Work that demonstrates the approach.

The challenge

When an academic coaching program serving university students with Autism Spectrum Disorder shifted to a fully virtual environment, engagement declined. Students often arrived without clear goals or preparation, coaches lacked reliable ways to assess comprehension, and the existing coaching model was not sufficiently adapted to learner variability.

The approach

We designed and implemented a structured coaching intervention grounded in applied behavioral science and learner-centered design. The approach included:

• A predictable session structure with clearly defined goals
• Learner choice in skill-development topics
• Structured behavioral expectations
• Consistent, specific positive feedback
• A formal coach-training protocol
• Ongoing measurement of implementation fidelity

Coaches received structured training and implementation guides to support consistent delivery.

The results

Implementation fidelity averaged 91.5% across sessions. Behavioral expectations improved substantially across all three participants — from baselines of 33%, 45%, and 55% to approximately 90%, 100%, and 90% respectively. The participant with the lowest baseline skill-assessment performance improved from 64% to 84% average quiz accuracy. Participants also reported higher perceived effectiveness, helpfulness, and enjoyment of coaching sessions.

The challenge

A leading life insurance company with approximately 650 employees across 21 departments and 6 geographic locations had conducted two prior engagement surveys internally — both of which yielded results of limited diagnostic utility. Internally administered formats constrained respondent candor, and the engagement model employed was insufficiently structured to surface nuanced drivers of engagement at the sub-dimension level. The organization recognized that the headline figure from its 2018 survey (62.5% engaged) masked important structural variation across departments and grade levels, and commissioned an external consulting team for the first time to conduct a rigorous, fully confidential survey using a refreshed engagement model.

The approach

The engagement encompassed a full refresh of the client's employee engagement model, the design and deployment of a structured survey instrument, and multi-dimensional data analysis. The approach included:

• Formal project kick-off and stakeholder alignment with the client's HR team
• Desk research and comparative assessment of empirically validated engagement frameworks, resulting in selection and adaptation of the Aon Hewitt Engagement Model
• Design of a 40-item, 6-dimension survey instrument — a sharper, more analytically defensible tool than the prior 51-item version
• Pre-survey orientation sessions with employees to explain methodology and confidentiality safeguards
• Fully anonymized survey deployment via corporate email with unique user IDs across a 4-day fieldwork window
• Multi-cut analysis across 21 departments, 5 grade bands, 4 age groups, 2 gender categories, and 6 geographic locations
• Delivery of a full analytical report, HOD briefing presentation, and six prioritized strategic recommendations

Third-party administration removed the perceived risk of management reprisal — a structural bias that frequently suppresses candor in internally administered surveys — and was confirmed to yield more honest, actionable data.

The results

The engagement achieved an 81.23% response rate — well above the 60–75% industry benchmark — driven by structured orientation sessions, fully anonymized design, and a proactive reminder cadence. Analysis surfaced a critical polarization effect obscured by the stable headline engagement rate (63.25%): the "Inspired" cohort had grown from 0.7% to 34.13%, while the "Disengaged" segment had expanded from 0.7% to 13.10%. Pay & Benefits Satisfaction emerged as a critical outlier at 28.65% positive engagement. Six prioritized, evidence-based recommendations were delivered, each mapped directly to root causes identified in the data.

The challenge

A multidisciplinary clinical environment required stronger consistency in performance, documentation, behavioral protocols, and team execution across complex stakeholder groups.

The approach

We applied human performance technology principles to identify behavioral and operational barriers, analyze performance data, align stakeholders, and design targeted performance interventions and standards.

• Behavioral and operational barrier identification
• Performance data analysis
• Cross-functional stakeholder alignment across physicians, nursing, psychiatry, and social work
• Design of targeted performance interventions and standards
• Translation of identified performance gaps into practical implementation solutions

The work involved collaboration across physicians, nursing, psychiatry, and social work and focused on translating identified performance gaps into practical implementation solutions.

The results

The work contributed to a documented 33% increase in operational capacity, alongside improvements in team adherence, documentation compliance, and performance processes.