritize tasks. This is especially true for those who, in addition to the role of team leader, continue to play the role of top specialists.

The tools learned in the program were also very useful in helping team leaders set goals for themselves and their team, provide feedback, delegate tasks, and build and develop a team.

One of the most valuable parts of this program for us was the opportunity to discuss the company’s goals and processes, as well as issues related to cooperation and development. Very well-structured and third-party moderated discussions on various topics gave us the opportunity to agree on principles that had not been explicitly described before. In addition, the program gave us a common and clear vocabulary to use for these conversations. It is a kind of long-term value tool that we have continued to use since participating in the program.

In conclusion, Velvet and I are only at the beginning of this journey, but a very strong foundation has been laid thanks to the Change Partners’ LPI program. From here, the development will take place on a much stronger basis. There is a lot of experimentation in our field, and we value and even encourage it in our team and culture. A strong foundation and a well-run organization give you the confidence to be creative and experimental. It allows us to keep moving forward towards our goals with confidence. ”

Client Need

The goal was to develop the negotiation skills of client managers who play an important role in the success of the bank. It was important to increase their ability to understand and influence different people.

Our Solution

• The training focused on three key aspects of the negotiation – relationship, styles and process.
• Using the DiSC profile, each participant got to know their personal negotiation style and behavioral peculiarities, strengths and development needs. Through DiSC-based tools, participants learned to recognize the client’s behavioral style and to choose the right negotiation strategy which adapts to customer preferences.
• Participants learned how to prepare for the negotiations, start them in a correct way, listen to the position of the partner and ask questions, convincingly and self-assertively present their position, different techniques of influence, negotiate a common interest and seek initiative, deal with opposition and difficult situations, negotiate a decision.

Results

• Better negotiation skills.
• Participants started using effective persuasion techniques based on the tendencies and behavioral patterns of the client.
• Participants gained the ability and knowledge to rightly analyze ongoing negotiations and to plan for future negotiations in a meaningful way.

Feedback

“I learned a lot from the training – how to better prepare client meetings and more systematically adapt to the negotiation partner. DiSC will definitely help to communicate more effectively with the other party in the negotiations.”

“With the help of DiSC I learned to better understand myself and to better manage myself by understanding different types of clients.”