Implement a new Corporate Growth Strategy

Background

A large company in the automotive industry in Argentina had been facing economic challenges in the Argentine market. Due to an economic recession, the company had to focus heavily on cost reductions in order to stay afloat. This had included cutting expenses, streamlining operations, and reducing staff.

However, as the economy in Argentina began to recover, the CEO was looking to shift the company’s internal focus towards a growth strategy that focused on improving its dealer network, introducing new models, scaling up marketing efforts, strengthening its sales efforts, and enhancing the overall customer experience. This would be done to improve the company’s market position and capitalize on the recovering economy in Argentina. The subsidiary may look to expand its dealer network to increase its reach and accessibility to customers in different regions of the country. It may also focus on introducing new models and technologies to appeal to changing consumer preferences and stay competitive in the market. Additionally, the subsidiary may increase its marketing efforts to raise brand awareness and drive sales. The company may also focus on improving the customer experience through better after-sales services and support to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The company had also undergone a recent merger and faced challenges in aligning teams and adapting to the economic climate in Argentina. To address this, the CEO understood the importance of aligning the hearts and minds of the people behind the new growth strategy.

Approach

The CEO understood that in order for the company’s new growth strategy to be successful, it was crucial to align the hearts and minds of the people behind it. To achieve this, he began by aligning his own executive team and their respective areas of responsibility to a commonly defined set of strategic objectives. This involved clearly communicating the new strategy to all members of the team and ensuring that they understood the company’s goals and their role in achieving them. Additionally, the CEO took steps to ensure that the various departments within the company were working together towards the same objectives and that they had a clear understanding of how their efforts contributed to the overall success of the company. This included creating a shared vision and mission, as well as establishing clear goals, metrics, and targets that would be used to track progress and measure success.

To further align the hearts and minds of the people behind the new growth strategy, the CEO also led a robust debate on how each area of the company could contribute to each strategic objective. This was done by using a transformation matrix, which is a tool that helps align individual and team goals with the overall strategic objectives of the organization.

The CEO and his team used the transformation matrix to break down the high-level objectives into smaller, more manageable goals, and to track progress over time. This approach helped to ensure that all members of the team understood how their efforts contributed to the overall success of the company, and it also helped to create a sense of shared ownership and accountability for achieving the goals. Additionally, the use of the transformation matrix helped to create an environment of continuous improvement and allowed the team to adapt and adjust their plans as needed to respond to changing market conditions and business needs.

After the transformation matrix was established at the executive level, it was then cascaded or deployed across the entire organization, repeating the process level by level. This process helped to ensure that all levels of the organization were aligned with the company’s strategic objectives and that each level had a clear understanding of how their efforts contributed to achieving the goals. As the matrix was deployed, the emphasis of contributions at each level changed from strategic, to tactical, to operational. At the strategic level, the focus was on high-level objectives and goals, while at the tactical level, the focus was on specific actions and initiatives that needed to be taken to achieve.

Lessons Learned

One of the key lessons learned from the process of implementing the transformation matrix and aligning the organization behind the new growth strategy is the importance of effective communication. The process was met with mixed reactions from employees, with some enthusiastic about the process and others more sceptical. Upon analyzing the two groups, it was observed that the ones who were against the process were often very focused on day-to-day operations and often found themselves in firefighting mode.

Essentially, those people who needed the process the most were the ones who were most resistant to it. This highlights the importance of effectively communicating the value and benefits of an organizational alignment effort to all employees and addressing any concerns or resistance that may arise. Additionally, providing training and support to help employees understand and utilize the transformation matrix can also help to increase buy-in and engagement.

Another lesson learned from the process was the importance of technology in supporting the implementation of the transformation matrix. Deploying the matrix without technology was challenging and led to difficulties in visualizing the matrix, tracking progress, and maintaining collaboration. By using a software that is specifically designed for organizational transformation, the company can easily connect the concepts across different levels of the organization, collaborate with team members and track progress in real-time. This can help to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the process and make it more effective in achieving the goals of the organization.

The process also highlighted the importance of clear and inspiring objectives in aligning the hearts and minds of the people behind a growth strategy. Setting clear, measurable goals and aligning the efforts of all members of the organization towards achieving those goals was essential to the company’s success.

Result

Through a concerted effort over the course of three years, utilizing a transformation matrix, the organization was able to achieve a level of alignment that led to unprecedented growth and success. The matrix proved to be an effective tool for setting clear, measurable goals and aligning the efforts of all members of the organization towards achieving those goals. As a result, the organization was able to achieve historic results and solidify its position as a leader in its industry.

Over the course of the three years, the company was able to expand its dealer network, introduce new models and technologies, and increase its marketing efforts to raise brand awareness and drive sales. The company also focused on improving the customer experience through better after-sales services and support to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The use of the transformation matrix helped to create a sense of shared ownership and accountability for achieving the company’s goals, and it also helped to create an environment of continuous improvement. The process allowed the team to adapt and adjust their plans as needed to respond to changing market conditions and business needs.

Overall, the use of the transformation matrix was a key factor in the organization’s success, and its implementation serves as a model for other organizations looking to achieve similar results.