Our clients typically measure the outcome of LEAD using two metrics - financial results and engagement scores.

The recommendations developed by project teams often yield financial returns - in the form of expense reductions or increased revenues - far in excess of the cost of running the program. By involving hundreds of leaders from across the organization in the development of these solutions, LEAD increases the likelihood that project recommendations will be implemented efficiently and effectively.

Engagement scores, though a "softer" metric, are often where the biggest improvements are seen. For one client, employees were segmented into three distinct engagement profiles - Highly Engaged, Moderately Engaged and Disengaged - and measured once a year via an employee survey. In the year that featured the LEAD program, the client was able to increase the Highly Engaged percentage by 5 points; increase the Moderately Engaged percentage by 5 points; and decrease the Disengaged percentage by 10 points. On these results, the global HR consulting firm that conducted the survey commented: "We work with a huge range of firms. This is among the strongest results that we have ever seen in one year." This same firm has shown that for every 5% increase in engagement, companies have seen a 0.4% increase in operating margin.

LEAD has as its bookends two intensive workshops taught by the organization's senior executives and 30 to 50 change agents. At the first of the two sessions, Brimstone and the Senior Leaders train the change agents to lead and coach project teams. The second session, conducted after all the project teams have completed their work, provides a forum for the sharing of project team results and best practices from the action-learning process.

Between these two workshops, the change agents - in pairs or trios, and without a consultant present - launch their short-cycle, tactical projects, which are designed to develop solutions to one or more of the organization's imperatives (market share growth, for example). The change agents conduct teambuilding activities, drive the development of project plans and provide overall guidance to team members as they work across boundaries to address on-the-ground issues. During the course of their project work, team members also gain clarity and alignment around the business strategy, values and operating mechanisms. Through this project team work, LEAD enrolls an additional 150 to 300 employees in the change process.