Staff Retention, Development & Performance Management,
Cisco, California (US)
Client Issue: Cisco enables people to make powerful connections, whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software & service offerings are used to create internet solutions that make networks possible - providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. It was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies & today, they have over 62,000 staff worldwide. There tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products & solutions in the company's core development areas of routing & switching, as well as in advanced technologies that are changing the entire value chain of technology & placing the network squarely at the centre. As an increasingly intelligent network evolves into a platform, users will be able to communicate from any device & in whatever mode they choose. Cisco is leading the transition to a network-centric technology environment, by combining its core strength (IP) with intelligence it’s creating a powerful communications platform that will serve as the basis for the convergence of data, voice, video & mobile communications in a secure, integrated architecture. In the late 1990’s Cisco’s growth was being hampered by the serious issue of rapid staff turnover – especially of their key technical innovators.
Solution: Although staff retention was not an uncommon problem in Silicon Valley at the time, CISCO needed to differentiate itself to recruit & retain the talented skilled professionals it needed to grow.
HR had began career development discussions & asked BlessingWhite (the company we were working with at the time) to facilitate tailored workshops for values clarification, as well as some personal development, linked to their performance management system. As certified facilitators in BlessingWhite's excellent program called Managing Personal Growth (MPG) we delivered several workshops successfully.
Outcome: All workshops were well evaluated & staff turnover reduced quite significantly over the following months.