Before speeding up a transformation, know what energy will carry it
A private care group with more than 5,000 employees must restore its profitability without sacrificing quality of care, under the eye of its investors. The plan exists. Management’s question lies elsewhere: do our leaders have the energy to carry it?
At a glance
Health and care · More than 130 senior managers · Map & Match profiles and individual debriefs
The challenge: Restoring the profitability of a 5,000-employee care group without sacrificing care. The real question: do its leaders have the energy to carry the plan?
Our approach: More than 130 managers mapped with Map & Match, more than 120 individual debriefs, and a team-by-team reading cross-referenced with performance indicators.
Result: 97% of profiles completed, accuracy rated 8.3/10. Management knows which energies it can count on, which are missing, and leaves with three work streams.
The transformation plan was written. The question was who would carry it.
The sector is under pressure: heavy regulation, staff shortages, a fast-ageing population, a fragile public image. The group, heavily indebted and not profitable enough, launched a transformation plan tracked through precise indicators: operating result, payroll weight, occupancy rate, resident and employee satisfaction.
Management wanted to understand, person by person, where each manager stands on three demands of the plan: leading, delivering, changing.
What we observed:
- An almost entirely renewed executive committee, close-knit, but often firefighting.
- Committed site directors, and tired teams, understaffed, loaded with administrative tasks.
- Transformation deadlines that the field considered too short.
- Difficulty attracting and retaining talent.
- A matrix organisation that encourages collaboration but dilutes accountability.
“I have the energy, but I need to be careful not to get swamped.”
— Site director
“Mapping leadership energy”: four stages, from the individual to the collective
Rather than one more assessment, Lead proposed a reading of appetites: what each leader enjoys doing, what gives them energy and what drains it. Then a comparison with what the plan requires.
Stage 1: define what the plan expects
With management, three dimensions were translated into expected talents: leadership (steering, deciding, supporting, daring to confront), delivery (organising, coordinating, executing) and change (exploring, creating, looking ahead).
Stage 2: a profile and a debrief for everyone
Each manager completed their Map & Match profile online. A summary sheet was prepared for each of them, then discussed in a one-hour individual debrief by video call with a certified coach-consultant, in French or in Dutch. The rule was strict: talk about appetites, never about competences.
Stage 3: read the collectives
Profiles were consolidated by team: executive committee, operations committee, regional management, site directors by region. Site directors’ profiles were also cross-referenced with their site’s performance indicators, to identify the energies that matter.
Stage 4: feed back and decide
The executive committee took part in a feedback workshop: each member’s expectations, what works and what gets stuck, the committee’s role, the strengths and “gaps in the racket” of the collective. The workshop closed on three work streams and a proposal for next steps.
Map & Match: energies rather than competences
Map & Match reveals Energy Skills: deep talents (T5) that give energy, built talents (C5) where people feel at ease, and irritants (I5) that consume energy. It is neither a personality test nor a performance assessment.
Consolidated across a team or an organisation, the profiles make the collective’s natural way of working visible: its strengths, its blind spots, its complementarities.
Insights useful at every level of decision
- A summary sheet for each manager, read against leadership, delivery and change.
- More than 120 one-hour individual debriefs.
- Analysis books per collective: executive committee, operations, regional management, site directors, with the debrief summary.
- A portrait of the site directors’ culture and a target energy profile for a high-performing site.
- A cross-analysis of profiles against performance indicators.
- An executive committee feedback workshop, with three work streams and next steps.
Management that knows which energies it can count on, and which are missing
The approach was well received: 97% of profiles were completed, and leaders rated the accuracy of their profile 8.3 out of 10. The debriefs also measured average engagement of 4.5 out of 5 and energy of 4.2 out of 5, with signs of fatigue linked to workload and the pace of change.
What management gained:
- A common language to talk about what each person enjoys doing, and what wears them out.
- A shared view of the site directors’ culture: strongly focused on people and execution, less spontaneously on change, operational efficiency and anticipation.
- A leadership team aware of its complementarities, and of its gaps: convincing, challenging, running projects, seeking efficiency.
- An acknowledged limit: you cannot pursue excellence everywhere. Operational efficiency and excellence of care must be managed together, not set against each other.
- Three work streams: clarify the organisation and responsibilities, build a culture of constructive confrontation and trust, strengthen execution on the ground.
This debrief helped me better understand my irritants and see how I can compensate for them by relying on my team.
Site director, care groupA partner that links people’s energy to the demands of the plan
- Certified Map & Match coach-consultants, able to debrief in French and in Dutch.
- A reading that starts from strategy: expected talents are defined with management before any analysis.
- A move from the individual to the collective, then from the collective to the decision.
- An honest view of the limits: a profile informs a conversation, it does not decide a career.
Your transformation plan is ready. Do you know who has the energy to carry it?
If your leaders must sustain a demanding transformation without burning out, Map & Match can make visible their energies, those of the collective and those that are missing. Let’s talk.
