Case Studies

Major Canadian University – Library Services Department

As part of a major departmental restructuring that included elevating staff with no leadership experience into leadership positions, Social Synergetics designed a curricula for managers, supervisors and team leaders to develop core competency skills and to shift the mindset from primarily tactical into one of responsibility for results not just activities.

We also worked with the Department's Executive Team. This group was at a standstill, undergoing its own transition, because the previous director had retired and a new director was yet to be hired. There was a leadership void and the restructuring plan was stagnating.

The results: The executive team became more cohesive and decisive, shifting from a holding pattern to fully active implementation. The team, individually and collectively, took ownership of the restructuring project and became energized and engaged. During this process, this department went from near last to first in an annual survey of how students attending major Canadian universities ranked service delivery.

Big Six Canadian Financial Institution

Communications between the technical team of this national Canadian bank and its internal customers were dysfunctional. The two groups weren't speaking the same language. A multiple-day Synergetics-based curricula was implemented to develop communications skills and productive emotional responses to situations.

The results: The IT team was better able to understand the needs of their internal customers and improve service delivery. Issues were resolved quickly, with less effort and lowered stress. An evolutionary step towards responsible, productive communications was made in a large organization.

Canada's Largest Foodservice Company

Over the course of 15 years, we have worked with Marketing, Sales and Internal Research staff to re-contextualize their understanding of communications to both internal and external customers.

The results: A simplified approach to communications, free of 'corporate-speak' that consistently achieves the client's desired results and a reshaped internal communications culture that produces less stress from confusing or cross-purpose communications.

An Entrepreneurial, Rapidly Growing Recycling Company

In a rapid growth phase, this company was under stress at all levels of the organization as a result of outgrowing administrative systems and communications structure. Social Synergetics models for stable-systems thinking helped to streamline the company's corporate presence in the marketplace, as well as internal communications.

The results: A simple, elegant communications strategy that supports both individual and organizational growth.

Southern Ontario Regional District School Board

A re-structuring of the unionized facilities department of a large Southern Ontario school board created an unsettled environment with an over-abundance of perceived conflict and push-back. The solution was a leadership curricula for managers and supervisors focused on developing the core competencies of conflict confidence, communications, engagement and change management skills.

The results: An increased cohesiveness within the management team which has led to a shift in culture organization-wide, a breaking down of the barriers that come with a unionized environment and an increased willingness to work towards group goals.

National Quick Service Food & Beverage Retailer

In a highly competitive quick service sector, a growing, national company needed to ensure it’s senior and field managers were employing the most up-to-date strategies for motivating, managing and holding people accountable. The multi-faceted leadership curricula focused on core management competencies including skills for advanced communication, motivation, delegation and creation of stable relationships in dynamic environments.

The results: A more agile, focused management team, able to respond the needs of their operators at new levels, supporting continued increases in key performance indicators.

Major Canadian Hospital

With dramatic shifts in the health-care industry, a major Toronto hospital determined that the need to improve patient experience through an elevated level of customer care was paramount to it’s ongoing success. A Synergetics-based curricula was facilitated on an organization-wide front-line basis (approximately 3,000 staff). The curricula focused on the Synergetics models for customer service, communications, conflict confidence, stress management, empathy and managing emotional responses.

The results: In annual surveys rating quality of care conducted by an independent research group, the organization’s previous rating of one (lowest) was transformed over the following two years to a rating of five (highest rating).

Community Dental Business

This multi-generational family-owned business, a leader in their sector, faced the need to restructure operations due to watershed changes in the marketplace . This curriculum focused on Synergetics-based models to rethink the traditional management practices in use by the management team for many years.

The results: Managers first adopted a “new” mindset of their own, then worked to engage a new mindset in their staff to stimulate collaborative (vs. top down) change.

Rehabilitation Hospital Program

We developed and facilitated a curriculum using Synergetics models for people rehabilitating cognitive functioning after traumatic head injuries.

The results: The inherent structure and stability of the models allowed the participants to maintain their focus on re-learning important life and thinking skills.

Rural Ontario District School Board

Developed and facilitated Synergetics-based curricula for managers and administration staff. The manager training focused on developing core competency management and supervisory skills in a unionized environment where the staff worked in locations remote from the managers. The program for administrative staff training focused on communications, conflict confidence and stress management strategies and skills.

The results: Very simply, happier, more effective people who came together in collaboration with ease and a focus on communal goals.

Premiere Ontario Technical College

During a time of significant organizational change, Social Synergetics consultants worked with senior staff of the largest academic department on the process side to operationalize the new strategic plan while concurrently working on the human side by facilitating new change management skills and mindset.

The results: Aligned teams and improved cross-functional communications and relationships, leading to improved functionality at multiple levels.