Over the last two years I have immersed myself in one of Innogy’s regional businesses which generates a significant proportion of their multi-billion Euro revenue from sustainable hydroelectricity. As a systemic change consultant, I have coached, trained, supervised, observed, challenged and supported more than 300 sponsors, executives, managers and employees across B2C and B2C sales and the Grid. My main purpose and mandate is to:
- Hold up a mirror whenever I notice unproductive systemic patterns and challenge mental models
- Coach the sponsoring executives to create an environment where improvements are recommended bottom-up
- Develop the leadership capabilities of next generation managers who are often tested in their first leadership role as an NWOW project leader
- Embed Innogy’s leadership models and change approaches through training and coaching
- Develop a network of change agents across the business
Business Context
The confluence of new generation batteries, affordable renewable energy suppliers and the German government-dictated energy transition are threatening the future of Innogy, one of the big four Energy giants in Europe, at its core.
The Opportunity
With a bureaucratic history as a state-owned utility provider, Innogy’s CEO has realised that its management population is not a competitive advantage. Deeply ingrained patterns and mental models stemming from its civil servant days are in the way to adapt fast enough and to deliver the returns he promised to shareholders when splitting Innogy from its Coal and Nuclear-based energy parent company RWE through an IPO.
The Approach
NWOW – New Ways of Working – is an all-company transformation programme that is remarkably different: it trains its managers and employees to be lean experts, change consultants and coaches who use their newly built capabilities to apply a suite of lean and change tools under the umbrella of a unified change approach. The purpose of this massive multi-year effort is to create sustainable skills and expertise among its workforce to continuously improve operations and thus save money. Instead of strategy consultants proposing the cuts, these global household names of consulting develop the technical skills of lean management and process improvement, while I am part of a pool of a dozen external systemic change consultants, who develop the leadership skills of executives and project teams to transform the company.
Impact
I have demonstrably improved the quality of meetings and decision making. The business-led “Pull Approach” in the B2B division that I recommended and helped implement is regarded as a role-model across Innogy. The business is now capable of finding cost reductions of up to 5% year-on-year. I have inspired and developed a movement of around 20-25 change agents at all levels who now have the capabilities and mindsets to apply systems thinking and are savvy observers and in-house consultants. As one of the managing directors says: “It’s hard to pin down where and when you catalysed the change, all I know is it happened and your engagement has been a profitable business case for us.”
I have supported Innogy to get return from investments into new business models and product innovation which is required to deliver the promises made to investors to through their IPO.
The Opportunity
To achieve this Innogy has set-up a innohub, a corporate innovation and start-up incubator. Despite top management’s commitment and investment, the former industrial behemoth faces the challenge adapt to the world of agile start-ups and network leadership fast enough.
The Approach
This is where the DBP comes in, an 8 month programmes that provides entire teams support and challenge to Deliver Breakthrough Performance, which in the case of the innovation teams is to incubate and spin-off ideas as separate brands or even stand-alone businesses.
Together with in-house consultants and expert facilitators, I delivered three waves of the DBP with the “innovation wave” having had the biggest impact. In this wave I had the opportunity to merge my long-standing expertise in and passion for start-up management with executive development.
Entrepreneurial types are much more open to being challenged and no nonsense feedback, which is one of my signature strengths. The predominant way of working with these teams is in the “here-and-now” constantly switching between accelerating venture development “on the ground” and then pushing the pause button to “reflect on the balcony” on what’s really going on and in particular how to manage egos so that the bi-lateral relationships are more resilient during stressful development sprints.
The Impact
We supported four innovation teams through a combination of off-site modules and intensive team coaching on-site. The focus is always on what needs to get done in the next project or start-up life cycle stage and learning happens on three levels: self, team and organisation. One team binned their idea, which innogy also considers a success, because they failed fast. Three teams, Fresh and Shine, have launched new services as new brands under the innogy umbrella, and one of the wave’s true leaders has started his very own company, Ucair, which monitors solar parks through a fleet of drones.
Developing 120 new 'ready now' directors for international expansion with European supermarket leader Have you ever wondered what it takes to walk into a supermarket at 8am and have all shelves filled with products you want? I have designed a development programme for managing directors, so that they can balance leading branches and regional distribution centres with military precision while being also being able to deal with the typical pain points of fast growing brands. Add the advent of online shopping and new entrants like Amazon Fresh – both massively threatening the market power of big box retailers – and you have the perfect storm that top management needs to cope with.
The Opportunity
The value drivers in this sector are purchasing power, speed of growth, and above all, precision and speed of supply chain execution. The structure in this organisation is extremely hierarchical. This has created a leadership culture that is top down to the point where directors who manage up to 1.800 people are used to take orders from their superiors with little reflection of challenge. This has suited the company well in their decade long ascent to domination. Now facing shifting consumer demand and a workforce that is predominantly going to be Generation Y – including the new wave of directors and middle managers – this leadership culture is driving the company to a wall that will be hit in 2-3 years time unless a drastic intervention is being undertaken.
A very imminent problem for this company is growth: due to their international expansion they need 120-150 new managing directors within 18-24 months, and these don’t grow on trees. You almost need three times the amount of candidates that go through the assessment centre in order to fill all those posts as they open up with A-Players. In other words, while the company needs new leaders with agile, mindful and creative leadership styles, the operation to produce those leaders resembles manufacturing.
A third problem is that this long stretch of business as usual and “more of the same” has been rightfully mirrored by HR. Whilst this has served the function well including a seat on the board the leadership development platform is suffering from stale learning concepts and a pool of external training providers that – with the odd positive deviant – delivers rather mediocre quality.
The Head of Leadership Development wanted me to be an external sparring partner to 1) completely overhaul the development journeys for future managing directors and 2) to weed out the pool of under-performing training firms and replace them by the best trainers and coaches on the market. Using an external learning designer who on principle would not deliver any of the formats himself, it created a compelling story both towards the soon-to-be-fired incumbents and the new delivery partners. With this principle in place, there couldn’t be a conflict of interest.
My five key deliverables were:
- Develop a Learning Architecture and an end-to-end development journey for 120-150 candidates who after completion are promoted to Managing Director level
- Design purpose, objectives and parameters for all eight three day on-site modules in a way that makes it easy for external delivery partners to complement the design with their hero products whilst providing a consistent experience for participants
- Identify potential providers for each of the modules and together with my in-house client choose the best in trial trainings and through pitches
- Brief all existing and new providers on the new learning philosophy and train the coach for the first module in my own leadership model (Edge, Connection, Intervention), which the client wants to permeate across the organisation
- Approve all learning materials from external partners in terms of quality and fit with the overall programme architecture and learning philosophy
Impact
As a result of my design approach and successful influencing, my client was able to launch a new programme that hits the nerve of what 28-35 year old high potentials want and need. This leadership journey combines intensive language courses and secondments into other divisions and countries with training modules that engage the whole person in three big ways:
first, they are ready for their first 100 days in the new big and often scary role, having practices and role-model everything from inspiring their new employees, influencing peers and majors alike, managing change, presenting on big stages and handling difficult conversations and conflicts. The feedback from the first cohort of 20 is that they are hitting the ground running and feel prepared for those first critical incidents.
Second, the first module on leadership in particular, gives participants a “Leadership_OS” – a pragmatic operating system that they can use in almost every interaction: What’s my edge, what do I bring to the table so that they want to follow me rather than feeling obliged to. How do I create deep connections with people fast? What can I learn from their every reaction – and how can I use this soft information and weak signals to have impact, to close the deal, to solve the problem, and how do I mindfully choose to use my personal power.
Third, and it’s early days, the way the programme is designed will inevitably lead to a systemic intervention in the client’s culture. As a result of the success of this programme for to-be managing directors, the board has decided to immediately stop the long-running programme for existing directors, often people who feel they know all the answers and consider the need for further training as a sign of weakness. If any of these incumbent directors, often in their 50s either wishes or is urged to develop further, they have to go on this new programme. Once this happens, it will accelerate breaking of old patterns and shifting behaviours and mental models that simply don’t belong into a modern workforce in the 21st century anymore; the bet is that this will enable my client to also succeed with ever more demanding online consumers and to become the Amazon of fresh food delivery in the World.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to walk into a supermarket at 8am and have all shelves filled with products you want? I have designed a development programme for managing directors, so that they can balance leading branches and regional distribution centres with military precision while being also being able to deal with the typical pain points of fast growing brands. Add the advent of online shopping and new entrants like Amazon Fresh – both massively threatening the market power of big box retailers – and you have the perfect storm that top management needs to cope with.
The Opportunity
The value drivers in this sector are purchasing power, speed of growth, and above all, precision and speed of supply chain execution. The structure in this organisation is extremely hierarchical. This has created a leadership culture that is top down to the point where directors who manage up to 1.800 people are used to take orders from their superiors with little reflection of challenge. This has suited the company well in their decade long ascent to domination. Now facing shifting consumer demand and a workforce that is predominantly going to be Generation Y – including the new wave of directors and middle managers – this leadership culture is driving the company to a wall that will be hit in 2-3 years time unless a drastic intervention is being undertaken.
A very imminent problem for this company is growth: due to their international expansion they need 120-150 new managing directors within 18-24 months, and these don’t grow on trees. You almost need three times the amount of candidates that go through the assessment centre in order to fill all those posts as they open up with A-Players. In other words, while the company needs new leaders with agile, mindful and creative leadership styles, the operation to produce those leaders resembles manufacturing.
A third problem is that this long stretch of business as usual and “more of the same” has been rightfully mirrored by HR. Whilst this has served the function well including a seat on the board the leadership development platform is suffering from stale learning concepts and a pool of external training providers that – with the odd positive deviant – delivers rather mediocre quality.
The Head of Leadership Development wanted me to be an external sparring partner to 1) completely overhaul the development journeys for future managing directors and 2) to weed out the pool of under-performing training firms and replace them by the best trainers and coaches on the market. Using an external learning designer who on principle would not deliver any of the formats himself, it created a compelling story both towards the soon-to-be-fired incumbents and the new delivery partners. With this principle in place, there couldn’t be a conflict of interest.
My five key deliverables were:
- Develop a Learning Architecture and an end-to-end development journey for 120-150 candidates who after completion are promoted to Managing Director level
- Design purpose, objectives and parameters for all eight three day on-site modules in a way that makes it easy for external delivery partners to complement the design with their hero products whilst providing a consistent experience for participants
- Identify potential providers for each of the modules and together with my in-house client choose the best in trial trainings and through pitches
- Brief all existing and new providers on the new learning philosophy and train the coach for the first module in my own leadership model (Edge, Connection, Intervention), which the client wants to permeate across the organisation
- Approve all learning materials from external partners in terms of quality and fit with the overall programme architecture and learning philosophy
Impact
As a result of my design approach and successful influencing, my client was able to launch a new programme that hits the nerve of what 28-35 year old high potentials want and need. This leadership journey combines intensive language courses and secondments into other divisions and countries with training modules that engage the whole person in three big ways:
first, they are ready for their first 100 days in the new big and often scary role, having practices and role-model everything from inspiring their new employees, influencing peers and majors alike, managing change, presenting on big stages and handling difficult conversations and conflicts. The feedback from the first cohort of 20 is that they are hitting the ground running and feel prepared for those first critical incidents.
Second, the first module on leadership in particular, gives participants a “Leadership_OS” – a pragmatic operating system that they can use in almost every interaction: What’s my edge, what do I bring to the table so that they want to follow me rather than feeling obliged to. How do I create deep connections with people fast? What can I learn from their every reaction – and how can I use this soft information and weak signals to have impact, to close the deal, to solve the problem, and how do I mindfully choose to use my personal power.
Third, and it’s early days, the way the programme is designed will inevitably lead to a systemic intervention in the client’s culture. As a result of the success of this programme for to-be managing directors, the board has decided to immediately stop the long-running programme for existing directors, often people who feel they know all the answers and consider the need for further training as a sign of weakness. If any of these incumbent directors, often in their 50s either wishes or is urged to develop further, they have to go on this new programme. Once this happens, it will accelerate breaking of old patterns and shifting behaviours and mental models that simply don’t belong into a modern workforce in the 21st century anymore; the bet is that this will enable my client to also succeed with ever more demanding online consumers and to become the Amazon of fresh food delivery in the World.
