Merrill Lynch is one of the worlds largest and most respected banking organisations.For 10 years, the organisation had been growing steadily in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region as part of its declared strategy. Senior Managers within Corporate Services realised it was time that Corporate Services considered themselves - and be perceived as - a business within a business as opposed to an technical service department in order to make a greater contribution to the Merrill Lynch wealth generating operation.
Working closely with the Head of Corporate Services and his senior managers, Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) designed a unique programme to unlock hidden talent within the organisation and create a vehicle for achieving their vision for Corporate Services. Blending together knowledge of Workplace Management with our highly experienced leadership development specialists we were able to lead a process which enabled the team to establish a vision for how they wished to be perceived by:
- Their clients (senior managers with strategic influence and budgets)
- Their consumers (the people who consume the services and environments they provide on a daily basis)
- Their people (both employees and service providers).
A series of studies were undertaken to establish the perceptions these audiences held of Corporate Services. Confronting the feedback together, the team established programmes which would propel the organisation forward to become an internal service business. These included topics such as Marketing, Communications, Service Enhancement and Client Relationship Management ? each with a dedicated team. AWA supported team leaders and members with coaching, facilitation and specialist technical support skills throughout the programme, with the teams retaining ownership for delivery.
We played a powerful role too, working with the Steering Group, advising on workshop frameworks, sequencing, skills development, communication and top team development. The programme met most of the tangible objectives, with additional advantages:
- The recognition and development of a strong pool of second level managers, who gained in confidence and skills as consequence of the work and who now provide the platform for the next burst of organisational growth
- Closer working across functional teams as people from different functions got to know each other and began to gain more knowledge about each others areas
- Top team members developed their own skills and ability to work together, recognising that the programme represented a first step on a journey, which they continue to travel.
