carl eschenbach president & coo vmware we are a management consultancy that helps clients solve their most complex strategic operational cultural and leadership challenges . learn more changing the world by changing the way business leaders think . meet the team philosophy work mission clients team contact trium deeper our philosophy we believe the fundamental drivers of success and change lie in things that are hard to see and manage things like trust relationship and mindset . we approach our work through a systems view that intentionally connects human dynamics to issues of strategy organization and process . what s visible vision strategy and metricsin most situations the presenting problem is centered on things that are visible and tangible questions of vision strategy priorities metrics and financial performance . ultimately our client partnerships lead to significant improvements in productivity and execution but surface issues are just that a place to start . what s murky processes structures and governanceprocesses structures and governance are the soft tissue that hold the organization together . without clear roles accountabilities and decision rights execution is cumbersome and challenging . we help our clients figure out how their organizations need to evolve to fully unleash the energy of the system . what s hidden culture relationships trust and mindsetsculture and leadership mindsets conscious or otherwise are at the root of everything . producing fundamentally different results and creating lasting change requires working deeply beneath the surface . conscious leaders communicate with purpose and inspire accountability . when leaders think differently anything is possible . lasting change starts deep beneath the surface . our work is focused on growth and change client case studies tell the story . how can operationally and technically oriented senior executives become authentic inspirational leaders technical competence alone won t help teams find traction and inspiration in the face of continuous change . by focusing leadership development at the level of underlying beliefs and mindsets leaders can learn to lead through intuition act with courage and build authentic trust based relationships.how can a merger lead to the creation of a company that is truly greater than the sum of its parts merger integration is about putting the pieces together and realizing efficiencies . it s also about getting senior executives truly aligned and committed to a new and shared vision . working collaboratively over an 18 month period we created one incredible new company.what s required for real cross functional partnership across a 30 000 person organization when marketing sales services and engineering speak the same language and share a single playbook aligned action is possible . communication then becomes the backbone to staying aligned especially in uncertain environments.what does it take to get a plane off the ground on time process efficiency and role clarity help but creating a fundamental process improvement requires that all parties have a deep appreciation for one another s challenges and constraints . it further requires that everyone work to solve the same problem not simply optimize for their part of the equation.the full storyour client came to us because surveys indicated serious challenges with employee engagement and confidence in senior leadership . top executives from across the organization achieved their success because they were brilliant but not because they were good at inspiring brilliance . these very successful and sophisticated executives were not open to or in need of leadership training or skills based development . rather the client hired us because we were able to develop a custom process for them that thoughtfully engaged leaders in a new kind of introspection . senior leaders began to explore their underlying beliefs and assumptions and through inquiry came to see where they were misreading situations and relying on outdated and often directive tactics . the trium program was designed to connect with the values of the organization and to bring the strengths of the culture to life so impact lasted well beyond the workshop . many leaders reported breakthrough insights that had lasting personal and professional impact . most importantly executives got clear on their genuine leadership intentions and learned how to inspire true emotional engagement from their teams . ultimately the program went on for over seven years and touched over 500 leaders . the full storyour client leads a large division within a fortune 50 healthcare distributor . while pursuing a growth opportunity for the corporation it was failing to deliver on its promises . two fundamental strategic objectives were essential for manifesting a transformation driving the operating performance of key business units and dramatically increasing the business footprint to compete with scale . trium was approached for support in achieving strategic re alignment elevating senior level leadership and revitalizing the culture around excellence and collaboration . trium also supported the integration of the executive team following a merger of equals by collaborating with leaders over an 18 month period in both the turnaround and post merger integration process . this involved energizing the broader team around a shared 3 year vision and enrolling the team in inspiring cross functional goals ; translating strategy into action by defining specific 12 month priorities and milestones ; establishing a culture that enabled operational excellence and collaborative execution ; fostering relationships of increased trust and cooperation across the organization ; building high performing leadership teams on multiple levels ; and facilitating turning point conversations about the future organizational model and leadership implications . in partnership with the client trium helped build a solid foundation for market competitiveness and growth . teams began executing with a stronger sense of purpose greater strategic clarity and increased cross functional commitment . this enabled pursuit and completion of a challenging merger of equals resulting in accelerated time to performance and improved financial results . the senior leadership team is now on solid ground to successfully steer a larger more scalable business . the full storytrium served a 25 member cross functional executive board charged with setting and driving the strategy for the company s multi billion dollar technology services business . the company s customer landscape in services changed frequently making the alignment of day to day decision making challenging . in addition there was unclear support for product and corporate priorities within the services teams . fear of missing opportunities led to reactive decision making often in a siloed uncoordinated manner . the client hired trium to clarify and align the services organization behind a 3 5 year vision and strategy to prioritize the investment areas for the coming fiscal year and to ensure aligned execution of priorities across diverse locations . trium assessed that confronting such uncertain environments required having a clear view on how to serve customers in carefully selected future market scenarios . framing and building out the scenarios required significant iteration and buy in but in the end would build clarity and alignment shorten response time and guide investment and resource prioritization decisions . trium helped the client develop strategic plans for each of four critical market scenarios that accounted for the most important business uncertainties . through interviews and a series of facilitated workshops a globally and functionally diverse group of leaders articulated the following for each scenario customer needs and requirements ; client s winning strategies ; implications for go to market models and partner competitor positioning ; requirements for portfolio of offerings ; and investments and innovations . they further named market signals that would indicate one scenario was emerging over another . the highly collaborative process helped to build shared language for describing the services strategy which in turn made large scale alignment around a single playbook possible for the first time . together leaders created priorities and thoughtfully placed bets based on shared beliefs about near term dominant customer needs . importantly this work created a foundation for ongoing strategic dialogues that would keep strategy execution clear aligned and relevant as market dynamics evolved . the full storywith over 30 jumbo airliners and a powerful consumer brand our client expected to double their size in five years . the core challenge balancing an entrepreneurial informal culture with pressing demands for operational excellence sophistication and efficiency . the executive team approached trium for help with improving on time departure performance otp ; theirs was among the worst at their main hub . knowing that neither rigid recommendations nor a canned change methodology would fly with this client s culture trium designed an interactive process casting a cross functional leadership team with the job of driving change . trium collaborated with the change agent team through a process of analysis diagnosis recommendation and implementation elevating leadership mindsets skills tools and approaches along the way in order to create the foundation for an organization wide transformation . trium led a parallel breakthrough process in which roles were clarified mindsets redirected and behaviors calibrated to support the change agent agenda . during the first month of full implementation otp was the best it had been in years . over a one year period otp climbed by 30 % to 40 % and it continues to improve . real cultural transformation took hold across the organization as it entered its third era . teams and individuals assumed greater accountability made decisions faster and streamlined operational execution . for their part executives learned that change takes time and that long term commitment is essential . how can a company with a single breakthrough technology diversify to position itself for sustained growth innovation is a capability not a one time event . when the same creative thinking that gave rise to a product breakthrough is applied to the challenge of identifying new market opportunities the organization finds answers where before there were only questions . what happens when senior executives personally commit to strengthening their leadership and building a strong culture leaders throughout the organization get a clear understanding of what good looks like and begin earnestly evolving their own capabilities . relationships strengthen the quality of listening improves and people connect to their core values . what kind of culture enables disruptive innovation in a highly mature and extremely competitive market when an organization s culture embraces success and failure productive debate and open dialogue thrive and new ideas emerge from all levels . how can leaders quickly and radically reduce costs without undermining the spirit and capabilities of the organization in difficult times companies often take a peanut butter approach to cost reduction and demand that everyone share the pain equally . by basing cost cutting efforts on clear and shared strategic priorities leaders can make smart choices that ultimately build capabilities and enable efficiency . the full storyour client disrupted the industry 10 years ago with cutting edge technology that changed the way data travels through a network . with other players entering the space and customers asking for help with a wider range of problems our client knew they had to evolve from a single to a multi product company and expand into new areas . an office of the president had been created to facilitate the evolution but the president and his directs were not sure which changes were required to position the company for future growth and diversification . in addition various members of the team had differing viewpoints on how the organization should evolve creating uncertainty in the organization . trium knew the problem needed to be approached from several angles and started with an organizational diagnostic to understand the clarity of the strategy how aligned the executive team was around which strategic path to pursue and how effective the leadership team was at reaching alignment on big bets . trium custom developed a way for the executives to have a holistic where we play and how we win strategy discussion through a set of well framed dialogues . the dialogues allowed the executives to have dialogues at the right level of detail and to also see where their incoming