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Autor: Andreas Geh

Create empowerment. Create leaders.

Geschrieben von Andreas Geh am . Veröffentlicht in Case-Study.

Case-Study

Create empowerment.
Create leaders.

WIKA is a renowned specialist in the field of measurement technology.

In the context of digitalization, increasing internationalization and changing market needs, WIKA knew significant strategic developments needed to be made to assure an equally successful future for their 10,200 employees worldwide.

Their goal: to transform the EMEA & India Sales organisation from a product centric to a customer centric approach.

Overview

WIKA began their transformation process in spring 2020, in the middle of the Corona crisis. With the new EVP Andreas Keiger and his positive experience from previous projects with 2Leadership, we conceived a road map to tackle the transformation in 3 distinct phases.

Phase 1: To create alignment of the senior leadership team across the region behind the new direction and to prepare them to lead the transformation in their teams.

Phase 2: To engage the organization by cascading the process to the next level of leaders across the region. Key stakeholders from the other business areas outside of Sales were included at this point to ensure their alignment and buyin to the new customer centric approach.

Phase 3: To manage long-term efforts by enabling all leaders to drive and embed the transformation across their teams.

With this approach WIKA is enabling their leaders to manage the potential risk of uncertainty and unrest in their teams, to focus attention on the constant progress being made towards the new direction, and to minimize the negative impact on operational performance.

I was a bit skeptical at the beginning how 2Leadership can support and guide us ‘practically’ in this transformation process.

Following the workshops we had I can say it was a GREAT decision to have 2Leadership on board since it’s brought us to the next level as a team and has given us real practical tools to use to make this transformation successful.

— Tino Reppe – General Manager MENAT

Approach

Getting the senior team onboard
first:

Making sure that the senior leadership team were all onboard to work with us from the outset ensures the necessary energy and enthusiasm for the long journey ahead.

Integrating key stakeholders into the process:

Transformation doesn’t happen in a cocoon. By integrating key stakeholders from business areas beyond the immediate team they become part of the journey and supporters of the process.

Preparing the senior leaders for the ‘big bang’ kick-off:

We believe leaders must be able to lead their transformation themselves. So we work with them individually and as a team from day 1 to ensure that they know exactly what they need to do and more importantly how to go about it.

Building close connections with the whole senior team:

Only a close relationship with the sponsor is not enough. We build strong relationships with the entire leadership team and ensure that everyone feels supported during the transformation process.

Result

After only 9 short months of leading their transformation process, and despite the added complexity of doing so during a global pandemic, the Sales EMEA & India senior leadership team have made great progress.

They are fully aligned as one team, which has ensured that progress towards the new ways of working is visible and tangible across the whole region.

As a great team, they have engaged their key stakeholders from other business areas and so have secured the necessary support to ensure long-term success.

Their unified, structured and pragmatic approach has helped to convince the once critical voices. Through their determined and participative leadership approach they have not only won support for the transformation. They have also succeeded in becoming a role model within their organisation for how to lead and make transformation happen.

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Conclusion

Every organization must continuously evolve from its current state to a future state in order to remain relevant and successful in a world that is constantly changing. Commercial organizations who need to transform, cannot afford to put operations on hold. Leaders must simultaneously manage the external reality of operations and the internal reality of transformation.

Often such efforts are likened to the metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly, however, this does not truly reflect reality. Remaining fully operational does not allow for an organisation to build a cocoon or to disconnect from reality to focus on the inner transformation. Nor can it remain hidden during the process while it gets its ‘new form’ in place.

In reality it is much more akin to the metamorphosis from a tadpole to a frog, which must transform while growing, eating and being hunted.

This reality necessitates strong leaders, who create the conditions for the new ways of working to spread and grow within the organisation. Leaders who have the mindset, skillset and tools to lead the transformation process while managing daily operations and steady progress towards the future state.

Whether you’re facing major transformation, looking to evolve your leadership culture, or seeking a new strategic direction – we help you shape change with clarity, integrity, and a deep understanding of what drives people.

Appointment Booking

We look forward to getting to know you and your transformation project with all its challenges. Feel free to make an appointment now for a free initial consultation with our Managing Partner Andreas Geh. What you can expect:

  • A 30-minute conversation to find out if and how we can help you
  • A recommendation for your next step (with or without us)
  • An impulse as food for thought

Andreas

Your dialogue partner:

Andreas Geh
Managing Partner

Andreas

Your dialogue partner:

Andreas Geh
Managing Partner

Case-Study Overview

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Invest in your leaders. Invest in your future.

Geschrieben von Andreas Geh am . Veröffentlicht in Case-Study.

Case-Study

Invest in your leaders.
Invest in your future.

LEAG (Lausitz Energie AG) supplies electricity and heat to millions of households, industry and public spaces. Legislatory changes in Germany require that LEAG, a mining and power plant operator employing 7.400 people, reimagines their business and their technology to continue to deliver clean and reliable energy to their customers in the future. Their goal: transform their business to become a versatile company for energy, infrastructure and service that contributes equally to security of supply in Germany and to structural change in the region.

Overview

It’s perhaps unsurprising that shouting ‘all change’ at the top of the organisation and expecting it just to happen isn’t the most successful strategy for a transformation.

It affects everyone in the organisation and so each individual needs to be able to understand the implications of success or failure for themselves. They need to be able to agree that it makes sense for them and to engage and commit to taking an active role in contributing to the future.

That’s why LEAG decided to work with us to try something different to help them to achieve their goal. Together we conceived a development program to enable their senior managers to support and engage their people in the transformation process.

The result is a 12-week program which conveys the mindset, the skills and the tools to selectively rise above short-term daily operational needs. They learn the benefits of changing perspective to focus on the longer-term benefits of coaching those employees who are struggling with the change.

With this bifocal approach they not only meet the immediate operational needs but also the longer-term strategic vision of the organisation.

As a company we are undergoing the most significant transformation imaginable; from a very traditional core business to a completely new business model.

We know that the success of our transformation relies entirely on our people being able to understand the need for change and on them buying-in to it.

We have found exactly what we need to support our Managers in our Development Program with 2Leadership. It enables them to identify the barriers to change in their teams and to support them to take simple, small steps to overcome them by applying the pragmatic and practical tools and solutions proposed.

— Katja Müller, Head of Strategic HR Management & Executives

Approach

Validation was essential:

Running 3 pilot programs allowed us to test acceptance levels and remove road blocks for the target population.

Group size matters:

We decided to limit group size to a maximum of 6 participants. This ensures very intensive and personal learning experiences for each manager based on their individual needs.

Design needs to be adaptive:

We used the pilot feedback to redesign the program format. Delivering it as a blend of self-study videos, webinars and practise days has 2 major benefits. Firstly it helps managers to better integrate the training into their schedules. Secondly it makes putting theory into practise between sessions possible.

Making it stick is key:

Training is good. Transferring it into daily business is better. A 12-week knowledge transfer process with 1:1 follow-up has supported the managers to embed the new mindset, skills and tools into their leadership roles.

Result

Managers who attended the program consistently reported an improvement in their ability to deal with resistance to change on a 1:1 basis.

More significantly, the program helped the managers to realize that coaching is a leadership tool in their toolbox, and that taking a coaching approach does not mean removing their management hat.

Their feedback consistently showed an increased awareness of their true value as leader to the organisation. That their role is to develop their people for the future, and not just to ensure that operational tasks are done.

After 3 years of working with the senior managers, the program will now be cascaded further into the organisation to the population of future leaders. This will ensure they too are able to play their role in supporting their people through the many changes to come.

Conclusion

Every transformation encounters a natural resistance from people inside the organisation who feel concern for an uncertain future. Managers play a key role in coaching their people through this uncertainty and engaging their hearts and hands for the transformation.

Significant contribution to the transformation is only possible if both the hearts and hands of the people are fully engaged and committed.

People perceive the things that don’t work 10 times more strongly than the things that do, which can cause resistance to the transformation. Managers who know how to coach their people to understand this as a perception and not a reality will shift the focus to the progress being made, thereby helping people to move forward again.

Commercial organizations who need to transform, cannot afford to put operations on hold. Managers must simultaneously manage the external reality of operations and the internal reality of the transformation. By maintaing a bifocal perspective and coaching their people, managers are able to deal more effectively with the tension of simultaneously managing daily business and progress towards the future state.

Whether you’re facing major transformation, looking to evolve your leadership culture, or seeking a new strategic direction – we help you shape change with clarity, integrity, and a deep understanding of what drives people.

Appointment Booking

We look forward to getting to know you and your transformation project with all its challenges. Feel free to make an appointment now for a free initial consultation with our Managing Partner Andreas Geh. What you can expect:

  • A 30-minute conversation to find out if and how we can help you
  • A recommendation for your next step (with or without us)
  • An impulse as food for thought

Andreas

Your dialogue partner:

Andreas Geh
Managing Partner

Andreas

Your dialogue partner:

Andreas Geh
Managing Partner

Case-Study Overview

Explore more case-studies


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