Cases of Impact: Leadership and Leading Change
- A division of a U.S. engine parts manufacturer, having defined eight key segments for future business, establishes the new level of “business manager”. For this function, organizational space has to be cleared, and conflicts with central functions have to be resolved. The Division President initiates several focus projects for each segment. The President lets the new competences of business managers emerge with breakthrough success in technology and customer targeting. ➔ New segments and customers have been developed, profit is exceeding the plan. The business leader forms a team of skilled strategists, effectively collaborating with central engineering and sales functions.
- A retail bank enters the market in Slovenia by building up a new institution from scratch. The strategic concept is based on extremely lean and fast business processes being developed step by step by newly hired, young co-workers, most of them without experience in the banking industry. The CEO arranges projects in such a way that, under his leadership, co-workers evolve processes with their own resources, with only a single consultant's support. The process model leads to the gaining of a sustainable market position in a densely occupied market. ➔ The leadership and governance model that evolve keeps the bank nimble and assures cost advantage.
- The leadership team of a leading regional bank invigorates the sales personnel of its branches by setting new demands and opening new space for innovative ways. The task is to gain new business, while improving the service quality and image, as well as ensuring internal collaboration with central functions. ➔ Sales are up and engagement of all functions for success in sales has significantly increased.
- The CIO of a national retail bank plans to fundamentally increase the impact of implementation projects by enhancing the effectiveness of project leadership. Instead of engaging in a classroom-based training program, existing customer projects are used to develop the leadership process and the collaboration with users. The lever is to focus the projects on clear and ambitious goals for performance and impact, and then have processes and team capabilities improved while following the goals. ➔ Dramatically shorter delivery time and improved customer satisfaction and feedback are realized.
- Two retail banks jointly develop new business areas and together improve processes of sales and back-office. The CEOs of the partners build the foundation of a joint management dialogue vertically and horizontally. Overlapping teams of department and group heads, co-workers and work councils of both institutions build the planning and communication infrastructure. Projects to leverage synergies get the backing of both organizations. An integration manager oversees, supports and coordinates activities. ➔ The organizations merge gradually, while new business value is being created for both. Selected business processes, and practices are adopted as shared standards, enlarging the common ground.
- Executives of newly formed units of an IT service provider congregate on a regular basis to exchange their perspectives on goals and development approaches. In this process, the executives increase performance targets for their units and update structures and processes accordingly. ➔ Sales and profits increase. The orientation towards results and the use of self-organization remains a permanent impetus for adapting the organization towards resilience.
- With the restructuring of a large IT services organization core teams become dispersed across European locations. Leadership of distributed teams becomes a critical success factor of the business. Team leaders have to reconfigure their routine. A dedicated support process is established, training team leaders, facilitating dispersed meetings and offering coaching for leaders helping them to align their teams. Together with HR, an evaluation system is integrated into the process. ➔ Dispersed teams deliver. A peer-learning process is established and the coordination of HR management supports executives in their new roles, and takes initiative to deal with upcoming issues.
- A global manufacturer of office equipment looks for a process to realize existing plans for growth. In a first wave of the programme, more than 15 national units participate in a management process, extending from strategy to 100-days realization projects. The business success is so convincing that the process becomes a key element of the corporate culture, and is presented in the annual report. ➔ The “ideation-to-100- day-realization" process is featured in the report to analysts on a regular basis, becoming a factor in the total valuation of the business.
- The HR department of a rail operator orients their co-workers towards improving services. Teams review systematically the outcome of HR services, identify potential improvements and change the structure of activities accordingly. A leadership dialogue on HR service objectives and performance is established on several levels of the organization. ➔ Customer benefit and feedback are measurably improving.
- The new president of a road traffic authorityrealigns the leadership culture. He initiates a process of organizational development, ranging from the discussion of leadership values and strategic challenges to organizing the collaboration of different technical functions and levels of hierarchy, including a peer-learning process in all regional operational units. ➔ The institutional culture has changed, performance is on the rise in the face of the changing demands of the political environment.
- A large city NGO institution for education, culture and social services wants to review and develop the leadership and governance orientation and structure. All senior levels of all functions are asked for feedback, ideas about future requirements and suggestions. The results are consolidated into a report on institutional options for goals and courses of development. Based on this, the top team restructures functions and top-level responsibilities and starts to trigger action. ➔ Focus projects implement the plans, division and function heads stay coordinated through these projects and shape a corporate-wide leadership practice.
- A state ministry, facing a situation of escalating conflict between departments and hierarchy levels, the leadership installs a conflict management process. Using an action research type of approach, participants compile perspectives and perceptions, dealing with emotionalizing issues in a workshop with all parties. Participants crystallize the tasks to follow up the conflict reflection, evaluate options for organizational structure and for differentiation of roles of key officials. ➔ A new model for the functions of supervising the state's schools system is agreed on, the dialogue of leadership levels becomes institutionalized, functional roles are renewed and urgent tasks are effectively addressed.
- The global HR team of an international science publisher develops a corporate strategy for the HR function and, with it, a management system to coordinate initiatives and record results. ➔ HR functions across locations are connected through a contoured leadership model. The rate of retention of talent is improving as one of the results.
- The chief HR officer of a large, diversified publishing company brings together the HR managers of all business units to structure HR processes and tools. Together, they develop the innovation of a coordinating role for corporate HR in all units in all countries. ➔ Regional HR functions work according to a common standard. Capacities are deployed across legal units. A professional peer network enables quick exchange of crucial information and mutual support. Customer feedback is supportive, efficiency is raised.
