An Aerospace & Defense Firm Breaks the Solutions Barrier

To compete in a new era of consolidated government contracting, a leading-edge aerospace and defense firm needed to grow its people- and knowledge-intensive business very rapidly. After a remarkable half-dozen successful mergers, the company had reorganized into three coherent business units. But when these three units needed to collaborate to compete on integrated solution bids, the business faced a challenge: the divisions simply were not aligned to sell and deliver solutions effectively as one company.

TruePoint’s Strategic Fitness Process helped the company’s CEO and leaders of its three divisions uncover the underlying, unrecognized barriers to company-wide collaboration around strategic contract opportunities. Thorny issues emerged around turf ownership, leadership, and balancing high demands with fair rewards. Engaging a representative cross-section of the entire company, the SFP’s honest conversations enabled the organization to address these differences fairly and to define a common game that all three divisions could play together, when required, while still having the managerial freedom to capture and deliver on appropriate business opportunities at the divisional level.

Down through the ranks, increased alignment and commitment jump-started higher performance. In less than one year, the company raised margins, accelerated its organic growth rate from 10% to 17%, and doubled the share price.