"The proposal materials were very polished... It gave a really good balance of what to expect throughout the program."
Lindy Couillard, VP of Corporate Services
360 Engineering and Environmental Consulting (360 EEC) specializes in engineering and environmental consulting, focusing on downhole well abandonment and plugging old oil and gas wells, environmental risk assessments, site assessments, reclamation, and remediation programs. They aim to close aging sites and reduce emissions with a clientele primarily in oil and gas in Western Canada, expanding into the U.S. and other sectors.
360 EEC is a resilient company that prides itself on its core business and culture. The company has worked very hard at establishing its strong culture and commitment to hiring and developing its team members.
360 EEC is a place where people are empowered to reach their full potential in an environment where internal champions lead the way, and leadership supports progressive change and evolution.
It is this level of commitment to its culture and employees that support 360 EEC’s decision to evaluate leadership training options for its growing level of people managers. VP of Corporate Services, Lindy Coulliard summarized the company’s situation of organic and obtained growth…
"We started going on a pretty massive growth trajectory where we grew organically to 35 and then a year after we are 70, and then we acquired some companies…we are now at 140 in a very short period of time. And through that growth and those acquisitions, both, I guess, organically and acquiring, we have offices in Calgary. I guess three offices across Alberta into Saskatchewan, and Northeast, so expanded our operations and our employees quite rapidly over the last three years."
With the surge in growth across the company, there were inconsistencies noticed among the existing managers, and the first-time managers.
"I think there were…inconsistencies with our leadership team. So how they manage people, what was addressed...the employee experience was different, whether you were under manager A versus B”...we are a relatively new leadership team, so some of our leaders were never leaders previously, and we had a lot of varying levels. So we just wanted to make sure that everyone had the same foundation", noted People Operations Manager, Amanda Faith.
It was clear to management that there was an opportunity to standardize various components of how new managers were developed, and existing managers were leading their teams. Lindy shared some more insights on some of the challenges that led to exploring an investment in supporting their people managers.
"I think we saw an inconsistency in leadership and we hadn't fully defined what our base standard or expectations were for our leaders. And we also had a lot of new leaders coming in who were maybe new to that role. And so I think we were recognizing that employees had a very different experience that was fully dependent on who their direct manager was. And so we wanted to come in and implement a program that aligned with our values and helped offer training and support to a lot of those middle managers and directors.”
Amanda and Lindy began to outline specific criteria for a leadership training solution.
Some of the requirements included facilitation, and specific alignment with their company values.
“We sat down and tried to understand really what our president and CEO were looking for…and then we researched about, it's probably five or 10 different solutions of what that looks like…and then kind of ultimately started to benchmark our criteria in partly around cost and different sort of funding that we knew we wanted to be able to access…we didn't want it all online or self learning we wanted to make sure there was facilitation. And we wanted to make sure we could bring in a big group. So we didn't want to just target five or six senior leaders. We wanted to really expand that to a larger group, and so that really helped focus on companies that we're looking at”, shared Lindy on the search process for a leadership training solution.
Unicorn Labs became a consideration for 360 EEC through a referral that Amanda knew. From that point, Amanda began to do some more research about Unicorn Labs, and had conversations with another HR leader, and participant, who had completed a Unicorn Labs training.
Some more research around the Unicorn Labs website and free content began to uncover more direct alignment with the 360 EEC selection criteria.
"It was honestly, really the alignment to what our own values are..that was a huge piece because we didn't want to have to reteach certain things. And it's easier to get buy-in when it's also using some of the language we use right now around candor and…our team of teams, and so using groups like that, we didn't want to make our leaders go through a substantial course and have to learn all new stuff where it's like we have been doing this for the past three years, now we have to do X, Y, Z. There’s a lot of it that fit really nicely and would just enhance what we were doing. So I think that was a huge factor for [our decision]", shared Amanda.
In addition to the alignment with 360’s culture code, the focus that Fahd provided to listening and learning more about their specific needs was valuable in showing the commitment level to ensuring Unicorn Labs was the right fit.
Based on Lindy’s involvement in the decision making process, her reaction to initial conversations with Fahd were positive.
"I think it would be in one of our first online meetings and actually getting to connect with [Fahd] directly and listening to him speak and the questions that he would ask about us..made me feel like he was trying to get to know us and where we're coming from and what we're trying to do versus just sell us kind of an..in the box solution to leadership, which I think you can find in most places. I think it was kind of him asking the right types of questions and, and trying to get to know us as an organization and our motivations for what we wanted to get out of the program, I think went a long way and, and feeling like we can entrust him with what was 16 of our leaders."
From Amanda’s perspective, Fahd’s energy, and the entire Unicorn Labs team communication, was very influential in 360’s decision.
"They were great with communication. They answered all the questions. They had different steps and check-ins and honestly, Fahd was a huge part of why we signed on. He had his confidence, his expertise, and he was very confident on what he could deliver…and just seeing how personable he was in these meetings, it was nice to see the one delivering it, how he's kind of coming forward and investing his own time. At the beginning, it wasn't just you talking to a business development [representative], trying to sell it..he was able to really get into the nitty gritty of it. And he dedicated time, not just to myself, but also my executives. And we had multiple meetings. So I think that really stood out."
The leadership team at 360 EEC was seeking to generate measurable impact in several key areas of leadership for their group of participants.
Some of the goals included measuring improvements in effective delegation, setting more clear targets, aligning team efforts with company goals, team collaboration and personal development.
The onboarding process with Unicorn Labs included a Team Dynamics Assessment that focused on pre, during, and post, measurement around the six levels of high-performing teams:
The scores from each participant were measured, analyzed and shared with the 360 EEC participants at the midway point, and at the conclusion of the program, to identify how the team has progressed in each of these areas.
Prior to the program launch, teams are also provided a full schedule of how the training will unfold in order to manage calendars and any other foreseen obligations.
Unicorn Lab's leadership program was designed from the ground up to create an in-depth, asynchronous learning experience. In addition to over 30 hours of content, there are templates and frameworks that students can use immediately and a dozen group coaching calls to help keep people on the right path and share learnings.
Providing a smooth onboarding experience was key to having all participants prepared to start their first session with momentum.
Manager of marketing and business development, Dave Lamberton, was able to leverage the ramp up time and clear directions to best prepare for his leadership training experience:
“[the onboarding process] kind of got you familiarized with how it was going to kind of cadence out, you know, we had a call every two weeks…so kind of like lining up that schedule, making sure it was in our calendars, reading all the pre-material, understanding how kind of the portals worked and, and the structure of the program."
Dave also recalled the value of the peer group sessions. Identifying the value of having conversations with other co-workers that integrated the content being learned during the training sessions.
“...one of my favorite parts of the program was when we had our learning pod... we would meet outside of the call with Fahd every week, just to go over the weekly questions and talk about the questions and how it relates to our work…and it was people that I work with on a day-to-day basis.”
The one-on-one calls with Fahd were also identified as key experiences that allowed the 360 EEC team to gain additional guidance for acute team challenges or specific one-off leadership challenges.
All of the participants we spoke with shared similar examples and anecdotes on the impact that the Unicorn Labs leadership training has had across various levels of the organization.
Dave’s team was thinking differently about how to approach their clients and their respective challenges.
“One of the ones we did was, because we're on the BD side, we're always looking at how we differentiate our business, differentiate our service lines... It was really good to kind of take an afternoon session and really dive into that. And I saw some really positive outcomes come from that on how we're selling our business and approaching clients."
As the 360 EEC team began to implement learnings and solutions, the increased awareness of behavior styles became noticeable among various teams.
“I think even some of the leaders having a better understanding of their peers because of the different personalities that we put together and the personality testing and surveys. So for them..getting a better understanding of ‘Oh, here are my strengths and weaknesses compared to this other leader in my department’...and creating, trying to create more channels of communication…and approaches to the communication. I think we're some of the positive feedback”, shared Lindy based on her observations.
Some of the existing processes within 360 EEC saw an impact with the content and templates provided during the training. Amanda commented on how the hiring process for their growing teams has adopted some of the tools that were shared.
"I would see just the confidence in our managers, like seeing that we have pulled some tools from there and they are continually using it. Like providing the role clarity and doing that job crafting exercise…So seeing the tools you used is a big factor that this was successful…there are some pieces that people have taken and continue to use.”
"We've also implemented some of [the tools] internally. Like for example, in the hiring module, there was [the] hiring matrix. And so having people utilize it, I think that's a big thing of success."
The Unicorn Labs leadership training program provides a lot of valuable information to digest over a period of time. And allowing participants an easy way to access that content, for when it is needed in future situations, is a critical part of the program’s structure. This enabled the 360 EEC team to prepare for future reference of the material shared, in an easy-to-access way.
"I'm really glad that we have all the worksheets and I have them all saved…so I'll constantly be going back and making sure that I'm revisiting all those, all those lessons we learned and implementing them with my team", shared Dave when reflecting on the impact to his day-to-day process of managing his team.
Over the course of the leadership training program, the 360 EEC team made strides in maintaining strong overall engagement and participation with the weekly requirements.
Part of the Unicorn Labs program provides performance reporting based on responses from team members on actual progress being made at the midway point, and at the conclusion of the engagement. These performance reports are focused on the aforementioned six levels of high performing teams, and dive deep into any root cause areas for improvement, or areas of strength that can be amplified.
The team at 360 EEC saw measurable improvements in every one of the six key areas of leadership. This level of performance improvement was a testament to the guidance of Fahd, the module exercises, the utilization of the program resources and the committed participation from the team at 360 EEC.
The Unicorn Labs experience is focused on providing value to the specific needs of its clients. And requires a level of attention that goes well beyond the initial conversation, but must be present at every stage of the engagement..even when the final session has ended. Lindy shared her perspective on the 360 EEC experience of the Unicorn Labs program:
"I would say the team was really easy to deal with. They followed up when they said they would, which is kind of an important piece when you're dealing with any type of consultant, whether it's on leadership or any other parts of your business..is very well organized…and being able to aggregate some of the information in a digestible way for the president, CEO at the end of the program with some key themes, was something that we thought was really valuable."
For 360 EEC, the Unicorn Labs' leadership training proved transformative for both participant’s personal growth and the development of teams. Participants appreciated the practical applications of the training, the flexible learning format, and the engaging group interactions that were part of the program.
The structured approach, personalized engagement, and thorough follow-up ensured the training was not only implemented, but also integrated into the company’s culture.
The collaboration between 360 EEC and Unicorn Labs has shown that customized leadership training can effectively drive an organization toward improved team unity, operational excellence and more confident leaders.
The impact to the team collaboration has shown a level of impact that led 360 EEC to continue with dedicated one-on-one coaching for one of their key leaders.
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"The proposal materials were very polished... It gave a really good balance of what to expect throughout the program."
Lindy Couillard, VP of Corporate Services
360 Engineering and Environmental Consulting (360 EEC) specializes in engineering and environmental consulting, focusing on downhole well abandonment and plugging old oil and gas wells, environmental risk assessments, site assessments, reclamation, and remediation programs. They aim to close aging sites and reduce emissions with a clientele primarily in oil and gas in Western Canada, expanding into the U.S. and other sectors.
360 EEC is a resilient company that prides itself on its core business and culture. The company has worked very hard at establishing its strong culture and commitment to hiring and developing its team members.
360 EEC is a place where people are empowered to reach their full potential in an environment where internal champions lead the way, and leadership supports progressive change and evolution.
It is this level of commitment to its culture and employees that support 360 EEC’s decision to evaluate leadership training options for its growing level of people managers. VP of Corporate Services, Lindy Coulliard summarized the company’s situation of organic and obtained growth…
"We started going on a pretty massive growth trajectory where we grew organically to 35 and then a year after we are 70, and then we acquired some companies…we are now at 140 in a very short period of time. And through that growth and those acquisitions, both, I guess, organically and acquiring, we have offices in Calgary. I guess three offices across Alberta into Saskatchewan, and Northeast, so expanded our operations and our employees quite rapidly over the last three years."
With the surge in growth across the company, there were inconsistencies noticed among the existing managers, and the first-time managers.
"I think there were…inconsistencies with our leadership team. So how they manage people, what was addressed...the employee experience was different, whether you were under manager A versus B”...we are a relatively new leadership team, so some of our leaders were never leaders previously, and we had a lot of varying levels. So we just wanted to make sure that everyone had the same foundation", noted People Operations Manager, Amanda Faith.
It was clear to management that there was an opportunity to standardize various components of how new managers were developed, and existing managers were leading their teams. Lindy shared some more insights on some of the challenges that led to exploring an investment in supporting their people managers.
"I think we saw an inconsistency in leadership and we hadn't fully defined what our base standard or expectations were for our leaders. And we also had a lot of new leaders coming in who were maybe new to that role. And so I think we were recognizing that employees had a very different experience that was fully dependent on who their direct manager was. And so we wanted to come in and implement a program that aligned with our values and helped offer training and support to a lot of those middle managers and directors.”
Amanda and Lindy began to outline specific criteria for a leadership training solution.
Some of the requirements included facilitation, and specific alignment with their company values.
“We sat down and tried to understand really what our president and CEO were looking for…and then we researched about, it's probably five or 10 different solutions of what that looks like…and then kind of ultimately started to benchmark our criteria in partly around cost and different sort of funding that we knew we wanted to be able to access…we didn't want it all online or self learning we wanted to make sure there was facilitation. And we wanted to make sure we could bring in a big group. So we didn't want to just target five or six senior leaders. We wanted to really expand that to a larger group, and so that really helped focus on companies that we're looking at”, shared Lindy on the search process for a leadership training solution.
Unicorn Labs became a consideration for 360 EEC through a referral that Amanda knew. From that point, Amanda began to do some more research about Unicorn Labs, and had conversations with another HR leader, and participant, who had completed a Unicorn Labs training.
Some more research around the Unicorn Labs website and free content began to uncover more direct alignment with the 360 EEC selection criteria.
"It was honestly, really the alignment to what our own values are..that was a huge piece because we didn't want to have to reteach certain things. And it's easier to get buy-in when it's also using some of the language we use right now around candor and…our team of teams, and so using groups like that, we didn't want to make our leaders go through a substantial course and have to learn all new stuff where it's like we have been doing this for the past three years, now we have to do X, Y, Z. There’s a lot of it that fit really nicely and would just enhance what we were doing. So I think that was a huge factor for [our decision]", shared Amanda.
In addition to the alignment with 360’s culture code, the focus that Fahd provided to listening and learning more about their specific needs was valuable in showing the commitment level to ensuring Unicorn Labs was the right fit.
Based on Lindy’s involvement in the decision making process, her reaction to initial conversations with Fahd were positive.
"I think it would be in one of our first online meetings and actually getting to connect with [Fahd] directly and listening to him speak and the questions that he would ask about us..made me feel like he was trying to get to know us and where we're coming from and what we're trying to do versus just sell us kind of an..in the box solution to leadership, which I think you can find in most places. I think it was kind of him asking the right types of questions and, and trying to get to know us as an organization and our motivations for what we wanted to get out of the program, I think went a long way and, and feeling like we can entrust him with what was 16 of our leaders."
From Amanda’s perspective, Fahd’s energy, and the entire Unicorn Labs team communication, was very influential in 360’s decision.
"They were great with communication. They answered all the questions. They had different steps and check-ins and honestly, Fahd was a huge part of why we signed on. He had his confidence, his expertise, and he was very confident on what he could deliver…and just seeing how personable he was in these meetings, it was nice to see the one delivering it, how he's kind of coming forward and investing his own time. At the beginning, it wasn't just you talking to a business development [representative], trying to sell it..he was able to really get into the nitty gritty of it. And he dedicated time, not just to myself, but also my executives. And we had multiple meetings. So I think that really stood out."
The leadership team at 360 EEC was seeking to generate measurable impact in several key areas of leadership for their group of participants.
Some of the goals included measuring improvements in effective delegation, setting more clear targets, aligning team efforts with company goals, team collaboration and personal development.
The onboarding process with Unicorn Labs included a Team Dynamics Assessment that focused on pre, during, and post, measurement around the six levels of high-performing teams:
The scores from each participant were measured, analyzed and shared with the 360 EEC participants at the midway point, and at the conclusion of the program, to identify how the team has progressed in each of these areas.
Prior to the program launch, teams are also provided a full schedule of how the training will unfold in order to manage calendars and any other foreseen obligations.
Unicorn Lab's leadership program was designed from the ground up to create an in-depth, asynchronous learning experience. In addition to over 30 hours of content, there are templates and frameworks that students can use immediately and a dozen group coaching calls to help keep people on the right path and share learnings.
Providing a smooth onboarding experience was key to having all participants prepared to start their first session with momentum.
Manager of marketing and business development, Dave Lamberton, was able to leverage the ramp up time and clear directions to best prepare for his leadership training experience:
“[the onboarding process] kind of got you familiarized with how it was going to kind of cadence out, you know, we had a call every two weeks…so kind of like lining up that schedule, making sure it was in our calendars, reading all the pre-material, understanding how kind of the portals worked and, and the structure of the program."
Dave also recalled the value of the peer group sessions. Identifying the value of having conversations with other co-workers that integrated the content being learned during the training sessions.
“...one of my favorite parts of the program was when we had our learning pod... we would meet outside of the call with Fahd every week, just to go over the weekly questions and talk about the questions and how it relates to our work…and it was people that I work with on a day-to-day basis.”
The one-on-one calls with Fahd were also identified as key experiences that allowed the 360 EEC team to gain additional guidance for acute team challenges or specific one-off leadership challenges.
All of the participants we spoke with shared similar examples and anecdotes on the impact that the Unicorn Labs leadership training has had across various levels of the organization.
Dave’s team was thinking differently about how to approach their clients and their respective challenges.
“One of the ones we did was, because we're on the BD side, we're always looking at how we differentiate our business, differentiate our service lines... It was really good to kind of take an afternoon session and really dive into that. And I saw some really positive outcomes come from that on how we're selling our business and approaching clients."
As the 360 EEC team began to implement learnings and solutions, the increased awareness of behavior styles became noticeable among various teams.
“I think even some of the leaders having a better understanding of their peers because of the different personalities that we put together and the personality testing and surveys. So for them..getting a better understanding of ‘Oh, here are my strengths and weaknesses compared to this other leader in my department’...and creating, trying to create more channels of communication…and approaches to the communication. I think we're some of the positive feedback”, shared Lindy based on her observations.
Some of the existing processes within 360 EEC saw an impact with the content and templates provided during the training. Amanda commented on how the hiring process for their growing teams has adopted some of the tools that were shared.
"I would see just the confidence in our managers, like seeing that we have pulled some tools from there and they are continually using it. Like providing the role clarity and doing that job crafting exercise…So seeing the tools you used is a big factor that this was successful…there are some pieces that people have taken and continue to use.”
"We've also implemented some of [the tools] internally. Like for example, in the hiring module, there was [the] hiring matrix. And so having people utilize it, I think that's a big thing of success."
The Unicorn Labs leadership training program provides a lot of valuable information to digest over a period of time. And allowing participants an easy way to access that content, for when it is needed in future situations, is a critical part of the program’s structure. This enabled the 360 EEC team to prepare for future reference of the material shared, in an easy-to-access way.
"I'm really glad that we have all the worksheets and I have them all saved…so I'll constantly be going back and making sure that I'm revisiting all those, all those lessons we learned and implementing them with my team", shared Dave when reflecting on the impact to his day-to-day process of managing his team.
