Express Employment Professionals

Issue: Hyper-growth, leadership capacity, leadership bench strength

Solution: Leadership training paired with Coaching Essentials for Leadership and self-leadership skills for frontline individuals

Results: Improved sales activity and revenue, a shared leadership language, improved leadership capacity

From its humble three-person beginning in 1983, Express Employment Professionals has grown to be a titan in the world of staffing and employment. The organization now employs roughly 370,000 employees in more than 30,000 companies in Australia, Africa, Canada, and the United States through a flourishing 600-office franchise. The organization has become the number one franchise staffing company and was recently recognized as one of the nine breakthrough companies in the United States.

When Bob Funk, the CEO announced that he wanted to grow the business exponentially the organization needed to take a hard look at their strategic plan and leadership bench strength. In doing so, Express realized that not only did they lack the leadership component necessary to grow the business, they also lacked a training plan to grow current leaders in order to fill the gap that would be left when their present leadership retired. And since a significant percentage of senior leadership would be leaving, Express knew it needed to address retention at other levels.

The organization began an extensive search for a training provider that would be a match for its unique franchise model, mission and vision, and could provide a training model that offered more than just theory. Express selected The Ken Blanchard Companies because they felt that the Situational Leadership® II framework Blanchard provided filled all their requirements. "Not only was Blanchard's content the best fit for our business model," says Cheryl Moreno, Director of Leadership Development “they mirror our mission, vision, values, and goals. The SLII Model is not only sustainable but it also goes beyond theory. Blanchard's ability to customize their content also meant it was applicable to our unique business model."

Once the content was customized, the organization rolled out a 2-day training course to more than 225 people in under a month, targeting senior management, top franchise leaders, and 25 in-house people who would serve as field trainers or "developers." The next phase was to train additional leaders in 475 franchise locations, followed by a 1-day training for 600 support staff. With their initial, and intensive, training focus completed, Express took a deep breath and began to take stock of the results. Reaching out to trainees via surveys and focus groups, Express gathered the following: 57% of trainees were using the SLII Model, and 51% reported feeling very competent at being able to communicate about the SLII Model with direct reports. In addition, 70% felt their leadership skills had improved, and more than 90% reported having more frequent and quality conversations with staff members.

While the initial reports were positive, Express knew that to create lasting change they needed to find ways to integrate SLII into their culture. They created a development plan that addressed training new leaders and offering refresher courses for existing leaders as well as continued development for field trainers. Express also made the decision to utilize another Blanchard program, Coaching Essentials for Leaders, to reinforce the concepts taught in SLII. As a final strategy the organization tapped more deeply into the LAP leadership assessment data that had been collected for each leader.

With such positive results from their initial training process, Express plans to continue its employee development by offering Situational Self Leadership to frontline people. Moreno had attended an SSL course and knew it would be the perfect complement to SLII and a powerful way to lend self-leadership skills to the rest of the organization. "The partnership of SLII and SSL together with the Coaching Essentials program is really key," said Moreno. "The programs got us all on the same page in regard to speaking the same leadership language. Our people are learning to lead themselves and others. We know how to diagnose each other's development levels and how to appropriately set goals. It's rewarding to see people tap into their sources of power and ask for what they need in terms of leadership style and approach."

Results

Since the training, Express has seen increased effectiveness in communication and improvements in levels of trust. "I had people who were ready to resign, decide to recommit to their leaders and the organization as a result of the training," Moreno states. And the organization has seen improvements in hard measures as well. In just one year's time, sales call activity has increased 42% and there has been a 67% increase in revenue. "We attribute much of our success to our relationship with Blanchard. They go above and beyond the call of duty, and their servant leadership culture permeates every person and every interaction."