OUR WORK IN ACTION
Client Stories
Manufacturing
Multi National 6000 + employees
Organisational Need
The Indian counterpart was transitioning from a sales & distribution outlet for the German parent to a full-fledged manufacturing partner with a plant being set up in India. There was a need to develop a fully integrated leadership team.
Challenges
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Functions were operating in individual capacity as unrelated unit’s
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The mind set was of sales & distribution for 60 % of the leadership team
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The leader of the erstwhile sales set up was chosen to lead the new company. As his experience was individual sales, he had to unlearn and internalise the fact that the whole organisation was his team
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While most of the sales employees were very good, they had little experience in building & leading teams
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The factory head had been handling the construction & first manufacturing outputs independently, so was not open to market needs as expressed by sales teams on delivery/ timelines etc.
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The environment was festering with many conflicts spoken & silent and the culture was ‘SILO’
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German representative who was holding all the pieces together was transferred back, with the clear signal that the India team needs to take over
Suggested way ahead
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Start with development of MD
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Planned conversations with the functional leaders to work on pending issues
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Stream line the organisational structure
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Design & execute a long-term leadership intervention to bind on common philosophy & values
Process
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Coaching for the managing director to orient his thinking to owing the company
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Huddles/ bonding sessions & conversations with the sales/ finance/ manufacturing heads to align to the parent company vision, expectations, targets
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A long term 9–10-month long leadership intervention was designed. This comprised leadership assessments, personality profiling, learning modules, one-on- one coaching, live action projects with cross functional teams, reviews, team building activities
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Half way into the intervention once the MD realised that he has too much on his plate, a Sales head & Hr head were taken on board
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Cross functional monthly problem-solving sessions were institutionalised
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Check ins with all employees to ensure that the messaging is reaching the shop floor
Impact
A far more integrated team, fewer conflicts, culture of solving cross functional problems, synergy between sales and manufacturing, fewer customer complaints on delivery issues, MD moved away from a sales role to leading the organisation.
The leadership programme has become a must for all managers taking on leadership roles.
Reason for Success
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The MD revamping his role orientation and becoming an influencer by walking the talk
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Most employees willing to give the make over a chance by imbibing some elements of the leadership learning into their roles
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A robust & tightly held design & review process
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Cross-functional problem solving
Design & Digital Products
Multi-National I over 20thousand employees
Organisational Need
The organisation is a hub of industrial design solutions, Digital Products & constructing plants. While all three verticals ran independently, however they interfaced as internal customers, with a common external customer. The organisation was scaling up, and the expectation was for all verticals to work as a global whole with flexibility & agility.
Challenges
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None of the independent verticals were willing to accept the interdependence & worked in rigid silos
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Adding more complexity was the fact that even within a vertical the different functions were working in isolation, completely unmindful of process line time/ cost/ delivery requirements
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The customer facing teams were on site, receiving the brunt of the customer and all their efforts to get the design and Digital teams to comprehend their challenge was falling on deaf ears
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Attrition rates on plant sites was very high, with stress& non-cooperation being the major reasons
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While the two verticals were house in the same premises across the country, they did not even exchange pleasantries
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All communication was mails with no personal touch
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Top leadership traditional, with a divide & rule mindsets
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Processes set by the parent company were so robust that Indian mangers felt that no relationships were necessary, leading to emotional bankruptcy
Suggested way ahead
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An intense pre-study starting with the MD & his team to levels below was undertaken, and it opened a pandoras box of more challenges attitudinal/ process/ systems related
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Two long-term leadership initiatives were proposed. One for the site leaders & the second for the design leaders
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Senior management participation was made mandatory at relevant points in the journey
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Assessments in the form of 360%, personality profiling, emotional intelligence
Process
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Site managers/ leaders first exposure to a formal training programme. This created a very positive environment as the participants felt included & respected
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Top management presence in opening sessions, with a strong messaging of appreciating the importance of site leaders
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Informal evenings of music, dance, free conversations were designed. All participants were surprised to see top management in this “avtar”
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The feeling of bonding and belonging
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A joint session between all 3 verticals was designed, where the agenda besides getting to know each other was also to understand challenges & expectations. Most participants were overwhelmed with the outcome
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A joint session where all three verticals had to present to top management their vision of the future, was an eye opener because of the ideas, creativity & visionary thinking displayed
Impact
These interlinked interventions were very successful in smoothening out
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Conflicts across the 3 verticals which resulted in a big drop in escalation of conflict cases
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Cooperation amongst functional & cross-functional groups
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A pipeline of trained leaders
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Senior management became very aware of ground reality & some operational changes were made to smoothen the process
Every year a similar leadership intervention is designed and executed for new leaders for the last ten years.
Reason for Success
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Time of the intervention – the need was so critical that all fractions participated wholeheartedly
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Business need which was directly impacting the top line, customers, market reputation
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Openness of the HR leaders to experiment with a innovative process versus the traditional time tested ones
We have worked with over 150 organisations to build their leadership pipelines, unleash potential of talent across ages & hierarchies.
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