creating a collaborative climate of problem solvers to turn performance around
the challenge
Our client was struggling to meet the challenges set by the regulator for the next five-year cycle (AMP) and a new leadership team called us in to help them design and deliver a transformation programme to turn the business around. They knew that they needed to reduce costs, improve operational performance and employee engagement. It was a large-scale change for which they had neither the capacity nor the capability to deliver by themselves.
the results
RoI has been calculated at 25:1 with continuing improvements expected to yield even more benefits. But that’s not the whole story. The impact of the transformation has been wide-reaching, from employee engagement (best practice Gallup Q12 performance improvement) through to multi-million pound cost savings, process efficiency and more effective and authentic leadership.
Tangible successes include a 40% reduction in repeat jobs and a reduction of 90% in contractor spend. All of this has been underpinned by staff taking ownership of issues and using new tools and techniques to effectively problem solve.
how we got there
We started by helping our client think about the climate they wanted to create: what happened every day that impacted culture and performance? And what needed to be different to improve?
We approached this through three lenses:
1. Aligning leadership around the key priorities: How could they work together and focus on the few initiatives that would make a difference?
2. Establishing basic, stable, repeatable processes and the management discipline to make performance transparent and empower people to take initiative.
3. Creating the most effective organisational configuration to allow these first two things to happen. They needed a new operating model and, in particular, a more effective, leaner head office.
We worked with the senior leaders to agree on a set of principles that would be the framework for change: reducing siloes, clarifying roles and responsibilities, engaging the right people at the right time, and the importance of clear and transparent sign-off and consultation processes. There was a renewed focus on delivering the basics brilliantly, with a clear set of priorities empowering effective, faster decisions that could be translated into actions.
Today, if you walk into any operational plant or depot there’s a performance hub with visuals on display used by team members to review and proactively manage their part of the business. There are now around 70 hubs across the business which improve connection and collaboration between teams. This new approach has resulted in reduced risk, increased efficiency, more productive use of resources across both the workforce and physical assets and increased engagement scores. Essential to establishing new habits has been sustained on the job coaching and feedback. Capability development and training has been pivotal to the success of this programme. Operational excellence has created an environment of active problem solving and innovation from the front line to the senior team, focusing attention on the things that matter.
The operating model and organisation structure required to enable this change and support the core operation of the business had to be redesigned. The challenge was to create a structure that improved performance and reduced cost. As an external provider with previous experience in the sector we were able to bring a strategic and truly cross-functional mindset, look at the way things were structured with fresh eyes, and help the team ask themselves: but why has it always been this way? The way we challenged ourselves and the client hinged on the same solution-focused mindset we were asking for from those on the front-line. How can this be simpler, easier and better?
