Granicus

Granicus Inc. is a technology company that provide send-to-end solutions to government agencies allowing quick integration of streaming media into their communications offerings. "Our solutions increase transparency into government entities andhow they work," says Ed Roshitsh, Granicus COO."Providing public information through the Internet also enables our clients to alleviate their reliance on paper-intensive processes - increasing productivity and workflow efficiencies."

Ensuring Future Success

About a year ago, workflow efficiencies and productivity became an internal challenge for Granicus and the company's leadership knew they had to take action to help ensure future success. "Project time lines began to slip," recalls Roshitsh. "It felt like people were working in silos and I could see it would lead to general dysfunction if we didn't address the issues soon." Granicus' leadership decided to get out in front of their organization's problems by working on them internally, but the results were inconsistent. "We just weren't equipped to work through it all on our own," recalls Roshitsh. "We needed a DMZ- a diplomatic broker to keep things productive." The situation be came more urgent with the addition of new executives to the Granicus leadership team. Roshitsh remembers, "The executive team had different communication styles that didn't work well together. We decided to work on the issues at the executive level first, then work our way down through the organization."

Confidential Executive Coaching

The CEO started the search for a leadership development professional to conduct an executive off-site and to help the team work on their communication challenges. A selection committee reviewed the final candidates and Roshitsh remembers the day Kristi Royse of KLR Consulting came in to discuss the company's challenges. "She had a lot of pen, non-leading questions - to get a lay of the land," says Roshitsh."She did a really good job of assessing the problems while staying neutral. Kristi made it clear from the beginning that she wouldn't be taking any sides and everything would be kept confidential." A commitment to confidentiality makes it easier for clients to be relaxed and completely open during KLR's engagements. Granicus selected Royse to conduct an executive retreat and a larger management off-site to work on their internal issues.

The success of the off-sites led to Granicus askingRoyse to lead the executive team through a program to address some other concerns that bubbled up during the retreat. "Our team has a lot of thinkers - which can be a blessing and a curse," states Roshitsh. Royse counseled and gave the team homework to work on the dysfunctions that were hampering their strategic planning process. "The quality and crispness of the program really brought home what was important to our company,"Roshitsh recalls. "The black and white of the goals became clear with Kristi's help."

Bringing in Accountability

Royse also worked with the executives to bring accountability and success measurements into the company's objectives and goals. "As soon as we started talking about accountability, it became clear we needed to cut down on the number of projects," remembers Roshitsh. "Kristi gave us a clear process to follow and guided us to a consensus on what was important to the success of the company. It was just what we needed."The Granicus executive team solidified their strategic plan for the year with the help of Royse and KLR's comprehensive leadership development programs.

When the time came to roll out the strategic direction to company employees, Granicus turned to KLR which conducted an all-hands retreat to ensure buy-in of the new goals and work on communication challenges that were hampering the company's growth. "Kristi gave us a framework for communicating that has really stuck," says Roshitsh. "You hearit in the hallways - people now understand how to work through their differences and get things done. Thanks to KLR, projects and plans for all departments mesh better together."

A More Focused Staff

The entire Granicus team - executives, managers and staff - have a new found level of productivity and communication thanks to KLR Consulting. These new skills translate into projects completed on time and revenue goals achieved. "The entire company is more focused and much better at communicating,"says Roshitsh. "The value of KLR's programs will be felt in this company for many years to come."