Cindy Lynch of Six20 Partners delivered five 1:1 Talent Strategy Sessions in one month—helping leaders see their team and their strategy together for the first time.
Cindy Lynch is the principal of Six20 Partners, a management consulting firm and PI Certified Partner since 2010.
As a seasoned talent optimization expert, Cindy’s pretty much seen it all. But she admits COVID-19—and the ensuing downturn—was a tidal wave no one could have prepared for.
“The COVID fallout upended the way everybody was doing business,” Cindy said. “‘Wait and see’ just wasn’t an option. Everybody was scrambling in one way or another. It went from talent acquisition and retention to how are we going to survive?”
“COVID put us upside down, and we were really struggling with client retention.”
Reinventing her consultancy on the fly
With most businesses in scramble mode, Cindy felt the Six20 Partners team had to react by providing solutions that were relevant to the needs and fears of clients and prospects.
Enter the new and improved PI Design. The Predictive Index responded to market needs by updating its Design solution. For Cindy and Six20 Partners, the software update came at the perfect time.
“We were asking ‘How can we reinvent our business? What can we bring to the market that’s needed?’ So, the fact that the PI Design enhancements came out when they did was a game-changer for us,” she said.
“The PI Design enhancements were a game-changer for us.’”
Giving leaders assurance in an otherwise chaotic world
What makes the 1:1 Talent Strategy Session so powerful? Cindy said it provides a common language to speak about business strategy and talent strategy together.
“We’ve always talked about strategy, you know in financial terms, like margins, velocity, growth, customers, etc.,” Cindy said. “Talent management has its own lexicon, like 9 Box, job fit, churn, KPIs. Now we’re putting a common language to both pieces of the puzzle, and that’s brilliant. I don’t think anyone else is doing that.”
According to Cindy, when she leads CEOs and executives through the session, she sees “the switch in their head and the light in their eyes.”
“You can watch them lean back, take a breath, and say, ‘That explains a lot. I see it now.’”
Helping her clients and watching her business rebound
Soon after the PI Design updates were shared with the PI Partner Network, Cindy booked five 1:1 Talent Strategy Sessions to walk executives through the software. She did all five in one month.
During each session, Cindy used PI Design to show leaders their team and their strategy together for the first time. It was an eye-popping experience across the board.
She sums up the experience like this: “I really felt like I was offering something of tremendous value, and that made me feel good. Like, I was really making a difference. Leaders were desperate for clarity and direction. PI Design allowed them to discover the answers for themselves, and that was empowering.”
The five 1:1 sessions were so powerful, Cindy was able to sell software subscriptions to all five companies on the spot. “My goal was to do five, and I did five—and I closed five,” she said.
“I love helping clients connect the dots. PI gives me the language to do that.”
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