A case study for the changing times
Many industries are experiencing disruption as the global pandemic has hastened change. For our client in the personal transport industry in Australia, this meant facing reality and designing strategic change to chart a brighter future for the organisation.
The Zone was invited to support the complete business transformation. Based on new leadership and a new direction, the team needed to turn forward and create the internal alignment required to get there. Key leaders joined in a three-day reset event called “Head and Heart.” Both areas were interwoven to connect the doing (strategy) and the being (values and culture) for leading organisational change.
Here is what we did.
The Head: Our Strategy
The team designed the “Head” content to focus on the current organisational position and look at ways to secure today and build for the future. We set up working groups and assigned problems for them to review and start solving, aiming for quick wins. The overall strategic theme that emerged out of this approach was, “Better before bigger,” fixing the fundamentals first. A new vision and purpose were created to guide the work, and bring energy and inspiration to drive the transformation.
The Heart: Our Culture
The “Heart” content was designed to connect with our universal human nature and understand the dynamic of being and doing, so that employees can live and work in the zone. What we call “the zone” is a state where we are our most creative, productive and happiest selves. We helped the client’s team understand the power of flow and how to get there, unleashing members’ personal and professional potential.
The workshop wasn’t all serious stuff – we used the power of play to enlighten the team on how collaboration – or the lack of it – affects results, and what chaos looks and feels like in action. This resulted in many laughs and ‘aha’ moments. We also ran a session to review the organisation’s values to strengthen them for achieving the new vision, purpose and strategies. Input was collected on when the team was at its best, when it was at its worst and what was missing from achieving success. As the days flowed, the energy and enthusiasm increased, and the leaders experienced the value of working cross-functionally. New friendships were made and deeper connections formed.
After the “Head and Heart” event wrapped, the pace of change in the business stepped up. An important resulting initiative of the transformation was the goal of getting the whole team aligned on its values. To make this happen, a team of “Culture Champions” have been recruited. They will become a force for good in the organisation as role models to support the change. They will deliver workshops across the organisation to engage everyone. The Zone will continue to train and mentor them on the journey to becoming better together.
Business transformation can be challenging, but when you have the Head and Heart of your people engaged, it is not only more balanced, but also more successful.
What is the key takeaway from the case study?
Business transformation can be challenging, but when you have the Head and Heart of your people engaged, it is not only more balanced, but also more successful. And the most forward-thinking leaders know that the process is best integrated from the beginning.
Emma Matthews & The Zone Team, 2022