Case Studies

Client: Chemical Products Manufacturer
Industry: Manufacturing

Focus Area: Performance Mapping

Audience:  Product Category Strategy Teams, Cross-Functional Stakeholders, L&D Leaders

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The Challenge:

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The organization built an important product category strategy team but never formally defined what the team did or how its roles fit together. There was no training, no shared vocabulary, and no clear picture of who owned what. As a result, both the team and the departments working alongside it often left people guessing.

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That ambiguity did more than make the roles harder to perform well. It also made it difficult for other departments, especially sales and operations, to know when and how to involve the product strategy team. Without a shared understanding of the team’s purpose, collaboration depended on personal relationships and institutional memory instead of a repeatable way of working.

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Our Approach

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CK Digital built the team’s first formal training from the ground up, starting by defining what the function does, why it matters, and how its distinct roles fit together.

We asked:

• What does this team actually do, and how is its work different from the roles and functions that sound similar?

• What makes each role different, especially in terms of ownership and day-to-day responsibilities?

• How should other departments, especially sales, work with this team in practice?

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From there, we built a four-course series covering the function and its roles in depth, plus a fifth course for the departments working alongside the team. That gave everyone a clearer understanding of what the team does, when to involve them, and how to work together.

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From No Shared Definition to Clear, Coachable Expectations

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We helped the organization move from ambiguity and ad hoc collaboration to a shared, documented understanding of what the function does, who owns what, and how other teams, especially sales, can work with it effectively:

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✅ Defining the Discipline

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Old way:  The function existed without any formal explanation of what it was, what value it delivered, or how it differed from adjacent roles.
New approach: Created an introductory course outlining the department's core purpose, business value, and impact across departments. This gave everyone a shared starting point for understanding the team’s role.

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✅  Clarity on Distinct Roles

Old way:  Multiple roles existed within the team with overlapping-sounding titles and no clear documentation of how their responsibilities actually differed.
New approach:   Built a course focused on the team’s distinct roles, defining each role’s scope and ownership with real examples. This helped people see exactly what each role was expected to own.

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✅  Turning Definitions into Practice

 

Old way: Even when people had an informal understanding of the roles, there was no structured way to apply that knowledge to real situations.
New approach: Built hands-on exercises into the course that required learners to apply the role definitions directly. This reinforced not only what each role meant, but also how to put that understanding into practice.

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✅  Cross-Departmental Collaboration

Old way: Departments working alongside this product strategy team had no formal guidance on when or how to engage with it, leaving collaboration dependent on individual relationships rather than a shared process.
New approach:  Built a dedicated course for other departments, especially sales, explaining the team’s purpose and giving them a clear, practical understanding of when to involve the team, what to bring to the conversation, and how to work together.

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The Outcome:

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• The organization now has a formal, documented definition of the team and its distinct roles, where none existed before.

• People on the team now have a clear picture of their role’s scope and how it differs from other roles. Managers also have something concrete to coach to.

• Other departments, especially sales, now have a dedicated resource that explains how to engage with the product category strategy team. Instead of relying on guesswork or informal relationships, they have a shared understanding of when to involve the team and how to work together effectively.

• The organization now has a foundation for future onboarding, coaching, and performance conversations. Previously, there was nothing formal to guide those discussions.

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Bottom Line:

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By defining the department’s function and roles in plain, concrete terms, CK Digital gave the organization something it did not have before: clear expectations that the product category strategy team and the departments around it, especially sales, could understand and act on together. The courses connected role clarity to day-to-day collaboration, helping people understand not only what the team owned, but also when and how to work with it effectively.