Client Testimonials
Over the past 20 years, Capelle Associates has received many comments from executives sharing their success in Optimizing Organization Design®. Coming from our clients, these testimonials are a proof that our approach has helped organizations achieve the benefits of better financial performance, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.
We are happy to share a few of these comments with you.
The project team that re-designed the new distribution model used the principles of cross-functional accountability and authority utilizing project management rigor to clarify deliverables and roles. Three of the four leadership team roles were filled by internal employees who had been identified as high potential through our annual Talent Pool review process. In the last couple of years we have revisited our Vision/Mission and have engaged employees to develop a simplified and more meaningful Vision/Mission. We have also undertaken a significant strategic review that is identifying key strategies and tactics that will be employed over the next several years. A formal process has been established to help us assess and evaluate all current projects, align with key strategic deliverables and identify clear resource and cross-functional accountabilities and authorities required to successfully deliver.
Finally in 2013, we have been selected by AON Hewitt as one of the Best Employers in Canada. On debriefing us, they indicated that one of the key points of feedback from employees was identifying career development and career opportunities in the company. We attribute this success to the formal institutionalizing of the Talent Pool review process that was implemented as part of the organization design work.
As a testament to how sustainable some of this work is, and continues to be, is the continual use of common language such as stratum of work, valuing work, cross-functional accountabilities and authorities, and information processing capability. Clearly our employees understand how critical these concepts are to developing and sustaining a very successful organization.
In addition, over the last three years, we have outperformed the industry on all key performance metrics.
Eric Pickering
Vice President, Human Resources
Allstate Canada Group
May 2013
Jim Baumgartner
President and CEO
Moneris Solutions
May 2013
Gerry Savaria
President & CEO
LS Travel Retail North America
May 2013
Jeff Adams
General Manager, Continuous Improvement
Canadian Pacific Railway
February 2013
George Weber
President & CEO
Royal Ottawa Health Care Group
January 2012
Naseem Somani
President & CEO
Gamma-Dynacare Medical Laboratories
October 2011
Robert Petryk
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
EPCOR Utilities Inc.
August 2011
- How many layers should my organization have to be most efficient?
- How can I be sure that I have the right people in the right seats and promote them from within?
- How can I reduce micromanagement and improve cross functional efficiencies?
- How can I trust that the organizational design and everyone’s work is supporting the deployment of the strategy?
Capelle Associates Inc. provides surprisingly clear answers to all these questions, and a robust methodology of deployment. The result is a stronger, leaner and clearer organization, where everyone can focus on moving the business forward.
Vadim Motlik
Chief Administrative & Chief Financial Officer
LS Travel Retail North America
July 2011
Gerry Savaria
President & CEO
LS Travel Retail North America
July 2011
Jim Oosterbaan
Senior Vice President, Operations and Commodity Portfolio Management
Capital Power Corporation
June 2011
The approach to change management was extremely professional – highly detailed implementation plans at every stage and strong support from leaders before changes were implemented. Although the organization design model is time tested over many years and across numerous businesses and organizations, Capelle Associates were very mindful in their approach that management judgment must prevail.
Bob MacIntyre
Assistant Vice President, Human Resources
Canadian Pacific Railway
June 2011
Brian Vaasjo
President & CEO
Peter Arnold
Senior Vice President, Human Resources and EH&S
Capital Power Corporation
June 2011
Bob Bertram
Executive Vice President, Investments
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
November 2007
Another improvement we benefitted from is more effective cross functional work. The combined effect of having better clarified the alignment of roles, accountabilities, authorities and business plans, provides our national organization with a system and process enabling leaders and employees to work better together.
I also think that achieving significant progress, in a relatively short period of time, was made possible by working with Capelle Associates.
Christianne Dostie
Vice President, Allstate Brand
November 2006
For others considering redesigning their organizations, I think that a strong internal – external partnership is critical. I am generally not a big believer in external consultants, but there are certain business issues and opportunities that require more specialized and independent methodology or perspective. I would put comprehensive organization design in this category, and our relationship with Capelle Associates as an example of a strong internal – external partnership that has lasted for over ten years. The strength of this partnership is based on two main factors: 1) the quality of Capelle Associates’ research methodology and 2) the experience, capability, reliability and trustworthiness of the members of their firm. Under challenging timelines and resource constraints, Capelle Associates have never missed a deadline or commitment.
April Taggart
Senior Vice President, Talent Management and Diversity
BMO Financial Group
April 2006
We have accomplished much over the years. Accountabilities are clearer. Administration is appropriately centralized. We created a new Product Development function to deal with the increasing complexity of this area. This separate focus helped us to accomplish much more than would otherwise have been the case. Similarly, we created a new function to deal with our fastest growing business line, which further enhanced its growth.
In summary, we designed our organization to better achieve our strategy. In fact, I believe that organization is part of strategy, and is divorced from it to the peril of both.
The benefits to our organization are multiple. First, we are clearer about our objectives. We have a cascading business planning and review process and measure our performance carefully. Employee opinion surveys, which are conducted by an independent third party, have shown excellent improvements in employee satisfaction, particularly with regard to knowing what’s expected. In this regard, our results far exceed industry benchmarks. The satisfaction of external stakeholders is also surveyed annually and we have consistently achieved high scores on an international benchmark.
Derek Fry
President
Visa Canada Association
March 2006
Ted Carter
Vice President, Information Technology
Allstate
March 2006
One of our biggest improvements has been in business planning. Because we had taken the time to properly align the organization, we have been able to create and overlay a cascading business planning and review system in which employees have clearer deliverables with more appropriate complexity at each level. This is extremely powerful.
In summary, improving the organization design brings clarity to so many different areas. I believe that we have increased our effectiveness while also achieving efficiency gains.
Mike J. Donoghue
President & CEO
Allstate Canada Group
February 2006
While cost savings were not a significant driver of wanting to improve our organization design, improving our organization alignment has produced significant cost savings. Being in a growth business, we have chosen to re-invest much of these savings into positions that can further enhance our return on these investments.
I would encourage CEO’s to review and refresh their organization designs. I would strongly recommend Capelle Associates for their unique research-based approach and excellent support. They have certainly helped us to further improve our business.
Jim Baumgartner
President & CEO
Moneris Solutions
February 2006
Capelle Associates gave us a thorough and insightful assessment of our organization. This cannot be done from within an organization.
Joan Mitchell
Vice President, Human Resources
Moneris Solutions
February 2006
We have been able to utilize these principles to strategically realign several critical Human Resources’ systems and practices. Of greatest significance is the impact they have had in the areas of Talent Management, Talent Pool Assessment, Compensation and Job Evaluation.
There is already tangible, measurable evidence of significant returns driven primarily by the principles and methods inherent in our investment in organization design.
Eric Pickering
Vice President, Human Resources
Allstate Canada Group
February 2006
The Capelle Associates approach to organization design has been shown through research and client experience to be related to better financial performance, better customer satisfaction and better employee satisfaction.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has benefited from the Capelle Associates approach to organization design through both being a sponsor and participant in a global research project. We have benefited from high value organization design work that they have done for us – they have certainly added value to our business.
Claude Lamoureux
President & CEO
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
October 2004
With the full benefit of hindsight I can only reiterate the statement I made to you following your final presentation This is the best value for money I have ever experienced from any consultant.
Isadore Sharp
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
December 2003
Robert W. Pearce
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Personal and Commercial Client Group
BMO Financial Group
September 2002
Productivity in the department has improved, and user satisfaction has increased remarkably while employee morale and team work have shown exceptional gains.
John W. Young
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
April 2002
Frank G. Moore
Vice President, Merchant Services & Point of Sales
Royal Bank
November 2000
Wendy K. Porter
Senior Vice President, Merchant Services
Bank of Montreal, Electronic Banking Services
November 2000
Dale Reeson
Divisional Vice President, Human Resources Services
Canadian Tire
April 2000
- Ten recommendations for organization and process change were accepted and implemented over a two year period.
- Customer satisfaction with our performance, as measured by three annual surveys, has shown improvement every year.
- Employee satisfaction, again, as measured by three annual surveys, has shown improvement each year.
- The clarity of organization responsibilities makes objectives setting and measuring a straightforward and believable process.
I would recommend Ron to any organization wishing to evaluate the way it is organized. His analytical framework and his extensive research in the subject convince you that his recommendations are not just flavour of the month but are well anchored in practical experience.
Derek Fry
President
Visa Canada Association
December 1999
Your availability/access with your busy schedule has always amazed me; very much appreciated.
In most instances you exceeded my expectations (were always met). Stimulating, fresh ideas were always anchored in a disciplined (but flexible) approach.
Given our on-going challenges (as a H.R. Division) I do not believe that our team would have been as successful as we have been without your consultations. You provided us with the frameworks we needed and the confidence to move forward.
Peter J. Tate
Vice President, Human Resources
Bank of Montreal
November 1999
- organizational design (structure)
- role clarity
- scope of roles (size and level of work of teams)
- reporting relationships of non-core areas
- connect / link people in key roles
Many of the changes Ron recommended were implemented and in all cases, our operations have benefited.
Employee satisfaction in both distribution centres’ is on the upswing. Employee Opinion Survey results indicates a steady improvement over the time span we have worked with Ron. In addition, operating results have also steadily improved over the same time period.
Dale Reeson
Divisional Vice President, Organizational Development, Supply Chain
Canadian Tire
November 1999
We were indeed able to establish a statistically positive relationship between organization design and performance using our performance data and your organization design framework. We found that Capelle Associates’ approach to better organization design is related to better financial performance in the global pension fund industry. This includes governance, layering and delegation.
The project and its findings have had a significant impact on organization development within the 8 sponsoring pension funds.
Keith P. Ambachtsheer
President, K.P.A. Advisory Services
Co-author, Pension Fund Excellence: Creating Value for Stakeholders
October 1999
In particular, the recommendations you made on the vertical and functional alignment in the Secretariat including our country and regional delegations have stood the test of time. The way we operate has improved significantly because of a clearer understanding of the relationships amongst these critical operating areas.
I might add that the planning system we initiated with your advice is still thriving, and cascading, iterative work plans are a normal part of every manager’s working life.
George Weber
Secretary General
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
October 1999
John Carver
Senior Manager, Customer Service
Bank of Montreal
September 1999
The results of your work have provided a rich source of information and ideas which we are now committed to address over the next several months.
Keith Willard
Chairman
Zeneca Inc.
October 1996
I have found your work always to be well planned and executed and your research timely and complete. What was most interesting was that, although to my knowledge you had not had a client in the software industry before, you were able to learn quickly to a sufficient degree to make your work relevant to our challenges. This was most helpful.
Peter C. Reid
Chief Financial Officer
Fulcrum Technologies Inc.
June 1996
As you know, over the past few years the Passport Office management team has worked very hard to place the organization on a sound business footing. It is nice to see recognition of our efforts to date, particularly by a newspaper of the stature of the Globe and Mail.
I would be remiss if I did not recognize the contribution you personally have made to our success. Your leadership, advice, and encouragement in the areas of empowerment of our Employees, de-layering of our organization, and Business Process Re-engineering of the passport issuance process have been key factors in influencing the path we have chosen, and the success we have had to date.
R.J. MacPhee
Chief Executive Officer
Passport Office
December 1993