Sock Consulting Group
Continuous-Improvement Engines for Organisational Development

Today, as leaders take action to re-energise their workforce and organisations, there is a significant opportunity to build on pandemic-related accomplishments and re-imagine core identity, workflow, and future growth. The onset of the COVID-19 crisis has also illustrated that adapting swiftly to disruption is not built into the DNA of most companies, as leaders often struggle to execute strategies successfully in changing environments. The burden of day-to-day operations prevents leaders from creating and implementing organisation-wide change strategies. Furthermore, in the hierarchical nature of corporate environments, finding an internal confidant can be challenging and perilous once leaders reach a certain level.

“There is a lack of mindset rather than tools for developing organisation-wide transformation,” says Alexandra Sock, Founder and Group CEO of Sock Consulting Group. Sock Consulting Group fills this void as an objective and confidential thought partner to high-level executives in today’s rapidly changing business environment. The firm’s highly skilled and experienced professionals help executives find balance, respond to shifting priorities, and inspire a high level of productivity, all while maintaining employee morale and growing revenues.

“We provide both organisational design and people development through our in-depth understanding of organisational psychology. As a result, our clients benefit from a seamless transition towards their transformation goals,” further adds Alexandra Sock.

Most companies underestimate or neglect the fact that a change in culture and mindset is fundamental to transitioning to a next-generation operating model. Neglecting to re-wire supporting structures of the human factor during a transformation shift leaves organisations with ineffective models that fail to capture tangible gains from their investments. A new operating model will wither and die without an aligned, supportive environment. Sock Consulting Group offers highly experienced experts in all fields of organisational development, transformation, change management, culture and CI, leadership, and self-development, all on a global level. The company has built its reputation as a thought leader in the organisational development space by helping establish best practices of transparent and structured communication, involving the right people in the transformation process.

Sock Consulting Group’s unique and proven approach is the DEER principle - which stands for Dedicated, Expert, Energetic, Rebel. Using the DEER principle, the company supports its clients by helping them analyse their personality, environment, and stakeholders to tailor a customised roadmap that is most suitable for them to achieve their desired milestones. Furthermore, experts at Sock Consulting Group are accredited with various systematic coaching and facilitation certifications such as Human Synergetics, Process Communication Model, DiSC, MbTI Assessments, Rochemartin Emotional Intelligence Training, and Bronze level in KirkPatrick Evaluation. Furthermore, the experts are accredited Scrum masters and agile coaches. The company applies its extensive knowledge and proficiency to simplify the process of revising or renewing existing corporate design through various solution-oriented methods to enable clients to stay on track with their future business goals and increase their day-to-day impact.

For instance, the Process Communication Model (PCM) is a psychometric tool that identifies and offers an in-depth understanding of an individual’s personality structure. PCM identifies six distinct personality types found within each person; thinker, persister, rebel, promoter, harmoniser, and imaginer. Sock Consulting Group leverages PCM’s behavioural analysis and typology of personality, along with adaptive communication techniques, to outline the profound differences in how each individual filters and experiences the world. PCM fosters a deeper appreciation for personality differences and helps determines the right training for each employee based on personal and business preferences.

“Changing a 100-year-old organisation’s mindset, biases, and stereotypes requires a variety of disruptive methods, and the more disruptive, the better,” states Alexandra Sock, A passionate, high-spirited professional whose influence on the company cannot be overstated, Alexandra Sock, founder of Sock Leadership Group is a luminary in the industry with over 25 years of experience in global leadership style and communication coaching. She endows her extensive know-how, thought leadership, and vast experience in the implementation of orientation to empower clients to navigate through challenging organisational transformations, especially in an international context.

To further illustrate the efficacy of Sock Consulting Group’s solution-oriented approach, the company was tasked with assisting an international factory in restructuring its organisational design. The scope of organisational transformation encompassed cost reductions and increased profitability through improved efficiency to allow the enterprise to grow at all levels and become more competitive. One of the most difficult challenges any business can face as it grapples with a continuously evolving economic landscape, is whether its current personnel can help it make the required transformation to achieve success. While companies tend to prioritise short-term financial results over the long-term well-being of their workforce, employees are the lifeblood that enables them to keep delivering the products and services that ultimately generate shareholder benefits. The client counter intuitively made the ‘tough decision’ to lay off 30 per cent of its workforce as part of the transformation process. However, experts at Sock Consulting Group analysed and concluded that although short-term productivity may rise over the long term, it would negatively impact employee engagement, reduce service quality, and lack sustainability. Management and staff were encouraged to work together on solutions for restoring competitiveness and reducing overcapacity as an alternative to massive lay-offs. The client was able to eliminate 20 per cent of overhead costs associated with redundant processes and minimised lay-offs to only 10 per cent of their workforce.

Over the years, there has been pressure to build a continuous-improvement engine for enterprise-wide transformation to extract more value on an ongoing basis. Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, senior executives were constantly apprehensive about their organisations being too slow, siloed, and bogged down in traditional structures. At the other end of the spectrum, some organisations become so galvanised by their vision that they try to implement multiple improvement levers in every business unit at once, making it difficult for them to internalise the change. This excessive speed can also create unnecessary complexity across the organisation, hindering their objectives of supporting and coordinating initiatives effectively.

To help business leaders and organisations reach their full potential, Sock Consulting Group is redefining and simplifying required processes—a unique approach to orchestrating the work between humans and machines. “Our success is credited to developing and maintaining long-lasting strategic partnerships with our clients,” says Alexandra Sock. Today, the company combines cutting-edge technologies and operations capabilities in an integrated, well-sequenced way, achieving dramatic improvements in revenue, customer experience, and cost. Forging ahead, Sock Consulting Group aims to continually focus its resources on maintaining, expanding, and implementing next-generation operating models in leadership development and organisational design. The strength of Sock Consulting Group is to create and maintain an open and honest cross-functional debate and discussion on how to enable the whole organisation and its people to get to the next level or change to become more future fit. The first step is creating a tangible vision that puts the right people in the right place in the project mapping. Internal and external sources work together hand in hand to achieve the utmost impact for the client while fostering the understanding of the base of each company’s culture and its people.

From the first interaction, the company makes it clear that its processes behind unlocking potential leadership abilities start with a top-level understanding of a client’s operations, needs and industry. In each step, the Sock Consulting Group emphasises the importance of stepping back and understanding the “what,” “how,” and “when” behind each decision and provide a comprehensive solution to its clients. To conclude, Alexandra Sock quotes Simon Sinek, the acclaimed American Author and Inspirational Speaker who famously said, “The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen”.