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There are powerful trends in the marketplace today that are having enormous impact on business and industry. Recognizing them in their early stages and seizing or even capitalizing on these opportunities allows businesses to enjoy early wins and profitable growth.
SSA Consultants, a Baton Rouge-based organizational development and management consulting firm, works with clients across many sectors. Much more than leadership training, SSA provides companies with the tools to create and maintain a culture of excellence, navigate change, and manage a multi-generational work force. Their clients include family-owned and privately held businesses, Fortune 250 publicly traded companies, large and small foundations and nonprofits, and local, state and federal agencies.
AT A GLANCE
Primary product/service: Organizational development and management consulting
Top executives: Christel Slaughter, PhD; Bill Slaughter, PhD; Rudy Gomez; Anita Byrne
Year founded: 1970
Phone: [225] 769-2676
Website: consultssa.com
“The equation is the same for all organizations. Businesses are only as good as the leadership and talent they have,” says CEO Christel Slaughter. “Right now, talent is scarce, so if businesses have talented people they’ve invested in, they need to do what they can to keep those people, recognize their contributions, and give them the resources they need to be successful.”
SSA uses a validated suite of tools and assessments to identify and evaluate leadership potential. Leadership development assessments often are paired with SSA’s targeted executive coaching sessions and customized leadership development programs to enable clients to achieve their desired results.
Companies are starting to invest in targeted approaches to develop high potential employees rather than simply trying to recruit talent from the outside or taking an across-the-board approach to leadership training. According to Slaughter, “It’s a much more informed way to develop high performing leaders and retain talented individuals.”
Several years ago, SSA collaborated with Hogan Assessments to create an online leadership development program called iCapstone, an interactive course that provides personalized coaching tips. The course has become a core element of the leadership training program in organizations such as the Louisiana Bankers Association, where approximately 60 banks per year send up-and-coming executives to develop and polish their leadership skills.
Companies who want to invest in the development of only one or two leaders are now also using the Baton Rouge Business Report’s highly successful Leadership Academy, where participants are able to experience the Hogan Leadership Assessment and have an individualized executive coaching session in addition to five days of leadership training.
“SSA is a proud collaborator with the Baton Rouge Business Report on the development of the Leadership Academy and the subsequent customized Leadership Academies designed to develop their next generation of leaders at an accelerating pace,” Slaughter says.
SSA also helps clients navigate change through other services such as strategic planning, compensation studies and succession planning, which often gets overlooked during periods of disruption.
Companies often struggle with the time it takes to integrate a new or recently promoted employee. “A lot of our clients no longer have the luxury of time. They need to shorten the learning curve,” Slaughter says. “Our job at SSA is to help our clients understand the current climate and develop strategies to improve their performance. It’s all about success in the marketplace.”
