Case Study
Positioning for Growth: Building Visibility, Market Alignment, and Collaboration in the Natural Resources Assessment & Permitting Practice
Background
With 10,000+ employees across infrastructure, energy, and environmental sectors, the firm had the scale and expertise to lead in complex natural resource and permitting projects. Yet within the Natural Resources Assessment & Permitting Practice, critical barriers limited growth.
Despite playing a pivotal role in enabling sustainable development across mining, infrastructure, and environmental markets, the Natural Resources Assessment & Permitting Practice struggled with visibility, alignment, and culture. Internally, many staff did not associate the practice with the broader service portfolio, making talent retention and proactive positioning difficult. Externally, the Natural Resources Assessment & Permitting Practice represented only about 1% of the North American Environment market (~$9.5M FY23 baseline), well below its growth potential. At the same time, siloed and reactive ways of working limited collaboration, storytelling, and cross-market pull-through.
The Challenge
Three barriers emerged as growth obstacles:
- Low Internal Visibility. Limited awareness made it harder to position services proactively and retain talent.
- Lack of dedicated leadership to drive strategy at the North America level stalled momentum and alignment.
- Lopsided Market Position. Heavy reliance on contamination/assessment/remediation constrained diversification.
- Siloed Culture. Teams often operated in isolation, limiting cross-pollination of expertise and shared ownership.
The practice needed a strategy to strengthen its internal brand, expand its market footprint, and build a collaborative culture that drives both pride and growth.
The Strategy: Multi-Dimensional Growth Roadmap
The approach focused on three dimensions:
- Strengthening Internal Brand Awareness & Talent Alignment. Launch forums, town halls, and storytelling roadmaps to build recognition and create clear talent pathways.
- Partnered with the Strategy Lead and North American leadership to clarify direction, assign ownership, and realign efforts around a cohesive regional strategy.
- Driving Accelerated Growth Through Market Alignment. Map priority markets, design a growth roadmap, and integrate digital/advisory offerings to diversify and scale to $170M (~25% of ENV) in five years.
- Building a Culture of Proactive Collaboration. Define “stop doing/start doing” behaviors, spotlight stories in action, and create a champion network to encourage shared ownership.
Actions for Growth
- Initiated cross-regional town halls and stakeholder forums to align teams.
- Identified Level 1–3 stakeholders and tailored communications with clear KPIs (Yammer, LinkedIn, town halls).
- Designed the Accelerated Growth Practices roadmap, including Centers of Excellence and a regional playbook.
- Connected with market and service line leads to replicate successful regional models in new geographies.
- Established cross-functional meetings and a champion network, including Young Professionals, to build engagement.
- Partnered with global teams to benchmark practices and import lessons learned.
Early Results & Traction
- Stronger Internal Brand. The appointment of a dedicated program leader amplified visibility across service lines and regions, strengthening recognition and fueling talent engagement.
- Market Alignment. Clearer value propositions and early traction replicating one region’s success in other US and Canadian regions.
- Cultural Shift. Leaders and teams embracing storytelling and shared ownership, with a growing “FOMO” effect that drives engagement.
Key Takeaway
The Natural Resources Assessment & Permitting Practice strategy is positioning the practice for scale by combining internal visibility, market growth, and cultural transformation—turning silos into synergy and laying the foundation for a $170M growth in business within five years.
