Work that changed how organizations run
Our client work since 2023 comes first. The corporate work that follows is the experience behind our firm.
Recent engagements
Loyola University Maryland
A university HR team, rebuilt as People and Culture
The challenge. The HR leadership team was restructuring into a People and Culture function while its directors struggled to work together.
Our approach. We interviewed every staff member, ran a Total Team Assessment and facilitated a two-day offsite that mapped HR work to the employee lifecycle, with hours, roles and structure. Six conflict resolution sessions followed.
The directors moved to standing one-on-ones, improved the job-offer negotiation process and worked through a simulated 15% budget cut with no territorial behavior.
Novant Health, with Grand Dynamics
Leadership under pressure for 75 healthcare executives
The challenge. A consortium of healthcare executives needed to lead through uncertainty and work across organizational lines.
Our approach. We designed a three-day program built around a cave rescue simulation based on the 2018 Thailand rescue, with team skill training, a debrief and action plans. Our ADVENTURE Leadership model tied each phase to the challenges these executives faced.
100% of participants rated the program Excellent, and it scored 4.9 out of 5 for relevance to leadership and culture change.
The Cave Rescue Experience, designed with Grand Dynamics.
Global aerospace and defense company
One talent team for an enterprise supply chain
The challenge. Talent enablement resources were spread across business units and corporate functions, with no common operating model.
Our approach. We consolidated them into one enterprise team with a common operating model, kept its connection to the businesses, and designed a skills-based enablement strategy tied to career architecture and role requirements.
A sourcing capability academy launched as the first pilot of the new model.
Corporate work, at scale
Before Walther Advisory Group, our founder led or co-led each of these efforts inside complex organizations, alongside sponsors and teams who carried much of the work.
dentsu
One career architecture for a global network
The challenge. The agency network had grown through acquisition, and people saw no visible future inside the company.
Our approach. More than 100 job families and 15,000 role descriptions were collapsed into 13 job families and 10 levels, leveled on accountability, solutioning and complexity. Phase one mapped 15,000 North American employees into three new service lines, then the framework extended worldwide.
45,000+ employees mapped globally. Minimal departures, and engagement rose during the restructure.
Career architecture
Every cell is a role profile: accountabilities, required skills and target proficiency, so people can see the path to the next level.
Merkle
A skills-based organization in Workday
The challenge. Merkle was growing fast, and career paths did not exist yet.
Our approach. A cross-company effort built 15 job families and 10 career levels, with skills and target proficiencies for every role, validated with senior leaders. Employees rated their own skills in Workday, and managers validated the ratings.
10,000 employees on one framework, able to lay their skills profile over any role and see a development path to it. Leaders gained a standard staffing model, a pricing tool and utilization data.
Skills and target proficiency
Constellation Energy
Redesign, turnaround and merger at a utility
The challenge. BGE needed a leaner structure without involuntary reductions, while the parent company worked through a nuclear plant turnaround and a proposed merger.
Our approach. The largest organization redesign in BGE’s history ran with weekly executive team sessions and more than 200 people across sub-project teams. The same practice supported the Ginna nuclear plant turnaround and change management and integration planning for the proposed Constellation and FPL merger.
At BGE, span of control rose from 6.9 to 11.4, and no unit kept more than four layers. No involuntary reductions.
Spans and layers, before and after
dentsu Americas
Succession and the leadership pipeline
The challenge. Critical senior roles were too often filled from outside, at great expense, with thin internal slates.
Our approach. Quarterly talent reviews, ready successors for 43 critical senior roles and a talent marketplace every three months. Leading with Strengths, a CliftonStrengths-based program with one-to-one coaching for senior leaders, developed the people on those slates.
60% of critical senior roles filled internally, against a 50% target. Leading with Strengths won dentsu’s global North Star award in 2022.
Critical roles and bench strength
dentsu
One talent function from many
The challenge. Talent and learning resources were scattered across 250 boutique agencies.
Our approach. They came together as one Talent and Organizational Effectiveness center of excellence: a team of 40 serving 15,000 employees, with three service pillars, centralized learning operations and capability academies for technical training.
$3M lower annual cost, with more leadership, technical and professional development for the business.
dentsu
Connecting people data to business results
The challenge. Learning spend was large, and nobody could say which programs worked.
Our approach. Learning, HR, Glint engagement, finance, operations and client NPS data came together in one dataset by country and service line, with a global learning analytics dashboard on top. Every course earned one of four calls from its usage and ratings: Preserve, Promote, Refine or Revive.
Every program judged on evidence. Proven courses reached a wider audience, and popular courses that were not landing got fixed.
Program portfolio review
Merkle and dentsu
Fundamentals of Leadership, from Merkle to the Americas
The challenge. Mid-level managers were navigating massive transformation across the business and needed to lead differently.
Our approach. Three-hour live sessions every spring and fall in small peer groups, with new content each cycle and an action plan for every leader. The program scaled across dentsu after the acquisition, moved fully online for 2,500 people leaders in the pandemic, and by 2023 ran across the Americas in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
In 2022 alone: 4,233 enrollments and 2,466 completions across 111 sessions. 96% rated the facilitation positively, and 86% said they would apply the skills on the job.
Merkle
Ending the fourth-quarter layoff cycle
The challenge. Agencies often cut staff in the fourth quarter and rehire in the first to make the numbers. Great Place to Work data showed people felt like commodities.
Our approach. The company stopped the practice.
Engagement jumped, and Merkle was trending toward Top 100 recognition by year three while growing from 600 to 10,000+ employees.