Phil Bristol: A Visionary Coach & Turnaround Specialist to MSMEs

As the business world continues to evolve, leaders must navigate increasing technological disruption, competitive offerings, and changing data in order to stay ahead of the game. It’s up to them to set goals and guide their people, creating a cohesive and productive team. Along the way, good leaders cultivate strong relationships and show appreciation for their team’s hard work, all while striving to unlock the full potential of both individuals and the organization.

For our edition “Trailblazing Entrepreneurs of the Year – 2023,” as we began looking for personas of such caliber, we had the pleasure of meeting Phil Bristol, founder and Principal of Projectivity Solutions, Inc. His leadership is best described as mentoring, affiliative, and inspiring, with the reserve to command and set the pace when necessary. He has an extensive background of 35 years in leadership, project management, and IT industry. He was formerly an Airborne Ranger, and his project management skills and leadership helped the US Consulate and UN command in Korea execute the non-combatant evacuation system. His expertise in organizational growth has helped to develop and implement the US Army Senior Civil Servants and Officer Management by objectives evaluation reporting system. 

The following story highlights how he is helping companies accelerate business growth through integrated services. 

Evolving strategically through decades

Projectivity Solutions has earned its repute by constantly evolving and expanding its horizons over the past three decades. When it began, Phil conceptualized it to provide custom home construction project plans for California Bay area independent builders. The next step was project scheduling for Silicon Valley high-tech companies. In 1994, Phil expanded the company to complex program management and later into project management offices and for Fortune 500 clients. “We also included behavioural tests and training in the services since we realized that project teammates needed to collaborate more effectively,” says Phil. 

In the next two years, they included strategic assessment into the offerings. Since 2020, their driving focus has been program integration and service simplification. The efforts helped them overcome the COVID stress, and in 2022 Projectivity Solutions began providing integrated services for small to mid-sized for-profit and non-profit organizations with less than 500 employees. Unlike many consulting firms that serve publicly traded firms with over 500 employees, the company emphasizes affordable options to lower the SMB mortality rate.

Facilitating Exceptional Growth

The business world has been through a tide of changes. To thrive, businesses need to be diligent and continually renew themselves. Enter Projectivity Solutions. It leads with the slogan, “We build people; we build relationships; we build high-performing trust-based culture.” It supports a company in recognizing and removing its latent obstacles, boosting its worth, staff satisfaction, and productivity. Its offerings use 130 years of science and research to conduct targeted “X-Rays” on a business’s operations, relationships, financial performance, and mindset. For instance, its Solution Discovery Process uses scientific assessments to determine organizational complexity. This can help a CEO determine strengths and challenges affecting the customer experience and service quality. Their other services are sorted into programs that target specific concerns:  

• Exceptional Coaching Program: Focused on Fast Results

The company offers detailed solutions uniquely tailored to a company’s growth. It treats the client as a dynamic living system with various connected parts. The configurable solutions help in identifying critical factors in a business to infuse and prioritize accordingly.

• Exceptional Strategic Planning: Moving from DOING to CRITICAL THINKING

Projectivity Solutions proposes strategic processes that helps clients make informed decisions on hard choices that enhances their success. The objective is not to eliminate risk but to increase the odds of success.

• Exceptional Enterprise Program: Moving from REACTIVE to FOCUSED

Under this program, clients undertake the Stages of Growth™ methodology that identifies and infuses missing vital elements into a company’s ecosystem to create high-functioning, highly profitable business. The program focuses on these components specific to strengthening a particular area to create an exceptional business.  

• Exceptional Manager Program: Working ON the business, not working IN the business.

The program is a unique 12-month learning experience that shapes the management team into the backbone of an exceptional company with an emphasis on critical thinking.

• Exceptional Mindset Program: Creating a Culture

The company assists a business in developing a “We” culture through this program. It assists leaders in developing an outward perspective, which lays the groundwork for genuine cooperation and common business success. The mentality significantly impacts leadership style, how people are treated, innovation, teamwork, and overall business success.

• Exceptional Leader Program: Optimizing Human Potential

Last but not least, this curriculum teaches leaders self-mastery abilities to enable them to maximize the potential of their team through relationships built on trust. The program also promotes a collaborative culture that balances commercial savvy and empathy to maximize business potential. Finally, this program’s advanced leadership elements cover conflict resolution and key person acquisition.

With such integrated yet tailored services, it’s no surprise that Projectivity Solutions have successfully earned a reputation of serving Fortune 500 companies. Phil says, “I have always believed in listening to the voice of the customer. And understand them by asking the right questions. It helps identify three viable solutions before determining a concrete action plan.” The programs create a common language and experience for the leadership team and employees by integrating culture, people’s relationships, work processes, and strategic plans. Although their clientele is globally distributed, the US, Europe, and India account for most of their clients.

The Science behind the integrated services

As previously noted, Projectivity Solutions engages clients by leveraging 130 years of thought-leader insights. These ideas cover managerial leadership, organizational development, psychology, and behavioral science to offer a lasting basis for development and service improvement. It uses a mixed-media client engagement strategy incorporating video, small- and large-group talks, practical tasks, whiteboard activities, editable graphics, and sample plans. This strategy preserves the client’s interest while significantly improving longevity and retention. 

The programs emphasize relationships and work, which on the outside, helps to keep the business on track. Internally, the programs ensure that the people, the processes, and the business plan are all in sync. Ultimately, the programs ensure that a company meets quality, client satisfaction, and profit goals. Although the programs are tailored to the demands, they can assist a startup in creating a fully operational, innovative, and ideal business from the ground up.

A fundamental mindset of problem-solving

Having such lucrative programs on board helped Projectivity Solutions significantly lower the business mortality rate. Phil explains, “20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 30% fail in their second year, and 50% fail after five years in business. Finally, 70% of small business owners fail in their 10th year.” Added to this, COVID brought an avalanche of challenges. Maintaining a cohesive service offering and closing in-person engagement was a major challenge. However, at this point, Projectivity Solutions started streamlining their services, which enabled them and many more to get by.

The advancement in telecoms also helped in pursuing opportunities in Europe and Asia. In short, the company’s integrated services have emerged as a key USP, and they provide clients with a variety of points of engagement based on their needs and maturity.

Driven by a Value-Based Culture

“Igniting Passion With-in Leaders So Others Will Flourish” 

Following this motto has made it easier for Projectivity Solutions to help businesses establish direction, boost efficiency, add new features, and foster collaborative teamwork. Phil claims that keeping their teams and leaders active is the key to their excellence. The leaders monitor how the team adheres to the brand’s core beliefs, maintain their KPIs, master processes, organizational structure, and job role sheets, and conduct quarterly performance evaluations. These basic elements allow employees to use their talents while ensuring internal balance and precise service delivery. “Our Target Training International’s DISC and Driving Forces assessments and Arbinger’s Outward Mindset reflect the essential behavioral components of our culture.” Says Phil.

A Journey to be proud of

Projectivity Solutions has come a long way, from offering personalized home projects to fostering business acceleration. And it illustrates how Phil has changed as a leader. Initially, all he did was lead and set the pace. However, as the business grew, his attention shifted to building people and procedures, which called for a hybrid facilitative, dominating, and supporting leadership approach. This move was challenging since it was a personal struggle to identify the abilities and delegate responsibility for results. But as the programs got more adaptable, his leadership approach grew more nuanced. He says gleefully, “Today, my joy comes from mentoring new team members and giving back to the communities we serve.”

Having touched so many milestones, Phil has an ambitious look toward the future. By 2024, they seek to further explore the enterprise strategic planning processes offered to clients. The coach believes this will provide insights into organizational strengths and challenges, creating a realistic action plan. They are also planning for service expansion further across Europe and India and mentoring an advisory team.

From the Coach’s Desk

“Serving others is the key to unleashing creativity and excellence.”

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