Building Business and Leadership Capabilities at an International Industrial Group

SITUATION

  • International Industrial Group with diverse interests—garage doors, water pumps and others

  • Decade-long decline in performance

  • CEO in his first year

  • Mandate from board to transform highly-decentralized holding company into a more tightly-managed entity with four operating divisions

  • Major gap in leadership capabilities

  • Past leadership development programs had little impact on actual behavior or performance

SOLUTION

  • Designed and rolled out new executive management program to 80+ participants

  • Established a common language and skill base around how to lead change and build high-commitment, high-performance organizations

  • Led Strategic Fitness Process within key division to clarify business priorities and organization requirements

  • Drove strategy implementation through breakthrough projects and by creating a cross-division network of top managers who could model honest communication, cooperation and coordination

RESULTS

  • Average return of 19 times of program costs based on results from breakthrough projects alone

  • Largest division improved margins by 7-8 percentage points over a five-year period

  • Better understanding of how business units contribute to overall effectiveness

  • Dramatic changes in behavior and culture:

    • Increased collaboration across functions and geographies

    • Sharing of best practices

    • Honest conversations used to resolve blockages

Case StudyElise Barnes