Introduction
At Solo we specialise in Organisation Transformation, Change Management, Human Resources and Coaching.
Our goal is to make your business more successful, and to provide you with an experienced, resourceful approach to the challenges that you face, matching the right consultant with appropriate expertise to meet your requirements.
We focus on bringing about measurable and tangible improvements, building trusted relationships with clients and capability among key positions across the organisation. We are quick to identify the root cause of an issue and work successfully to address it, leaving behind a legacy that means you can carry on delivering the results successfully yourselves.
Solo Services
We have a track record in helping organisations to implement changes that improve productivity, financial performance and change culture and behaviour. Our approach is to move organisations from doing the things in the same old way, to doing them differently, in response to changing roles and expectations.
We have both strategic and operational expertise in identifying future challenges and opportunities which need to be incorporated into strategic vision and planning, and then turning that strategy into operational plans. We work with you to plan how the change you want to make will impact on quality, productivity, value for money and people. We help you to evaluate the skills and competencies needed to deliver the change successfully.
We will enable you to communicate the changes and to undertake staff and stakeholder engagement and involvement exercises, aimed at ensuring high levels of commitment to the process of change.
The pace and degree of change means that particular skills and experience can help with the forecasting, planning, and communication about change, as well as the evaluation process once the change has been implemented. Solo has considerable expertise in this area, including:
• Strategic planning
• Business modelling
• Programme management
• Organisational and cultural change
• Communications strategy
• Modelling change through the organisation
• Trend and market analysis
• Dealing with the outcome of change
• Outplacement coaching.
We help organisations to manage their staff more effectively and ensure that legal and ‘best practice’ guidelines are followed. We are particularly keen to ensure that not only are effective systems and processes in place, but that you make the most of your people and they are treated fairly and well, even where they may be seen as problematic.
We offer HR skills in employment policy and employee relations; pay and reward systems; appraisal systems; job evaluation; redundancy/employment case law. We also manage the recruitment and assessment of senior posts, and executive team building where Solo has a particularly strong track record.
We provide a service that enables people to change and become more productive, or where that is not possible we can manage them out whilst protecting the organisation and its reputation. We offer structured interviews and discussions with individuals aimed at identifying staff who are prepared to make positive changes, and those for whom change is not an option, and who require support in finding alternative employment.
We introduce and implement 360 degree feedback, allowing a more rounded and holistic approach to the assessment of performance for executives, managers and teams.
We can provide qualified mediators to help to resolve disputes and problems between people and between organisations as a means of reducing conflict and costly litigation.
Managing people is the most complex and demanding area of work for many organisations, and can often appear to block change and progress. Solo offers a range of skills and experience to help in specific areas, including, but not limited to:
• Recruitment and retention
• Redundancy and down-sizing exercises
• Developing policies and procedures including employee handbooks
• Talent management
• Competency analysis
• Employment tribunals
• Grievance and disciplinary cases
• Exiting senior employees
• Trade Union negotiations
• Pay and reward structures
• Learning and development strategies and policies
• Appraisal systems
• TUPE transfers.
Building organisational capability is about strategic planning and development, ensuring that the leadership at board and executive levels is effective and confident.
We work with people at the top of organisations to enable them to set a compelling vision and mission that they can communicate with their staff. We work with top teams, helping them perform better, review their performance and give clear leadership in articulating future business models through informed debate and development of clear aims and aspirations. This translates into developing a business plan that can be understood by all members of the organisation, external partners and stakeholders.
We offer 1-1 and team coaching to enable leaders to address areas of their performance which are problematic and to make high performers even better! Our approach has proven results in terms of performance, productivity and personal development. We also offer outplacement coaching resulting in well-managed exits for senior staff, enabling them to move on with dignity.
We facilitate senior teams looking to develop strategic plans. This allows for a ‘safe’ discussion before final plans are committed to paper and published to a wider audience. Included in this would be the experiences and successes from a cross section of different sectors, gleaned from Solo’s work with a wide variety of clients.
Building the competencies and confidence of boards and executive teams is the key to building organisational capability. The following list gives examples of some of the interventions that Solo has delivered, with very high levels of success in fostering clear and focused energy at board level. Similar approaches can be taken with middle management levels to build leadership capability throughout the organisation:
• Coaching for individuals at a senior level in the organisation
• Board appraisal
• Board development programmes
• Induction and development programmes for newly appointed Directors
• Recruitment and assessment centres for Executive and Non-Executive appointments
• Pay and Reward packages for senior staff
• Benchmarking and market intelligence for the relevant sector
• 360 degree feedback.