Impact Stories

Real-World StratigoNow™ Impact Story

Mentoring Leadership and Strengthening Institutional Direction at a National ICT Training Academy in Sri Lanka

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REAL-WORLD StratigoNow™ IMPACT STORY

Founder & Leadership Mentoring

Company / Organization

A government-funded ICT Training Academy

Location

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Industry / Sector

IT education and digital skills development, offering certification programs, employability training, and ICT skilling through a network of modern training centers across the country.

Despite a high-profile national launch, modern facilities, and significant government backing, the Academy began collapsing almost immediately. Within three months, student registrations had dried up, dropout rates were spiraling, faculty morale had evaporated, and several of the newly built training centers were running nearly empty. The organization lacked cohesion, direction, and energy. Marketing had no clarity, academic operations were inconsistent across locations, and internal communication resembled a crisis hotline. Instead of functioning as Sri Lanka’s flagship digital-skilling initiative, the Academy was already being whispered about as another ambitious project headed for failure.

The leadership initially believed the problem was operational - a matter of “more advertising,” “stricter monitoring,” and “faster faculty recruitment.” They assumed the brand reputation would pull candidates naturally and that the centers would fill themselves once awareness increased. They underestimated the core issue: the Academy had no unifying vision, no academic spine, no leadership alignment, and no internal rhythm holding the entire system together. They were attempting to manage a national institution without first understanding what it stood for or how it needed to function.

90 days

The intervention began at the very top, not at the centers. Through structured visioning sessions with the board and senior leadership, we reframed the Academy’s identity from being merely a government-backed training provider into becoming Sri Lanka’s most trusted path to digital employability. This single shift gave the organization an immediate sense of purpose and direction.

We rebuilt the academic architecture to bring consistency and credibility across all centers. Programs were reorganized into clear levels with defined learning outcomes, skill expectations, and progression pathways. This gave students a sense of structure and helped faculty understand what excellence looked like. The student journey was redesigned to eliminate dropout behavior. We introduced orientation rituals, weekly academic checkpoints, and trainer-led mentoring touchpoints. Students who once felt lost or unsupported suddenly felt part of a cohesive learning environment.

At the leadership level, we conducted intensive mentoring with center heads and senior managers. Months of confusion, insecurity, and silo-thinking were replaced with clarity, communication discipline, and an understanding of how to make decisions that aligned with the new institutional direction. Leadership finally began functioning as a single engine instead of scattered units.

Faculty recruitment and development were overhauled to attract better trainers. We reframed the trainer-value proposition and set up quality filters that lifted the Academy’s academic reputation rapidly. Marketing was restructured to speak about outcomes, employability, and skill advancement - themes that resonated strongly with the Sri Lankan youth.

Over time, internal chaos settled into a predictable operational rhythm. Weekly reviews, performance dashboards, escalation protocols, and structured planning cycles brought stability and confidence back into the system.

In less than three months, the organization experienced a dramatic turnaround. Registrations rose sharply and stabilized at nearly three times the previous levels. Dropout rates fell to near zero as students began feeling anchored and supported. Trainer applications increased significantly, allowing the Academy to hire capable faculty rather than settling for whoever was available. Center operations regained their energy, the leadership team rediscovered its conviction, and the board regained confidence in the institution’s long-term viability. What had been heading toward failure was now on track to becoming a credible, trusted national ICT training ecosystem.

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