“More professional support in HR”

The two co-founders CEOs of this successful manufacturing company came to me looking for „more professional support in HR“. The company was very well established on the market, with a brand of innovative and quality business. The two CEOs had just finalized the next 3-year-strategy, based on the following key elements/pillars:

1. Increase of sales by more than double (from 15 mio to 35)

2. Workforce increase by 40% not only in manufacturing but in R&D and support functions as well (from 145 to 210)

3. A new innovative Division (with new products) would be established

4. Geographical expansion opportunities would be tackled with consequent customers base enlargement

They were very excited about this new phase, but they realized that the company would only be successful with the right leadership team and the right talents. They were concerned about the company being overwhelmed by the change and wanted to be ready for the future. They could not name exactly what kind of support they needed.

The Action Plan

I conducted interviews with the two CEOs and the leadership team according to the Diamond-model. Based on the results we decided to focus on the following elements:

• The culture of the company needed new values, still maintaining the core that had made the company successful. More ownership, performance mindset and accountability were necessary. We decided some steps to define new values and to integrate them in the day-to- day. The culture needed to be better aligned to future business needs.

• The organizational set up seemed to be efficient but I suggested to make a plan for organizational development in the following year (due to new division, geographical expansion…). We worked on further development of the structure and workforce planning.

• we agreed that an assessment of two members of the leadership team was necessary.

• The leadership team needed to be more aligned and work more efficiently together. We decided to initiate a team development process.

• The leadership team needed more structure and professional expertise in how to lead people and recognize and develop talents. We made a plan to develop a performance management system (connected to OKR), talent management process and learning and development culture.

The Output

We have been working together for 6 months now and the new culture has full support and is part of daily life. Performance management is in place; talent management in the process.

We are defining clear practices for a growth culture and the leadership team has found a new way of working together.