WHAT WE DO

With you as our partner, we help you

 

GROW

powerful leaders to inspire new ideas and enhance long-term success

Executive Coaching to accelerate success

Leadership Development for broad organizational impact

GUIDE

the organization through challenging business environments

Strategy to provide a map to business success

Boards of Directors for oversight and direction

Board Governance

Board Composition

Board Effectiveness

Succession (Board and CEO)

DRIVE SUCCESS

to achieve the organization’s goals

Change Management

Succession Planning

Organization Culture

Employee Engagement

LEAVE YOUR MARK

with a lasting impression in the community

Family-owned Companies

Succession Planning

Company Legacy

OUR INSPIRATION

OUR NAME

Upon starting this business, we asked local Hawaii kupuna (elders) for guidance in selecting a meaningful company name.

Our vision emphasized a focus on clients’ business results along with a close working relationship with our clients.

From this, Ho’ohana Partners was born.

HO’OHANA

The Hawaiian concept of working with focus and purpose.
We focus on solutions that will help our clients achieve even greater success.

PARTNERS

Our relationship with our clients is a partnership.
Closely working together, we succeed when our clients succeed.

OUR LOGO

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles (Honu in Hawaiian) are powerful, graceful, quick and perfectly adapted to their environment in the water. On shore, however, they are awkward and inefficient.

Besides beings symbols of wisdom and longevity, honu also serve as a metaphor for employee development and organization success. Sometimes, the client may focus on making a business strength even stronger. At other times, it may be appropriate to address development opportunities.

Most business challenges have several possible solutions. We help clients find the most impactful solution, especially since it may not be the most obvious solution.

Pat Powaser

“In my corporate career, two things energized me, even in the face of down economies, difficult times, and stressful changes. First, I had the responsibility to consistently have a positive impact on the bottom line for multi-billion dollar corporations. Second, I had the daily opportunity to have a positive influence on the lives of each and every employee.

 

Those two things continue to drive me in my consulting business.”

Patrick R. Powaser, PhD

Founder & President

During nearly 25 years of Fortune 500 corporate experience, Pat helped organizations such as Bank of America, Frito-Lay, The Limited, and Occidental Petroleum to achieve greater success.

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To continue that tradition, Pat founded Ho‛ohana Partners LLC as a resource to large corporations, small companies, non-profit organizations, and community groups. Ho‛ohana Partners’ focus is helping organizations to achieve more meaningful business results and guiding employees to accelerate their careers.

Pat has been a trusted coach and advisor to Senior Executives. He has driven accelerated development of high-potential employees who have risen to CEO, COO, and Business Unit President roles, earning him top recognition awards in multiple corporations.

His partnership has helped organizations focus their cultures and processes on the business results they desired. Pat has led large-scale change initiatives to re-energize companies and he has facilitated alignment of departments, divisions, and companies, allowing them to work together effectively.

Pat’s work has taken him across North America and to South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle-East. This global experience has allowed Pat to embrace different country and company cultures, traditions, and strategies while making a positive impact.

Outside of his corporate roles, Pat’s advisory services have helped local governments, educational institutions, and community groups to work more efficiently and with greater impact. He has mentored members of the US Military to ease their transition to civilian jobs. Pat has also taught undergraduate and graduate students at Iowa State University, San Francisco State University, University of Phoenix, and University of Houston-Downtown.

Pat holds a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Iowa State University and is a Licensed Psychologist in Texas (#30576).

Click here for Pat’s LinkedIn profile.

FEEDBACK

"He challenged the students to practice their learnings"

Whitney Botsford Morgan, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Houston-Downtown

“Pat and I co-taught MBA leadership courses. While his expertise and insights added value to the classroom, it was Pat’s ability to connect with students that made him so well respected. He challenged the students to practice their learnings, and provided developmental feedback to assist them on their leadership journeys.”

"Pat has exceptionally strong critical thinking skills"

Veronica Harvey, PhD, President & Principal, Schmidt Harvey Consulting and Former Partner, Aon Hewitt

“Pat has exceptionally strong critical thinking skills, which allow him to develop solutions that have meaningful and lasting impact. He has the unique ability to balance a visionary perspective with the execution skills needed to get things done.”

"Pat is a true visionary..."

BILL ALBRECHT, Chairman, California Resources Corporation

“Pat is a true visionary, anticipating challenges and opportunities to increase efficiencies in our organization. Not only did he chart an effective path forward, he insured that communication up and down the organization was improved to the point that it became a pillar of strength.”

"Pat is a wonderful thought partner..."

DAVID STANGOR, Former CEO, Verano Energy Limited

“Pat is a wonderful thought partner who worked with me to translate a rough idea for organizational change into actions. Change like this can be difficult for employees, but Pat nurtured the process, allowing us to achieve meaningful business results.”.

“He always makes sure that his business solutions make sense.”

NANCY JAGMIN, PhD, VP HR (retired), PepsiCo/Frito-Lay

“Throughout his career, Pat has coupled strong technical expertise with effective client partnering to create business impact. He always makes sure that his business solutions make sense to those who are affected.”

“Without Pat's mentoring and guidance, I never would have risen to this position.”

BUSINESS UNIT PRESIDENT, Large US Oil Company

“Without Pat’s mentoring and guidance, I never would have risen to this position. A 360 discussion Pat and I had really turned my attention and was a new beginning to my career.”

EXAMPLE PROJECTS

Leadership Development

THE OPPORTUNITY: A company recognized that key employees needed more than just technical competence.

THE SOLUTION: Pat was a key designer and lead instructor for a leadership development program that emphasized practical, hands-on experiences to accelerate employee development. Participants rose through the organization into Function Head, Business Unit President, COO, and CEO roles.

Hiring the Right Employees

THE OPPORTUNITY: A world-class manufacturer anticipated losing 50% of its plant workers to retirements over a 5-7 year period. These plant jobs were highly safety-sensitive and required 18-24 months for a new employee to become proficient.

THE SOLUTION: Pat guided a team of internal job experts to work with an outside partner to build a screening process that included a computerized pre-screening of basic qualifications, resume/application review, pre-employment testing, and interviews. The company was able to identify candidates who focused on safety, took accountability for their actions, effectively worked as members of a team, and had the capacity to learn the technical skills required on the job. With a carefully selected pool of new employees, the company was able to stay ahead of the retirement curve and effectively staff their manufacturing plants.

Working Together

THE OPPORTUNITY: A company prided itself on cutting-edge design and quality products. The design and production teams, however, had become disconnected. This led to conflict, missed design and production dates, and overall inefficiency.

THE SOLUTION: Pat coached key members of the design and production teams on how their behaviors were impacting the alignment of the two functions. He also facilitated discovery sessions where team members explored how each function impacted the other. Pat helped the teams to refocus on the success of the company as a whole versus each function’s individual success. The next design-production cycle was more efficient than it had been in years and the company generated significantly increased sales.

Joint-Venture (JV) Alignment

THE OPPORTUNITY: Three companies with three distinct corporate cultures from three different countries in two regions of the world found that their JV was misaligned and inefficient.

THE SOLUTION: Pat worked with decision-makers from all three companies to explore the strengths each brought to the JV and helped them focus on the reason the JV existed. Conflict diminished, cooperation increased, and employees had a tangible purpose to rally around.

Business Unit (BU) Restructuring

THE OPPORTUNITY: For an international business unit, the business environment had gradually changed to the point where the old organizational structure was no longer adequate for successful results

THE SOLUTION: Pat worked with the new BU General Manager to change the structure of the organization to better fit the current demands of government partners and the parent company. He also built and facilitated changes in decision making, communication, teamwork and organizational culture to enable the new organization to deliver record-breaking results to the parent corporation.

Giving Back

THE OPPORTUNITY: Thousands of US Military members transition to the civilian workforce every year. The business world can be very different and foreign to military veterans and the adjustment can be difficult and overwhelming.

THE SOLUTION: Pat volunteers to mentor veterans and active duty US Military members who will soon enter the civilian workforce. He helps explore career options, edits resumes, makes introductions to industry leaders, and leads practice interviews to help prepare veterans for the next chapter of their careers. Explore www.acp-usa.org to see how you can help a veteran enter the business world.

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