Challenge:

one of A&H’s largest projects was losing money at an alarming rate

When the owners of one of Alberta’s oldest reinforcing steel companies, A&H Steel, came to Unstoppable Conversations, they were looking for an expert to coach them on their deteriorating relationship with their long-standing GM.

The oil-and gas-based economy had collapsed in Alberta, and A&H Steel (along with almost all companies in the construction sector) was in deep trouble — there was almost no ability for traditional leaders in this sector to pivot and change.

At the time, the answer to this challenge for most leaders was, “Just do more of what got us here, and work harder. This too shall pass.”

Most companies in the industrial sector were just barely hanging on, laying off employees, or going out of business. A&H was no exception.

At the time, one of A&H’s largest projects was losing money at an alarming rate, and for the first time, closing the doors was an ever-increasing possibility.

Solution:

A&H’s approach was seriously limiting their ability to address their partners’ failures to perform

In the face of their current financial situation, A&H Steel’s owners made a radical choice to ramp up their involvement with Unstoppable Conversations and they doubled down on training...

...and they made the right choice.

With the guidance of Unstoppable Conversations, A&H Steel uncovered the approach which had made A&H successful for 40 years had now become their Achilles’ heel.

The point-of-view of going the extra mile, being generous, hiring from within, and taking people at their word set A&H apart early on.

However, as they worked on larger projects that involved large, global companies, the rules of the game changed. Many of their collaborators were focused on their bottom line and maximizing the thin margins available under the limits of a P3 (public-private) partnership model.

Priorities changed and relationships were tough to establish as multiple supervisors, foreman, and project managers came in and out of large project builds.

A&H’s current business approach of “being nice and expecting the same in return” was seriously limiting their ability to address their partners’ failures to perform.

Results:

A&H turned a daunting projected loss into millions in profit

Within the course of working with Unstoppable Conversations, the company began to break away from the limiting formula of “hire from within” and started to accept and execute on radically new ideas.

• A&H broke with tradition and hired its first GM from beyond the steel industry sector.
• A board of outside experts was formed that gave A&H owners advice that they never considered.
• They hired a Controller and Senior VP of Projects who once more brought new thinking and new actions to the company.

Using Unstoppable’s unique methodology, A&H Leaders let go of their “nice guy” mentality and began deliberately creating and implementing a context for collaboration and integrity centred on “win-win.”

Their flexibility would no longer go uncompensated and they would no longer take the hit for their partners’ failure to perform.

They reinvented themselves as a company that could both maintain powerful relationships while standing for the integrity of agreements and the authenticity that comes with real communication.

Within 6 months of Unstoppable’s work with A&H on their largest project to date, A&H turned a daunting projected loss into millions in profit. 

A&H Steel’s work has now expanded beyond Alberta’s borders into two other provinces.