Success Stories
Time Warner Cable
Problem:
Time Warner Cable’s biggest competitor was the gigantic AT&T. A merger or acquisition was likely in order to compete on AT&T’s scale. Before, during and after Charter Communications acquired Time Warner Cable/Spectrum, there was a heightened need to communicate changes clearly and train all levels of employees.
Yet at this time, Time Warner Cable did not have efficient ways to communicate the expected impact of upcoming changes. In addition, leaders and internal trainers had not received formal presentation, instruction, or meeting leading skills.
Time Warner Cable reached out to Karen Thornburg Consulting to collaborate on an efficient solution for a clear, repeatable process to communicate and educate in the face of consistent organizational changes.
What we did:
We customized courses based on Karen Thornburg Consulting existing repertoire (Delivering Presentations and Leading Discussions, Art of Facilitation, Leading with Presence, Communicating with Confidence).
One-to-one coaching with feedback served as an essential part of each program to develop and sustain use of powerful communication and instructor tools.
The result:
Leaders report significantly higher number of employees staying on board and contributing during a time of change. Surveys on Karen Thornburg Consulting courses consistently bring the highest training scores in the organization.
Testimonial:
Karen is a wonderful Leadership Development strategic partner. Karen leads by communicating clearly, thoroughly, and often to ensure stakeholders are considering the relevant issues and impact our decisions will make. Karen’s customized courses are among our most highly rated in our organization, and employees report easy application on the job. I believe the success of her deliverables comes from her ability to connect our organization’s needs with applicable tools that close the gap on problems we face.
Our teams also benefit from her creative and masterful instructional design skills. I also count on Karen for the practical: to assure her projects are completed on time and within budget. She has a keen eye for design and a gift for coaching. I have witnessed Karen engage and delight participants in the classroom and in meetings with her facilitation skills. No matter the task, she remains focused on delivering impactful solutions for her clients. You can trust that she will deliver what she commits to! It is always a pleasure and continued learning experience when partnering with Karen.
- K. Feaster, Senior Director, Charter Communications/Spectrum Leadership Development
Waste Management
Problem:
Office morale and efficiency were at an all-time low within a waste management company in the Midwest. Two staff members in this office were on a Personal Improvement Plan (PIP). The Senior Vice President was planning to retire within the year and vacillated between being absent and micromanaging. This left the Senior Director feeling powerless, not supported, and unfairly judged as she focused on managing the PIP process while trying to raise team morale.
The HR director reached out to Karen Thornburg Consulting to coach the senior director to help her navigate this challenging terrain. ​
What we did:
We set up an initial face-to-face meeting to establish trust through deep listening, collaborated on goals and set a plan. We established weekly coaching sessions and built in informal assessments to assure sessions were creating desired results.
The result:
After several months, the senior director described marked improvements. She was better at prioritizing, delegating, and setting an organized structure for her team. The positive, encouraging feedback from her team and her peers continued to fuel her success.
The improved self-confidence and appreciation for her team were two points she brought out as significant to her finding her power and the resulting productivity and success.
Testimonial:
Karen elevates your performance, whether business or personal, to pull out your best characteristics and capitalize upon them. Karen gently drills into any issue(s) that may be holding you back in a kind, thoughtful, patient, and respectful manner. She shares personal life experiences to help you connect with her. Karen has an uncanny way of bringing you back to task when you veer off track. She asks poignant questions that cause you to self-examine and problem solve, which builds self-confidence and emotional intelligence.
Unlike many coaches, Karen does not dictate, rather she continually asks for your feedback and permission, so you are vested in the process and feel valued. I very much look forward to her calls and consider her coaching sessions to be the best business and life training I’ve ever received. Karen makes you feel significant, and that you are capable of achieving anything.
I scrutinize and analyze most things, and Karen Thornburg has earned my highest trust, respect, and regard!
- D. Soltess, Administrative Services Director,
Waste Management
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Problem:
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was growing rapidly, and leaders could see big changes ahead. One example: Artificial Intelligence (AI) would soon be functioning in tax return completion, which at the time was solely the job of tax associates. This impending change would elevate associates into client-facing and leadership roles much earlier in their careers.
To create a nimble workforce in the face of this change, a need for a strategy to promote efficient learning arose. Drawing Number One (DN1) partnered with Karen Thornburg Consulting to collaborate with PwC as they created strategies to develop leaders while managing change.
What we did:
We met with PwC Human Resource and Learning and Development leaders to build a strategy that would support ongoing learning at all levels on-the-job independent of an instructor or education program. After researching various successful on-the-job learning approaches, Johns Hopkins Hospital was the chosen benchmark.
We developed a program to create a learning organization and hand-picked leaders in each market to champion the program and reward its use. Every employee was armed with tools to be an on-the-job teacher and learner. The performance management system was simultaneously enhanced to support implementation.
Result:
Young associates demonstrated rapid learning and were able to take on client-facing assignments more quickly in their careers. When an associate asked a question, instead of being given an answer, the associate would be coached to learn or come up with an answer. Learning theory proves that teaching creates learning and retention at a much higher rate. With this, associates were then in a position to turn around and teach others in an area they now had expertise. Learning happened at an exponential rate across markets resulting in a more nimble and experienced workforce.
Testimonials:
We have known and worked with Karen for many years – because we want to! She is one of the smartest and personally authentic consultants we have ever seen. Karen consistently provided invaluable problem-solving abilities in the most professional way. She is multi-talented and just plain smart. Not only does she do one-on-one consulting with our clients, she also consistently does whatever it takes to guide clients to the right organizational decisions for them. She is amazing in the classroom with consistently outstanding evaluations. She can deliver training as well as design and develop it customized to client needs. Finally, Karen epitomizes building strong client relationship. She is a master at it.
- K. Kellow, Principal, Drawing Number One, Inc. (DN1)
Karen is a unique and gifted solutions consultant and adult learning facilitator. During initial consultation, her questioning and clarification methods allow her to craft training solutions to resolve challenges, raise performance, and stimulate morale. In the classroom, Karen combines the skills the of a creative instructional designer and superb classroom process skills to bring her design and learning objectives alive. Her warm, welcoming manner, love of her craft and the safe environment she creates for experimentation and risk-taking stimulates the free sharing of thoughts and ideas.
She is a masterful and engaging listener. She guides versus dominates discussions. Her application of Socratic questioning allows her to tap into the wisdom of each person and the collective learning of the group she serves. In short manner participants learn that she supports the well-being of each learner as well as the group regardless rank or responsibility.
Her process interventions are both fluid and flexible based on the demonstrated needs of each group with whom she interacts. Her authenticity is fully self-expressed in an easy and open manner. Her neutrality is flawless and natural. Yet perhaps her most distinguishing characteristics are the passion, fun and commitment she brings to each new learning challenge she faces. Her collective skill sets have few peers.
- F. Cumings, Owner, Drawing Number One, Inc. (DN1)
Homer Township Public Library
Problem:
Homer Township Public Library director and staff were forced to find creative ways to house books and materials to accommodate a growing community and need to expand. Unfortunately, no matter what they tried, the referendum for library expansion failed several times.
The director wanted answers and hoped to find a way to persuade the community to vote for the library expansion at the next referendum. The Director decided to ask Karen Thornburg Consulting to discover what was behind the continued “no” vote, and how might community members be convinced to pass the referendum.
What we did:
We conducted focus groups to gather community needs and learned what brought a “no” vote or a “yes” vote. We presented descriptions of library services to the community and answered questions to address what members wanted from the library.
During the sessions we learned that many community members did not understand the depth of services the library could provide them. During the focus groups we were able to provide thorough explanation for what the community could expect from the library, especially with the proposed expansion. After the focus groups we created and sent advertisement explaining library services to to the community.
The result:
Focus group members reported appreciation and high levels of satisfaction for the meetings. At the next voting cycle, the library expansion referendum passed.
Testimonial:
Karen has been a trusted advisor of mine for years. Three words to describe Karen: intelligent, insightful, and engaged. When she learned about our quest to expand our small library, she got to the root of what was getting in the way, created a plan, and got to work. Her empathy, ability to ask the right questions, listen, gather essential information and make recommendations contributed greatly to our eventual success at getting the funding needed to expand. I continue to use Karen’s expertise for many reasons.
When she is coaching and teaching our staff, her expertise in team building has made great impact in how the team functions. Any time Karen is asked to bring in one of her workshops, she carefully tailors the material after assessing our challenges and needs so she can use real-life situations during a workshop and assure the training we get is what we need. Karen’s positive energy, clarity, authenticity and engagement make it easy for staff, managers and trustees to trust her problem-solving process, coaching and training. I highly recommend Karen.
- Executive Director, Homer Township Library District