A well-known brand on the British high-street has been clarifying their strategy, developing great leaders and changing the way they think and behave.
The company has been used to a leading position in their field, with strong retail operations and a loyal and passionate workforce. Recently they have been missing out on opportunities presented by changes in the market place. Younger competitors have been taking market share, and traditional competitors have responded more quickly to changes.
The case for change is urgent, but there are lots of opportunities in the existing business as well as elsewhere along the value chain and internationally. Strategically, the biggest opportunities are in online and multi-channel business, addressing new customer profiles for example younger people, with different lifestyles.
There are also cultural opportunities. The firm has a traditional command and control culture. This has supported strong execution in the traditional operations, but led to strong silos and a lack of collaboration. This has been hampering an urgent need to service customers across different channels - face-to-face, online and via mobile devices.
There is now a strong blend of experience and ability in the business. Many of the retail workforce have worked for the business for many years, while many of the executive and senior management team are new. There are many challenges to be addressed urgently, but there is a growing sense of positive expectation that they will soon announce to the world - "We're back".
Initial interviews, shop visits and business case planning led to a plan with clear components: articulate strategy, align the senior team, develop leaders and drive values-led culture change. In the process: drive employee engagement and customer satisfaction up and in turn, support the delivery of key business metrics.
Our 'Rapid Strategy Deployment' method has enabled the company to define goals, plans and accountabilities connecting individual, team and organisational levels. The governance part of the process is supporting ongoing tracking and review. Ongoing facilitation and awareness of team dynamics is allowing the executive team to align to the plans.
A series of shop visits, interviews and focus groups with 1000 people from across the business allowed us to define the existing and desired cultures, and express them in a set of values. Communicating and executing the strategic plans and bringing the values to life has been 'leader-led': in this case 150 leaders from head office and retail operation. They have been attending a series of events to communicate, involve and engage them and their colleagues. These have included whole-group conferences, leadership development events and work-based learning. Increasingly these are designed and facilitated by members of the internal team, and they are increasingly taking on a flavour of celebrating success.
We are 1 year into a 3 year journey and it already feels like several corners have been turned. The executive team are feeling on top of their strategy for the first time. They now have a clear strategy, clear priorities and clear accountabilities. They are able to see progress against the major projects, and allocate attention where it's needed most. The 150 Leadership group understand the strategy and context in increasing detail, and feel energised about engaging their teams and colleagues in new ways.
The language now being used is that "the ball is rolling", "we are on the cusp of something big" and the interactions, events and strategy are "the best thing we've done for years". Reports are that competitors are also noticing that “we are up to something”. Collaboration is rapidly improving and a couple of the most important business metrics (relating to new products, and one of the key new delivery channels) have taken dramatic swings upward. The business is on trajectory for getting back to #1.