Challenge

After 30 years of exceptional success primarily in Ontario, HGC made the decision to expand and add new offices across North America. In addition, the founders were approaching retirement and looking toward scaling long working hours (one had already reduced their hours significantly) and a successor to the President role had already been named, highlighting the need for succession planning strategies to ensure no organizational or technical knowledge would be lost in the transition.

Having successfully worked with the Bellrock team 20 years ago at a previous phase of growth, they re-engaged with the team, first for Management Training and Leadership Development, and then to facilitate this change and provide strategic support.

The leadership’s goals included:

  • Increase already healthy earnings per share.
  • Design and implement internal infrastructure to support multiple geographic locations and increase efficiency, reduce stress, and increase visibility into business operations.
  • Successfully plan and execute the transition and succession of key personnel.

Solution

HGC engaged Bellrock first for management training and leadership development, and then to facilitate their desired changes and provide strategic support.

Strategic Planning

HGC engaged Bellrock to facilitate their annual strategic planning and then ongoing quarterly planning sessions to help the senior leadership team make key decision and stay focused on top priorities.

Implementation

Bellrock also worked alongside the HGC team for six months to assist with the development and implementation of foundational systems. Working closely with them, we:

  • Built a client journey process flowchart that clarified activities and accountability for staff, helped identify gaps, and supported the team to create documentation of key processes and procedures.
  • Redesigned the organizational structure to reflect their future growth and succession planning needs.
  • Helped to develop job descriptions for all positions in the firm and assisted in the roll out of standard and accurate job descriptions across the organization to support effective performance management and growth planning.
  • Supported the rollout of a comprehensive compensation philosophy for the company.
  • Implemented communication systems to facilitate effective information sharing and space for decision-making.
  • Facilitated the 6 Types of Working Genius training to improve team cohesion.

Management Training

All existing and new managers in the company attended Bellrock’s Management Foundations program, with the senior leadership also participating in Bellrock’s Advanced Management program. This provided their team with a shared language and understanding of the best practices that we implemented alongside them, improving adoption.

Results

  • A more cohesive leadership team engaging in regular, productive meetings.
  • Successful peaceful transition of power to a new President.
  • Increased staff headcount by 10%.
  • Standard procedures and templates have been implemented and are improving consistency across the team.
  • Consistent job descriptions and performance management system in place, improving transparency, accountability and engagement.

“We’ve been pleased with the guidance and tools that Bellrock provides. They’re helping us to focus on what’s needed to build the launchpad for the next era of our business.”