Who We Help
The businesses we work with are strong — they generally post solid results. However, they are not reaching the outstanding results they know they are capable of. Performance has plateaued, their workforce may be experiencing burn-out or lack fulfillment in their roles. They seek our help to reignite the spark of brilliance in their business.
After working with us,
our clients experience a new:
Daily routine —
Their step is lighter and they’re happy to come to work, because they’re given a new paradigm and a way to contribute more fully.
Short-term future —
Stakeholders have the tools to change the culture and are on the journey toward a new future they can clearly envision. Employees are more engaged and clear plans for success are in place. Everyone has a new way of looking at their organization / business and how to approach challenges. Plus, they are excited about the work ahead.
Long-term future —
A clear vision and path to success is now in place. A whole new culture exists in the organization, with a highly engaged workforce that is “on fire”. There is better communication across the whole organization — happy workers, happy company. The entire team is achieving new levels of performance and breaking through old plateaus.
I have been fortunate enough to work with the (Ad Lucem Group / Optimus Partners) team on two different occasions: first on a large-scale transformation effort during my tenure as CTO IKEA and also in a strategy building and on-boarding fast-track initiative while CPTO at StepStone. The experience at IKEA was extremely positive – helping us to quickly assess gaps and opportunities in our operations and execution. That positive experience led me to leverage the team again when I was onboarding with StepStone. I was able to enlist them early to assist me with that executive transition so that I could hit the ground running. The team performed a series of in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and teams – and was able to create a first-90 day plan as I was entering the company. They have been extremely T-shaped in their practice – able to guide and assist with strategic thinking and planning as well as being able to deep dive on technology and operations. Their ability to distill key strategic insights and convert them into actionable steps, while building significant relationships built on a high-degree of trust and competence across the organization have made them indispensable throughout this process.
Ad Lucem Group acts as an extension to your own team, bringing thought leadership, focus and strategic direction to the table. They have an incredible ability to seamlessly complement executive leadership teams whilst developing strategies that realize the full potential of organisations, functions, and people in this omni-channel world.
In 2020 they were challenged (in partnership with Optimus Partners) with helping the Technology Group at IKEA to transform into a digital powerhouse. They quickly established themselves as trusted advisors triaging immediate problems, understanding the challenges of the function through multiple virtual interviews, and establishing plans for transformation. These plans focused not only on the details of a fully functioning technology and engineering team, but also the change in behaviours needed to really launch a successful outcome-driven team.
When you are working with Ad Lucem Group you really benefit from experts who are committed to change that matters. People are at the heart of everything they do. And, it is this ethos plus energy and speed that means I will continue to work through new challenges with them!
As CEO of a global organization in the industrial manufacturing space, I turned to the consultants of Ad Lucem Group to assist me in driving innovation and strategy development within our product development and engineering team. Experts in the use of Appreciative Inquiry, Patrick, Melissa, and Amber were able to get to the heart of the positive core of our team and leverage that positive core to develop a winning strategy for innovation. They built instant trust with and among the team that allowed the team, and not the consultants, to lean into the process in a truly collaborative and productive manner. We saw immediate results following their work, that for me was a true testament of their value.
The summit we performed with Patrick, Melissa, and Amber was truly transformational. Our organization was one of hierarchy mindset where our employees didn’t feel like they had a voice. So when it came to brainstorming new ideas and implementing them, we never had employee buy-in. During our summit, we removed titles and solved a number of problems, created new solutions, a timeline for implementation and a budget over a 3 day period with 80+ people in the room. It was nothing I had ever seen before. What I hadn’t realized until the end of the summit was just how important it was for the employees to have a voice. One of the most introverted technologists stood up and gave a speech and gave thanks. It brought tears to my eyes. This summit was over 4 years ago and I still tell the story and leverage the tools we learned that day. It has made a significant impact in my leadership and my life.
Patrick, and everyone at Ad Lucem group, combine the right amount of critical strategic thinking with organizational empathy that is rare among consultants. We felt challenged as well as supported throughout our strategic planning process. We were equipped to have important, and sometimes hard, conversations that have brought us to a place where we have a better understanding of ourselves, our board, our staff and our mission. We were able to break out of our arrested development as an organization and take the next steps toward becoming a sustainable nonprofit with a vision for how to serve our community. We learned that being strategic isn’t static; the tools we received from Patrick will serve us well into the future as we continue to grow.
It’s easy to fall into routines and patterns of thinking. Patrick and Amber helped my team think differently about the challenges and opportunities in front of us. With their help, we created a strategic vision that was both inspiring and practical. Most importantly, they got the whole team excited and mobilized for the path ahead. It was transformative.
Patrick is the rare coach/mentor who will approach his work with you in a deeply knowledgeable yet caring and heart-centered manner. He knew exactly the questions to ask us that prompted a greater depth in the formulation of our initial business strategy and planning. From guiding us through creating our very first financial projections to leading with compassion and heart, Patrick is easily one of the most well-rounded mentors we’ve encountered in our startup journey to date.
Patrick has been an invaluable mentor to our organization in reviewing and advising us on our business plan, marketing, and strategy. He is professional, respectful of our time, and puts us at ease, especially in areas we didn’t fully understand. He has been very responsive and we are very happy with the outcomes of our work together.
Collaborating with Ad Lucem Group on developing a two-day leadership development workshop was such a positive and enlightening experience, My team leaned in and we left with new tools and new ideas to improve their leadership skills. It was wonderful seeing the level of engagement of our leadership contributing to the conversations and activities. This high degree of engagement and momentum has continued coming out of the workshop, with the team sharing their goals and continuing support of each other.