Giant Leap Consulting Case Studies

GIANT LEAP CONSULTING - COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP
Workshop Builds Solid Core for Cayuse Technologies

THE CHALLENGE

In 2006, Accenture, a global leader in management consulting, and Cayuse Technologies, a new information technology company owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), entered into a 5-year agreement to provide technology services to governmental & commercial clients. Approximately 50% of the company's estimated 250 employees will come from the Umatilla tribe; another 10% will be comprised of Indians from other tribes, and the remaining 40% will be non-Indian. The first-of-its-kind venture is at once ground-breaking, courageous and opportunistic, providing sustainable economic development of the Umatilla people while allowing Accenture to provide competitive rates for business process outsourcing services . . . delivered on shore.

Although the idea was both noble and exciting, it did not come without challenges, most prominent of which was cultural incompatibility . . . what makes a person successful at Accenture is quite different from what makes a person successful as part of the Native American Indian community. GLC was tasked with helping to build a culture that is distinctly Indian in its identity, but also includes Accenture's work ethic and disciplined management approach.

THE SOLUTION

GLC's Courageous Leadership workshop leveraged and integrated the best cultural attributes of Accenture and the CTUIR by:

• Working directly with Cayuse Technology's employees to identify the cultural values and attributes of their heritage to bring forward into the new company . . . defining who we are.
• Leading the employees in developing a robust set of core values to strengthen the organization and position it for future success . . . owning the core values.
• Providing a forum to both explain the journey ahead and build the cultural roadmap to get
  there . . . inspiring a shared vision of the future.
• Gaining commitment fro employees on the individual behaviors that will support the core
  values . . . living the core values.