CULTURE CHANGE THROUGH
CROSS-COUNTRY COLLABORATION
Diagnosis: A major European company with an autocratic leadership model and cumbersome inter-unit communications was losing opportunities to faster-moving organizations.
Design: Using the Experience-Insight-Integration model more than 700 leaders from all country organizations and headquarters focused on collaborative cross-unit cooperation and problem solving. In addition to the workshop, the learning journey has onboarding, closing and peer groups solving collaboration challenge.
Delivery: The two-day workshop consisted of five pieces:
-
A trust-building exercise.
-
Practice of the T-shaped leadership model, with focus on expertise within and collaboration outside of the unit.
-
An FIRO-B assessment to clarify leadership relational skills.
-
An exercise connecting situations to collaboration-blocking barriers.
-
The creation of action-items and a blueprint for the future.
Debrief: The journey had a significant impact on company’s culture, leadership, and strategy. Reference upon request.
THE PROBLEM
After an internal review discovered that well-being was underdeveloped, Cargill sought May & Company’s support in their efforts to be a Thought Leader in employee well-being to fulfil a commitment to its values and to “Put People First”. This was part of a global initiative to make the company a global leader in how organizations conduct employee well-being.
THE SOLUTION
May & Company created a large-scale well-being strategy supported by deliverables that were aligned to well-being, employee diversity, creating an inclusive workplace culture with equal opportunities for career advancements and improved psychological and mental health outcomes for the diverse and global members of its workforce.
Information was obtained through a survey of 1,300 respondents and 6 focus groups of 120 people. These efforts strove for building a strategy for a culture and leadership behaviors that improved employee engagement and performance, increased belonging, and decreased stress and burnout through data-informed initiatives.
THE IMPACT
This rigorous analysis and benchmarking, helped Cargill first understand its current state of employee well-being and then develop four strategic focus areas supported by 17 initiatives prioritized over a timeframe of 3-5 years.
Each initiative was linked to quantitative and qualitative key performance indicators to ensure measurable impact, return on investment, and soft savings.