PROBLEM STATEMENT

The company had grown steadily, opening 1 or 2 new production facilities per year and also acquiring and integrating new business. (>30 Sites and >10K employees)

The company was lacking a unifying cultural or business identity after several „flavour of the month initiatives“. A common set of Values and Behaviours was not existing.

A Proposal was made to the CEO and this was wholeheartedly supported.

TASKS and ACTIONS

The management team knew and felt that an initiative was needed with an international flavour.

A concept had to be developed that could be translated and deployed in more than 10 languages; something that would unite different nationalities and overcome scepticism in some countries and build on the enthusiasm of other countries to create a momentum.

The concept had to survive for a number of years and would have to be built on and extended year on year to gradually create a new cultural identity.

Brainstorming with a cross section of the people in different levels and functions confirmed the concept consisting of personalized statements.

A communications plan was developed to get the basics started in terms of posters, cards and an animated cartoon video to set the scene for all levels in the organisation.

RESULTS

After presenting a quality mindset proposal to the Executive Team and CEO it was unanimously agreed to start the process. Video interviews were completed with the Executive Team to show their support.

The initiative was launched at the annual global managers meeting. Each manager was tasked to take the resources developed and build on the fundamentals, for example by holding Summer Workshops or sharing of exemplary behaviour on the Mindset statements. The need to be creative and innovative was pushed strongly. This was taken to heart. Innovative ideas developed locally were shared through a monthly Newsletter globally.

All new employees received the mindset explanation at their inductions through a short video and the Mindset cards.

Several years on, the chosen quality mindset lives on and is a solid part of the personal annual appraisal process, goal setting and meeting culture.