The 6 Box Leadership diagnostic has been used in more than 20 organisations worldwide to help them achieve the Organisational Shift. They have all experienced actionable in-year benefits from the diagnosis of their hidden strengths and weaknesses and resultant plans for specific individual and organisational actions for maximum impact.
Examples of the Management Shift in practice are listed below:
Context
This boutique management consultancy, based in the USA, specialises in advising large firms.
Implementation
The company was starting from a fairly strong base: scores in the 6 Box Leadership Model across the categories Culture, Relationships, Individuals, Strategy, Systems and Resources ranged from 75% to 82%. Theirs was an ambitious bid to move from Level 4 to Level 5 to support planned growth. There were some exceptionally high scores on Culture, but also some indications that stress or overwork could become problems. Use of the 6 Box analysis led directly to a revamped intranet, boosting social media communications, and enhanced personal development plans. It gave managers valuable intelligence to inform strategic and operational questions, such as: What should we stop doing? What should we continue and build upon? What should we start doing? One of the business’s leaders observed: ‘The 6-Box Leadership [model] integrates the systems/process, strategy and resources (the hard side of culture) much more directly and efficiently.’
Outcome
In 18 months after the project was completed, the revenue grew 500% and the company doubled in size from 9 to 18 consultants.
Context
This underwriting agency is a privately owned medium-sized company serving small and medium-sized employers. It is a principled firm, looking to provide tailored services and with a strong emphasis on customer service. The main objective with using the 6 Box Leadership Model was to improve performance and employee engagement.
Implementation
Headline scores were high, but with some variation; ‘Individuals’ was 21 percentage points higher than ‘Culture’. Some of the managers’ ratings were significantly higher than the staff’s. The findings demonstrate very clear strengths and developmental needs. The company scored well on employee motivation, focus on the customer and innovation, for example; but there was scope for improvement in managing for the long term, introducing a more coaching-style of management and involving staff in developing strategy.
Outcome
The survey led to an overhaul of communications, employee development and social responsibility initiatives. Managers reported that the more people-focused approach has improved engagement and performance.
Context
This is a relatively young NHS Trust, just 10 years old, serving a population of 1 million, employing 7,000. One of the clinical directors and the Chief Operating Officer decided to use the 6 Box Model to assess organisational health following a number of internal changes. Results were obtained from random samples selected from each of three categories of the Trust, respectively: those that had implemented distributed leadership practices; those with traditional leadership; and Central Services.
Implementation
There was a similar pattern across the three, though Distributed Leadership did score more highly than Traditional Leadership. In both, the category Individuals scored high, and Systems, Strategy and Resources significantly lower. The Trust scored well on ethical values and trust, but needed to improve on employee welfare and reducing ‘command and control’. The results led to an extensive Action Plan and ‘creative discussions’, and much more attention to communication, training and career planning.
Outcome
The impact of these changes was widespread as the organisational culture became much more people focused. The Clinical Director reported: ‘The organisational diagnostic exercise based on Prof Hlupic’s 6 Box Leadership Model provided an extremely valuable perspective on how our strengths and areas for development as an organisation can be exploited for the benefits of both our service users and our workforce.’
Context
This case study is particularly illustrative owing to events following the survey, which showed an extremely strong correlation between Level 4 management practices and business success. The consultancy operates in a niche market. Its Business Development Director of a division of 18 people commissioned the 6 Box Leadership survey as part of a bid to improve employee engagement and innovation.
Implementation
High scores of above 60% were registered across the six boxes; the highest was Culture (75%), indicating a good level of Level 4 management practices. One area for improvement was knowledge-sharing. The Managing Director, however, rejected the Action Plan based on the results, and instead instituted more formal reporting structures – a return to Level 3. In response, the Business Development Director resigned to become freelance in mid-2013. The unit’s commercial performance started to falter soon after.
Outcome
During the first half of 2013, all available consultants had been hired 100% of their time and the division achieved around 20-25% surplus revenue per month. In the second half of the year, the division had three consultants unengaged for months, and there was no more surplus in expected revenue. For the Business Development Director, it was a positive move, as he has become a very successful as an independent consultant to major corporations.
A FTSE100 company based in the UK used the 6 Box Leadership Model to facilitate a company-wide performance improvement initiative. The survey revealed key areas that the firm needed to address to improve engagement and innovation. These results informed the next stages of the initiative. Two years after the project was completed, there was a 33% increase in revenue and an increase in net profit of 213%.
The HR and IT departments of a major UK-based vocational training company used the 6 Box Leadership Model, and found that it revealed valuable insights into key areas where improvements were needed.
These areas were addressed and used to design an internal leadership training programme for key executives.
The 6 Box Leadership survey has been done in all departments of the central government unit. The results obtained informed the Executive Board of the key strategic areas that this organisation needs to focus on to improve performance and innovation, and some of these results were used for a new strategic focus.
The results of this analysis were also used to design a tailored three years long senior management development programme, where key areas for improvement discovered through the 6 Box Leadership analysis were addressed directly in this development programme.
In the South African media company, the 6 Box Leadership survey revealed some fundamental problems in several areas which led to the decision by the Managing Director to sell the company.
He said: 'This is a very accurate assessment of the business. I was impressed. It highlighted some fundamental problems with the business'.
The company was sold few months after the survey was completed.
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