Case Studies
(All names have been changed)

From "Ready to Demote" to "High Potential"

Bob Frey, a Sales Manager, in this new role for 18 months, had several sales reps with less than one year in the job. Having completed management training and being seen as high potential, Bob was in jeopardy of being demoted or terminated because critical territories and accounts were losing sales. While he has made regular site visits and phone contact with his reps, he had no indications of any issues with his reps. Conversations with the reps of the vulnerable territories had no results.

Bob engaged in MFS and discovered that the new reps in the critical territories were reluctant to disclose their loss of motivation. Bob’s position was, "If I don’t hear from you, I assume everything is OK." The rep's reaction when they were in trouble was to withdraw rather than reach out. Before engaging in the MFS process, they never talked about their assumptions and "ground rules". MFS established agreements about how and when to communicate with each other. The outcome after 6 months was increased sales, recapture of accounts, and Bob being placed back on the high potential list for sales executives.

Including opportunity costs and cost-avoidance, the ROI for using the MFS process was approximately 30:1.

"A Better Fit ~ Career Realignment"

Diane Brooks, a newly appointed manager, was experiencing difficulty with developing her team. She spent too much time on details and giving instructions. Team members relied on Diane to make various decisions that they were capable of making and should have been making themselves. The data and conversation from the MFS process revealed that Diane had tendencies to second-guess decisions made by team members and this sent a message that they couldn’t be trusted.

As a result, Diane realized that she really didn’t want to be a manager in the first place and had taken the promotion only for the money and to avoid being seen as lacking ambition by upper management. The outcome was a reassignment of Diane to an individual contributor role that benefited her and the organization. The team was restructured; no promotions or replacements were required to fulfill the manager’s responsibilities. The organization retained a technically talented individual, saved compensation costs, and enabled the team to work in a more productive environment. A $5,000 investment resulted in a cost savings of over $100,000, a 20:1 ROI.

"Got a Life ~ Work/Family Balance with Business Results"

Sam Blake, a high level manager accepts a leadership position with an internal technical service/support team of 35 people. The team has a 60% turnover, client satisfaction is low, and technical change is a top priority. Sam wants his team to become more cohesive and self-managing. Team members have the capability and willingness to achieve this desire. Sam also wants to reduce his 14-hour, 6-day workweek to more reasonable demands so he can spend more time with his family and have less stress.

As a direct result of engaging in the MFS process, his work team developed a better way of coordinating functions and servicing internal client groups. A year later, Sam had a work team that required little of his time and was able to solve problems and make decisions on their own. Turnover dropped to zero and Sam was able to spend more time at a strategic level, developing clearer priorities and direction for serving the business and was able to enjoy the company of his family for dinner almost every evening.

After 2 years, turnover remained at zero, and Sam’s time was consumed by strategic issues and not wasted on administrative details. Sam was subsequently reassigned to another function and not replaced in the department. His estimate is that the MFS process resulted in at least a 25:1 return on investment.

"The Best Can Get Better"

David Morris, a senior executive with International Marketing and Business Development responsibility, has long tenure with his company and a stellar reputation in his functional and managerial role. He also has responsibility for developing and mentoring young, high potential MBA’s as they rotate through various divisions in their career development.

This exceptional executive went through the MFS process and his results were extremely positive; they indicated a high degree of agreement with meeting the needs of his people. The staff experienced him as an exceptional manager and leader. However, the data indicated he needed to slow down a little when giving instructions and check for people’s understanding of his directions. Apparently, his people felt reluctant to ask him to repeat and clarify messages because they didn’t want to waste his time or appear stupid. Consequently, sometimes his staff would not accurately complete some assignments.

During the group discussion, David agreed to spend a little more time confirming their understandings of his expectations. He kept this commitment and the result was less rework needed by the staff, less follow up by David, and faster development of the high potentials.

In this case, the MFS process resulted in an estimated overall 15:1 ROI.