The pandemic, combined with geopolitical volatility and the tide of social and racial unrest, has given rise to innumerable socioeconomic challenges for employees across the globe. Employees are now turning to their leaders to help steer these challenges and smoothen their transition to the 'new normal,' underscoring the need for companies to become better equipped for unprecedented events.

Today, businesses must confront numerous multifaceted challenges.

"How can an organization embed the best culture and values, which have been sustained over the years as a traditional business model, while also tackling unforeseen challenges?" questions Andrá R. Ward, MSPOD, President and Chief Culture & Transformation Officer at The KhafreWard Corporation.

"We prepare organizations to navigate these challenges and serve their customers better," smiles Ward.

His company, KhafreWard, enables organizations to adapt to dynamic market conditions, instill values and culture into their business models, and service their customers better. The company is a boutique firm that provides organizational transformation, consulting and strategy, human capital development, and executive coaching services across various industries.

"Every Organization Has Its Own Fingerprint. Our Job Is Not To Change The Fingerprint But To Help Them Understand It And Drive Greater Success Based On Their Values"

Since its inception in 1992, KhafreWard has offered its services to several organizations worldwide– including Fortune 500 brands–and impacted numerous employees and leaders, consolidating its position as an industry expert. The company is dedicated to empowering leaders to cultivate the skills necessary to pragmatically resolve emerging challenges while remaining responsive and supportive of their workforce’s expectations and aspirations.

People-centric and Innovative Services

Organizations’ needs, culture, customer base, size, capabilities, and resources change as they grow organically. KhafreWard provides these businesses with the resources and methodologies needed to navigate their development journeys and sustain them beyond organic growth. On the other hand, when organizations expand via mergers and acquisitions, KhafreWard enables them to maintain their leadership style and competence in congruence with that of the merged entity, assuring minimum friction and a higher sense of belongingness amongst the new workforce.

“In human behavior, conflict is always present. We don’t go in with the idea of eliminating conflict,” says Ward. “We minimize and mitigate the conflict to create a healthy tension, allowing organizations to evolve into their new culture.”

Aligning organizational strategy and culture is a lynchpin to efficient organizational development. In line with this, KhafreWard’s experts’ partner with key business stakeholders to align various strategies and core values, ensuring high-performance measurable results.

“Every organization has its own fingerprint. Our job is not to change the fingerprint but to help them understand it and drive greater success based on their values,” elaborates Ward.

The specialists utilize a research-based and personalized approach that enhances the performance of the workforce and the effectiveness of implemented strategies. KhafreWard enables its clients to ensure a sustainable transformation across their organizations. Clients can utilize culture audits, inclusive excellence scorecards, engagement surveys, and strategic planning and blend insightful data to optimize their human capital.

KhafreWard enables its clients to improve the operational efficiency of their talent acquisition and retention procedures by conducting team-building exercises, implementing DE&I strategies, preventing harassment and workplace violence, and understanding employees’ values and aspirations. It also helps them devise talent succession planning and address the racial & workplace trauma that all employees may face.

KhafreWard, in the last two years, has helped several of its clients recruit and retain talent from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Its experts assist businesses in creating multi-layer stakeholder partnerships with HBCUs and other auxiliary associations. KhafreWard also empowers them to design customized affinity-based onboarding programs that consider collegiate students’ self-identity and relationships with their peers and community. Once they have entered a company, the program supports their relationships with managers and affinity to their organization. KhafreWard has also designed competitive talent sourcing and recruiting strategies for the Black, Indigenous, and People-of-Color (BIPOC) communities.

Despite implementing numerous efficient strategies, an organization is nothing without its people. Even the best employees require competent managers to guide them through everyday operations, keep them motivated, and find innovative ways to handle challenges. With its coaching services, KhafreWard enables managers and executives to become even better leaders.
Its executive coaching practices help leaders develop trust-based relationships and inspire their teams. The methodologies are designed for advisory boards, CEOs, senior executives, first-time supervisors, and emerging leaders. KhafreWard’s coaches
have worked with various leading executives and offered their clients the best practices of the industries regarding leadership development, organizational design, team building, and more. The coaching also addresses obstacles in a diverse workforce culture and offers leaders specific tools to weave DE&I strategies into the fabric of their routine operations.

Organizations often seek performance-based coaching to address these HR challenges, but KhafreWard offers something even better to resolve these issues. “We encourage our clients to view coaching as an aspirational and holistic career development strategy, which fosters the development of both the individual and the company,” explains Ward.

Business leaders often tend to think coaching is only meant for senior-level executives. KhafreWard has busted this myth and accentuated the significance of coaching for every individual, enabling them to develop and realize their vision and evolve as professionals. Businesses can leverage KhafreWard’s expertise in career development and conflict resolution to holistically enhance the competence of their workforce. KhafreWard utilizes multi-generational strategies, validated tools, and behavioral assessments to create experiential and interactive learning environments and ensure sustainable business outcomes.

KhafreWard identifies what makes its clients’ business unique and customizes the services to maximize the impact on the cultures, which, in turn, drives substantial business outcomes. KhafreWard’s team consists of consultants and facilitators who are experts in a wide range of disciplines and diverse cultures and tailor every solution according to their client’s specific needs.

Its experts connect with clients and utilize shared narratives to holistically understand their values, cultures, and business objectives. They embrace, respect, and encourage diverse experiences and perspectives and engage with clients at a level they are comfortable with. After developing a thorough understanding, the experts identify appropriate tools that enable businesses to prioritize the behavior, engagement, and intersectionality they wish to foster.

“We anchor our leadership development and talent management through the lens of organizational development and change management. We envision those elements as interdisciplinary,” recalls Ward.

Mastering Strength-based Organizational Change Management

KhafreWard’s ability to fuse leadership and human capital development with organizational culture and change sets it apart from other consulting firms in the market today. As organizations conduct a SWOT analysis to identify the deficits in their operations, they tend to focus more on their weaknesses and threats rather than augmenting their strengths and opportunities.

KhafreWard brings a paradigm shift in this trend by offering its strength-based organizational change management services.

Instead of negating the weaknesses, KhafreWard empowers its clients to recognize them and pivot their focus on their strengths. The services highlight the positive emotional attractors (PEA) and enable organizations to envisage their future and methods to reach their milestones.

The integrity, ethics, and honesty that KhafreWard brings to the table are the cornerstone of its operations, and its teams ensure fairness and transparency while delivering their services and building trust-based and sustainable relationships with clients.

Today, numerous industry behemoths consult with The KhafreWard Corporation to efficiently execute their organizational change strategies and enhance their competitive stature. Beam Suntory, a world leader in premium spirits, sought KhafreWard to create effective advertising campaigns that connect with diverse audiences, as well as understand the changing consumer dynamics within the US and worldwide. KhafreWard helped the client strategize campaigns that represented brand equity and resonated positively with various diverse communities.

KhafreWard has partnered with the Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce and the 2046 Commission to help identify an ecosystem in support of black-owned businesses. These resources will support each other to flourish, thrive, and sustain their businesses over the next 25 years and far into the future. The supportive ecosystem would allow for companies to access capital and benefit from additional capital investors and private equity firms, strengthening banking relationships and overall business development opportunities.

KhafreWard has provided strategic thinking, executive coaching and or training, and professional development services across several industries and companies that also include Mercedes-Benz USA, Leo Burnett Company, Citrin Cooperman, and Kellogg’s. These relationships are a testament to KhafreWard’s commitment to ensuring the success and sustainability of its clients’ organizational change management endeavors and fostering a people-first corporate culture.

With a relentless and passionate pursuit of excellence in organizational change management, KhafreWard Corporation aims to become a ubiquitous brand in the domain, provide coaching services, and help brands successfully ride the tides of dynamic political, cultural, and societal landscapes.