Chicago Change Partners, Inc. partners with directors, CEOs and senior HR staff in objectively analyzing and continually improving the effectiveness of their boards. The key to governance quality is continuous improvement in board practices, policies, and people.

Our mission in Board Services is to serve as the catalyst for enhancing board effectiveness and governance quality, enabling directors and CEOs to guide their companies to continuously improved performance.

For corporate boards, Sarbanes-Oxley and a host of NYSE and SEC regulations make compliance a fact of twenty-first-century corporate life; however, while compliance may satisfy the regulatory environment, it does not ensure board effectiveness or corporate success. Chicago Change Partners is focused on sustained improvement in board effectiveness and governance quality and on avoiding or mitigating a crisis of investor confidence in boards of directors and CEOs.

Our Partners and Principal Consultants
Charles H. Bishop, Jr., Ph.D.	Patrick Dailey, Ph.D.	Bill Horst, Ph.D.
Lyle Hubbard, MBA	Melind Lele, Ph.D.	Bob Miles, Ph.D.
Gary Chant, MBA	Patrick Chantelois, MBA	Marc Goldberg, J.D., CBM.

Distinguished by possessing an uncommonly rich competence in all aspects of organization change , Chicago Change Partners managing partners and consultants have provided leadership to many of the most respected and dynamic organizations in the world. In founding this area of the practice, each member was driven by a passion to make sure 'people' investments yield a significant competitive advantage.

Four areas:
Executive Assessment Services:

• CEO Candidate Assessments
• Key Internal Senior Promotions


Tailored development:

• Executive Assimilation
• Team Building for Boards


Board Effectiveness

• Annual Board Evaluations


Audits in the 'People area'

• HR Systems and Processes
• Bench Strength Audit

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Executive Assessment Services:
We assist organizations in defining or refreshing their Succession Planning and executive placement process; the ability to predict how an individual will perform in a given role is a distinct advantage. We have developed our assessment service to bring the highest level of precision and accuracy, building on our many years of daily contact with senior leadership talent around the world. Some of the traditional frustrations associated with the process of talent discussion only surface after an individual is in place. They can be avoided by our proprietary group assessment process…putting together a composite picture of how an individual would function in a particular position; going beyond description to prediction.

Tailored Development:
Executives entering a new position: An alarming number of executives going into key jobs fail-the generally acceptable figure is forty (40) %. An executive must hit the ground learning and running, quickly sorting and identifying issues, creating an actionable agenda to move the organization into a strong position without threatening managerial prerogative. Additionally, for the new executive it is critical to deal positively with normal anxieties, questions, and expectations within the organization. And, of course avoiding the "let's wait and see" syndrome. Assimilation of executives has been the focus of our practice—as one executive described our services...'this was the best insurance policy I ever had'.

Team Building for Board's: Boards need an opportunity to refresh, reflect, plan and recharge on occasions. We have the capability to work with the Board under a variety of business situations. Some of the situations:

• An established Boards and Senior Teams addressing new challenges from competition or the general business environment;
• Newly formed Boards and Senior Teams;
• Boards and Senior Teams that need to adapt to match rapid growth and/or change;
• Boards that need to become more professional and/or establish a stronger leadership role; and
• Boards and Senior Teams that need to re-energize.

Some of the benefits realized:

• Improved senior team/Board relationships and performance.
• Creation and development of robust dialogue---that transcended the retreat;
• Individuals have a better understanding of how they can make a contribution; and
• Improved business results and prospects for growth and sustainability.

Board Effectiveness/Assessment: Public companies are required to perform an annual self-assessment. Additionally, not-for-profit boards will need to evaluate their governance practices. We assist boards transform what many treat as a mere formality into a highly valuable process for establishing fundamental clarity on key issues. An assessment allows a Board to shift the focus from routine governance matters and candidly reflect on how well the board is meeting its governance responsibilities and how is it functioning. The board will establish a common understanding of its roles and responsibilities, as well as discover critical areas for improvement.

Most importantly, at Chicago Change Partners we provide a degree of objectivity and confidentiality that elicits the level of candor necessary to define the real determinants of optimal board performance.

In addition, we provide an assessment and produce development plans for individuals and collective Boards.

Audits in the 'People area'

Bench-Strength Assessment: There are points in an organization's evolution when a Board or CEO requires an assessment of a respective team's bench-strength. We provide team and organization wide audits that include both interviews and more formal assessment approaches based upon a team's mandate, strategic imperatives and perceived gaps. A team audit may be warranted in a Greenfield/start-up situation, merger and acquisition strategy or during growth or re-structuring activities. We produce a comprehensive report of the findings—the Leadership Pipeline® Dashboard and a suggested path forward.

HR Systems and Processes: The human resources function holds the keys in many ways to an organizations success. They are responsible for the systems and processes that normally control 75% of the costs; yet, there is a consistent 'feeling' that some things need to be different. Our team has held the top Human Resources position in six major, well thought of organizations.

We interview senior management and then our approach is to work closely with the HR function head to do a self-study that is reported to the CEO or the Board. The results of the study combines the data gathered in our interviews and in assessing the systems and process in HR. We take a straight forward approach to assess the present state; our areas of inquiry…the Human Resources Work:

• Basic Services and Administration; areas such as Compliance; Rewards and Alignment of HR with the Business Strategy, and
• Organization Effectiveness; areas such as Learning and Development; Change Management /Transition, and Talent Management

For each of these areas we would make recommendations such as; 'Leave this alone'; Scale Back; Maintain; Improve and Fix and Major 'gear up'---invent and launch.

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For assistance: If interested in any of these Board services, please click here to Contact Us and provide us with some basic information and we will be back to you within two day.