About Dr. Spitzer
Thea Spitzer has been a consultant, strategic advisor, and coach to executives, leaders, and staff at Fortune 500s, mid-sized firms and start-ups for 30+ years, including 16 years with Microsoft.
Her expertise includes facilitating the development of business direction, aligning staff with that direction, increasing employee productivity and achieving bottom-line results. She has experience in identifying and solving a wide range of tough challenges. Thea has designed and executed over 1,000 corporate solutions in partnership with clients, creating and sharing practical tools that help guide firms to new levels of success.
Services
Finding and Evolving Your "North Star" and Inspiring People Around It
Some view change as inspiring. Others see it as a threat.
How is it viewed at your organization?
Demonstrated Results
Project #1:
Business Strategy & Product Innovation
Challenging Situation: One of the products offered by this company had been highly successful for several years. But recent advances by competitors was decreasing its market share and profitability. Leaders knew they needed to make some changes but weren’t sure what to do.
Actions Taken: After becoming familiar with the product and the division, Thea designed and facilitated a process that engaged the creativity and knowledge of key employees to reinvent the product.
Results: The process was highly successful. Employees were motivated to contribute. Working with Thea, they created an innovation that took the product in different directions and made it highly profitable again.
Project #2:
Decision-Making Processes and Ownership
Challenging Situation: In partnering with the leadership of a division with 15,000 employees, Thea discovered that decision-making processes lacked rigor and clarity. This decreased effectiveness, resulted in poor decisions and missed opportunities, and caused mistrust.
Actions Taken: Thea determined the root causes of the problems. She then constructed a practical and easy-to-use decision making process that alleviated the issues. It was met with much enthusiasm and started being used across the division.
Results: A six-month follow-up revealed very positive results; the new process was working extremely well. With the feedback from this check-in, Thea implemented a few tweaks that made it even better. Four years later, these decision processes were still meeting the needs of that division. And it was working so well that it was adopted by other divisions across the corporation.
Project #3:
Cross-Group Collaboration
Challenging Situation: Two groups in this organization had complex interdependencies requiring joint brainstorming and decision-making, and coordinated actions for the development of an important product. There had been problems between the two groups for several years. Delivery dates were missed and customer relationships were affected. Resources were wasted because the groups duplicated work.
Actions Taken: Thea constructed a detailed and accurate picture of the situation. Using this information, she facilitated several streams of work to improve the way people worked both individually and with others.
Results: Immediate positive results were seen in the way the two groups collaborated. The most significant proof of success was the creation of a fantastic new product by these two groups working together.
Project #4:
Leadership Coaching for Higher Performance
Challenging Situation: An important leader was strong in most aspects of her job, but unable to influence others in positive ways. She had previously been made aware of the problem and had gotten training to improve her skills, but wasn’t yet changing her behaviors.
Actions Taken: Thea determined that coaching was the best way to assist this leader. Over the course of several months, Thea met with her regularly, providing coaching and support.
Results: The leader gained deep insights and applied them to change her beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. Over time she became known as “a key influencer” and re-gained the respect of those that she had previously alienated. She could now contribute much more to the organization’s success and was rewarded with a well-deserved promotion.
Clients
