Service Quality Culture
North American and European conglomerate
What was the problem?
This large group of companies grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions in North America and Europe to reach a scale of 30 businesses and 30,000 people. Although the group was financially sound, the companies had little in common, worked independently and faced fierce local competition with little to differentiate them. Each company needed a sharper focus on customer needs, a stronger leadership style, consistent management practice and a more engaged workforce. If the group could achieve this in a standardised way, the competitive potential would be enormous.
What did you do?
A major change programme called First in Service was designed and agreed with the Group CEO. To get buy-in from the independent company MDs, we devised a week-long study tour to the US to allow them to see and learn about best practices first hand. En-route we encouraged the team to debate the advanced management practices seen at the host companies and envisage the advantages if applied to their own businesses. First in Service was started locally, with comprehensive surveys at each company to get knowledge and different perspectives from customers, employees, suppliers and management. When this was fed back to each local management team, they saw the gaps and potential and were ready to use First in Service.
What happened?
Over a three year period, everyone in the company went through an intensive series of workshops, training and improvement activity. Improvement was made in many dimensions: step changes in business process, cross-functional projects and workteam continuous improvement. Progress was assessed annually through a fitness review and companies competed to raise their scores to bronze, silver and gold standard. Best practices were regularly exchanged across the group, encouraged by the cadre of several hundred trained First in Service champions who supported line managers to keep the programme alive and fresh.
What was the outcome?
The group companies rapidly improved their service and business performance, many to world class standards, receiving many awards and accolades. The group had created a common culture and group goals could be visibly tracked right down to the workplans of any shopfloor team. Savings were in the multi-millions, customer satisfaction raised substantially, stock turns multiplied, time to market halved and employees created and implemented tens of thousands of improvement ideas. The change in culture has lasted for many years and, even when companies have been sold on, the First in Service philosophy and practice has endured and thrived.