How valuable is aligning leaders for a business transformation? How about $80 million worth?
We were working on a process transformation program with a North American executive team of a global company. There were seven executives, each incredibly competent, but very independent. This created silos that made collaboration and alignment tough.
We used our Organizational Change Management (OCM) strategy to get agreement on what needed to be done. Then together we identified specific change leadership tasks they needed to do.
We set up some collaboration activities where these leaders could work together to resolve problems. These were working sessions in every sense of the word, but we also made them a little fun. Aligning leaders does not have to be dreary and serious. At least, not all the time.
All this aligning was not easy to do. In addition, we were fortunate in that we had a courageous sponsor who was willing to act as a true change sponsor.
Not easy, but was it worth it? We’ll let the results speak for themselves.
Results
The company wanted to realize $100 million in savings with this program. Instead they realized an additional $180 million, with no job losses. Plus, the program was supposed to last 18 months. Instead they closed down the program after 14, four months ahead of schedule.
Lastly, as a personal point of pride, the executive sponsor credited us and our OCM approach for being a significant contributor to the program success. He and the executive team nominated it for a global award in their organization.
We often hear that leaders are too busy and unavailable. That can be an expensive attitude to take. If someone needs convincing, share this story with them.
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