Thinking Ahead of the Possibilities

G R O U P PA R T N E R S AND P U R P O S E L I N K E D C O N S U LT I N G

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A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

Mohandas Gandhi

Passion is energy.

Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.

Oprah Winfrey

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Thriving in today’s economy requires that leaders engage in fresh thinking and develop visions and strategies that resonate with customer priorities.

Navigating an ever-changing landscape and establishing a global presence that distinguishes a company in the market requires building and equipping a skilled workforce and igniting the passions of the teams charged with accomplishing results.

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“ It’s not about Change.

It’s about Possibilities.

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At Purposelinked Consulting and Group Partners, we view change as a conduit to possibilities – one that opens our minds to new and better questions, more effective solutions, and a wealth of opportunity to create a better tomorrow. We believe that managing change, envisioning possibilities and creating strategies, should not be something great leaders and their teams address as an occasional exercise – it should be a part of their daily diet.

Unfortunately, research indicates that 90% of strategies for change and growth fail to live up to expectation. In hindsight, many of these failures could have been avoided had a better approach for planning been utilized.

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Achieving effective change and developing innovative strategies – ones that place outstanding companies deep within the possibilities – require a robust planning and execution process. But, unlike standard approaches to strategy and change planning, the process must adopt a holistic view of the business – all of its integral parts and people – and be designed to reveal how to best mobilize the organization’s full resources to achieve meaningful results.

Purposelinked Consulting and Group Partners have joined forces to create a process that accomplishes just that.

We work synergistically to support clients in achieving their goals by utilizing our proven approach to vision and strategy development, coupled with robust tools for talent management – all underpinned with deep knowledge and expertise in global marketing, leadership and organization development.

Our collective approach addresses the context, content and cultural requirements for the business success by guiding the organization through the phases of work shown opposite.

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Even Robust Plans Fail When The “Framework” And “Energy” Required To Achieve Aggressive Goals Is Not Addressed.

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OUR APPROACH PHASE I: CREATING THE FRAME In order to add value, a framework must ignite the organization’s energy and expand thinking. It must allow teams to examine the horizon, understand the new questions to be asked, establish an innovative vision, solve the right problems really well, and create an organizational culture in which individuals can thrive within today’s constantly evolving paradigm for success.

There are three critical questions that senior leaders of every company should be asking: • A re we positioning our organization to create the best possibilities for our business, our customers and our community?

• D o we have a clear and shared sense of the direction our business is taking?

• A re we igniting and applying the very best thinking that our workforce can generate so that we can move our business from success to significance?

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“ It All Begins with The Question

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If you’re not investing in establishing a visionary focus for your organization, its functions and products, then it is likely that the future needs of your customers will be met by your competitors.

Developing that vision, establishing the future state that will fuel success, requires the courage and tenacity to ask new questions about your business and its value proposition.

It requires examining the landscape as it is now in order to understand the current reality – but moving beyond to imagine and achieve new possibilities for the future. In short, it requires being able to envision in multiple dimensions and from multiple perspectives.

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We begin Phase I with a visioning process utilizing the 4D™ Framework method and the philosophy of Structured Visual Thinking™.

4D™ is Group Partners approach to solving complex problems, working with the senior teams to explore an agreed upon “Exam Question” for the business. Through our proprietary process and technology for building a “Structural Thinking Framework”, we guide teams through strategy visioning and design as a real-time, co-creative, visual exercise, which ensures the business – and each leader within that business – has the ability to think (in the widest possible context) about the future aims and ambitions of the business and every major question, issue or opportunity that may arise within it.

Imagine the impact of working with a Structured Visual Thinker who facilitates robust discussion with the team and captures their ideas about the challenges, complexities and solutions for the business graphically and in real-time on 50-foot wall panels. A Contextual Analyst working in parallel translates the discussion and ideas into a narrative format, building the platform for the team’s vision of the future. That is the power of our process.

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4D™ includes the following phases: 1. Discovering what we could do – By alignment of the key stakeholders we create the right context for discovering what is happening now in the business and what is possible – a vision for the future. We establish a common ground and define the possibilities of what the organization can do.

2. Developing what we should do – Based on what has been revealed in Discovery and what we understand is required for success, we work with the team to begin to create strategies, change scenarios and develop hard plans for the future.

3. Deciding what we will do – At this point in the process we are able to sort all of the choices into a coherent set – creating the template (guide-rails) for the journey, a roadmap that leads to the outcomes; and finally 4. Deploying what we have agreed we will do – By now we have identified what is required to sustain the transformation and to fully support the strategies that will achieve the vision over the long-term. This prepares the organization for effective execution of its strategies so that the vision becomes realized.

Teams will naturally engage around the conversations during 4DTM because they address the burning questions – Where are we going? Why? And how will we get there?

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Structured Visual Thinking™ supports the conversations by manifesting the teams own ideas and concepts visually and in real time, creating a framework for the future. The effect of getting a group of people together to have a series of open conversations about something that unites them (or needs to unite them) without burdening them with process, opinions, endless pages of strategy and theory is more than a little liberating.

When their ideas materialize on the walls in front of them, it fosters ownership, builds commitment and sparks desire to deliver on those ideas.

Helping senior teams to frame strategies and deal with their complex environment is Group Partners particular brand of expertise. Purposelinked Consulting’s sweet spot is creating high performing cultures by leveraging employee passions to generate great results. The combination of these two dimensions is therefore of significant value.

We deliver by applying deep knowledge of talent management coupled with expertise in global marketing and the vital context within which it creates the value required to succeed. Together, our synergistic partnership helps clients solve the right problems really well, engage and ignite the organization and build a framework for ongoing success that everyone embraces.

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“ The Planning is Tough.

The Execution is Tougher: Finding the DNA of Success.

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PHASE II: ENERGIZE THE WORKFORCE It has been our experience that most large-scale transformation or strategy setting initiatives are designed to focus on internal processes, products and customers – all of which are important.

But the result can be that the visioning framework overlooks the significant impact each individual will have on the success of the transformation. At Group Partners and Purposelinked Consulting, we understand that most of these same initiatives are likely to fail if the organization doesn’t define the qualities of the individuals who will be charged with executing that vision.

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Positive Performance Triad • Good Job • Satisfaction • Dedication • Apply Skills • Retention Risk

Unique Skills

Primary Passions

Core Values

• Grow the Job • Fulfillment • Excitement • Learn New Skills • Commitment

• Self Worth • Relevance

The Performance Nexus 22

Following the initial visioning session with the team, Purposelinked Consulting carries the work forward by supporting the team in becoming a cohesive unit capable of leveraging both the skills and the passions of its members.

The focus of the work during this phase will be to discover and harness the passions of everyone on the team, understand the unique contributions that can be generated through individual passion and develop a common language that improves the quality of the conversations within the team and across the organization.

We believe that an organization’s success can best be realized when team members operate at their Performance Nexus, where skills, passions and values align with work roles. It’s true that skills, experience, credentials and competencies are important factors for success, but they are not enough. The missing ingredient in the formula for deriving peak employee performance, especially during times of change is Passion.

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“ Passion Fuels Innovation and Imagination

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The Energize Phase consists of the following steps: 1. The journey to energizing the team begins with the Passion Profiler™ experience – Leaders and their teams participate in a workshop entitled, Leveraging Purpose and Passion in the Workplace.

Most leaders know that tapping into each employee’s internal drivers is important. They even understand that providing employees with a sense of purpose at work makes a difference. What has been missing is a framework for taking very esoteric concepts like purpose and passion and putting them to work in actionable ways…ways that provide the organization with a platform for capitalizing on possibilities.

That is, until now.

Purposelinked Consulting has developed a unique proprietary tool that identifies and measures work related passions. The Passion Profiler™ is a survey instrument based on the extensive fieldwork and research of Purposelinked Consulting founders, Alaina Love and Marc Cugnon, in partnership with a team from the University of Michigan, which provides deep insight into the “archetypes of passion” operating in your organization.

The tool identifies and measures ten expressions of individual purpose, codified as the following passion archetypes: Altruist, Builder, Conceiver, Connector, Creator, Discoverer, Healer, Processor, Teacher, and Transformer.* * A full description of each of these ten dimensions can be reviewed in Love and Cugnon’s book, The Purpose Linked Organization (McGraw-Hill, 2009).

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The core survey items based on Love and Cugnon’s work were also informed by the empirical literature on sociocognitive identity development, organizational identification and positive psychology. Fundamentally, the conceptual framework informing the survey construction is based on the notion that an individual’s purpose functions as the primary catalyst for igniting one’s passion; and passion operates as the intrinsic attribute which informs and influences one’s overall approach to work.

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The Passion Profiler™ is a unique and comprehensive self-knowledge and team building tool that: • M easures respondents’ affinity for each of the ten passion archetypes • F ocuses on each respondent’s “passion archetype cluster”, the top three passions driving their behaviors • I dentifies the strengths and vulnerabilities associated with top passions • P rovides insight into how to best lead and manage each archetype • I dentifies the “styles of passion” respondents are actually demonstrating in the work environment • P rovides group comparison data for archetype and work style affinity (which is especially relevant information for teams) • Measures affiliation to the organization • M easures respondents’ propensity to think and reflect contemplatively about life and work experiences in order to use those experiences to learn and grow • I dentifies how each respondent’s passion archetype cluster influences the creation and utilization of organizational knowledge so that teams may develop a better understanding of the operational perspective of each individual member and how each person can best contribute to strategic goals

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The Passion Profiler™ supports the development and engagement of individuals and teams responsible for executing strategies. It provides a platform for establishing a common dialogue that enhances the quality of ongoing conversations relating to the company’s vision, strategies and framework. With this common dialogue, greater clarity about each individual’s role and operational perspective in delivering results can be achieved.

Passion Archetype Operational Perspective

• Imagine • Innovate • Ignore Boundaries

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Con nect o

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i tru Al

re & Assimilat e Sha • Promote Learning • Seek Knowledge • Share Knowledge/Info.

• Network with Others • Negotiate Across Boundaries

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Proce ss

Co Discoverer Pr oc es so r

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Healer

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Crea to

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Tr an

Cre at

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Build

ply Ap

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• Growth/Expansion • Champion Change • Set Vision • Create Blueprint

• Create Harmony • Remove Toxicity • Expand World View • Act as a Moral Compass • Embrace Differences

TM

• Seek Truth • Digest Info • Interpret Info • Support Meaning Making

During the workshop, teams apply what they have learned about their passion archetypes individually and collectively, learn how to use passion as a platform for strategy execution and create 6-month individual action plans that serve as a “personal roadmap” within the organization.

2. M oving from Strategy to Tactics – At this point in our work with teams, the process of defining tactical steps to execute strategies begins. We work with teams to drill down on the specific actions that must be taken to achieve various strategic milestones. The skills and passions that will be essential on the team assigned to each task are identified, as are needed resources, support and funding for successful execution.

3. O ngoing Team Support – Purposelinked Consulting and Group Partners work synergistically to provide ongoing support as teams implement strategies using the framework developed in Phase I. An online collaborative workspace will be established to support frequent communication and idea exchange between teams and PLC/GP principals. Through this mechanism, we can keep the framework current and help teams course correct as needed, when new learning and information is uncovered during strategy implementation.

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PHASE III: EQUIP THE ORGANIZATION FOR SUCCESS Once cohesive, well-conceived strategies have been created and teams energized around them, the difference between achieving success or spiraling to insignificance lies in equipping the workforce that will carry the plan to fruition. Minimal sustained progress will be realized without first identifying the data the enterprise needs to make the best decisions and then aligning systems, processes and structure with strategic goals.

The Frame phase of each intervention initially identifies some of the requirements that may be needed to successfully implement the organization’s vision and strategies.

Teams may also uncover other action items during the Energize phase such as: • Needed improvements in marketing capabilities and skills • R equired changes in organizational design to support work flow • E nhancements to performance management and recognition processes required to motivate the workforce

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“Great strategies and energized people aren’t enough to overcome entrenched systems, processes and talent gaps that work against them.”

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In Phase III, Group Partners and Purposelinked Consulting reunite to work with the team to identify all of the data, analysis and information that will be required to make the best decisions about the business. We work collaboratively and correspond with the client to identify the alternatives available to the team and to define the processes or programs that should be continued, discontinued or newly created. All of this information is then re-integrated into an expanded visual framework that supports the journey from strategy creation to successful execution.

Purposelinked Consulting then conducts an Organization Capabilities Assessment to specifically analyze the organization’s needs, validate needs that may have been identified in earlier phases and create action plans to address those needs so they do not impede strategy implementation.

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While this evaluation is tailored for each client, typical evaluations might include areas of inquiry, recommendations, and action plans related to: I. Organization, People and Systems •R eview established recruiting, career development and training plans that support the development of talent identified as strategically critical • Examine the current organization design to assure it supports the new strategic direction • Examine requirements for key strategic positions vs the existing talent pool • Gap analysis and recommendations to address talent issues • Review people management systems to assure they are designed to support identified strategic direction II. Market and Strategy Development • Examine tools currently utilized for developing marketing strategies, product positioning and branding III. Doctrine and Skills •R eview of established marketing processes, principles (doctrine) and skill set IV. R equirements for the organization to become a marketing powerhouse V. G ap analysis and recommendations for achieving marketing excellence

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Collectively, our process neatly reduces the cycle time required to work a strategy and positions the organization for success.

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Throughout the engagement, Group Partners and Purposelinked Consulting guide leaders and their teams in creating a transformative vision, building collaborative relationships, generating quality conversations and establishing robust processes that position the organization to conceive and capitalize on the very best of possibilities.

Together we help clients create a culture of thriving.

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THE TEAM

MARC CUGNON (Discoverer, Builder, Transformer) Marc Cugnon, a native of Belgium, is the CEO and co-founder of Purposelinked Consulting. With over three decades of business experience, he consults to large, multinational firms as well as small, independent companies, foreign government organizations and international universities. His practice at PLC has focused on executive development, cross-cultural team building, strategic business planning, domestic and international marketing, and product development.

Prior to founding PLC, Marc enjoyed a twenty-seven year career with three major pharmaceutical companies, focusing on human and animal health products. He has lived and worked in Belgium, the US, the UK, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Marc spent twenty-one years with Merck & Co., Inc., where his career was comprised of a number of significant positions, including Executive Director Marketing, Europe, and Vice President, Asia-Pacific Region.

As VP Asia/Pacific, Marc established 8 subsidiaries in the Asian region, including Taiwan, China, Singapore and Korea. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Merck-Hangzhou Pharmaceutical Joint Venture.

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ALAINA LOVE (Builder, Transformer, Healer) Alaina Love is the President of Purposelinked Consulting.

Since the inception of PLC in 1994, her work has focused on developing passionate, effective leaders and teams, and helping companies navigate large-scale organizational change. She consults with multi-national Fortune 500 companies, hospitals and government organizations.

Prior to founding PLC, Alaina spent twelve years with pharmaceutical giant, Merck & Co., Inc., where as Executive Director of Human Resources she served a client group of over 15,000 employees worldwide, generating US$12.3 billion in sales. Earlier in her career, Alaina was a research scientist in the field of immunology, where she worked to develop products for the treatment of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. As a clinical research associate, she also managed international clinical trials for the anti-ulcer treatment now known as Pepcid速.

In addition to the US, Alaina has lived and worked in Singapore and Thailand, and has consulted with business leaders throughout Asia, Europe, Canada and Latin America.

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JOHN CASWELL (Conceiver, Altruist, Builder) John Caswell is the founder of Group Partners and its “chief boundary pusher”. His role with clients is to be facilitative and visual – using his special brand of magic to help clients examine their problems and opportunities with equal measure, so that they avoid solving the wrong problems really well. As a company, Group Partners’ aim is to “Change the way business thinks and works – enabling the 21st Century Organization.”

John works with a wide variety of multi-national organizations and governments to craft an environment and stream of powerful deliverables where people can be creative, innovative and different. Using Group Partner inventions – Structured Visual Thinking™, a powerful philosophic approach to business thinking, and 4D™, an accelerated approach to answering critical questions – John seeks out boundaries and stimulates teams to think beyond them so that smarter business decisions are possible.

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HAZEL TIFFANY (Transformer, discoverer, creator) Hazel Tiffany joined Group Partners in 2002 after 26 years in UK Central Government, the latter of which were spent developing system and service architectures to support crossfunctional operational requirements. She is a Contextual Analyst whose specialty is the engineering and architecting of complex information.

Hazel works with client groups to develop a context from existing information and create a structure that allows new insights to emerge from client discussions throughout the 4D™/Structured Visual Thinking™ process. From this, she helps clients develop meaningful and relevant outcomes that enable the business to deliver against goals.

Using her extensive experience, Hazel has developed a real competence for making the best use of complex, multidimensional information. “ I am constantly seeking to find structure, patterns, clues and context that will create understanding and value that can be used to communicate to multiple audiences.”

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Group Partners Europe 32 St James’s Street, Mayfair London SW1A 1HD, UK

Purposelinked Consulting 1679 North Poes Road Flint Hill, VA, 22627, USA

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www.grouppartners.net www.thepurposelink.com