Making the Impossible Possible
Our client describes itself as “the silent partner behind leading innovations in industry for over 100 years”. We partnered with the executive team to create a new business model that enabled the organisation to work closer with industry to deliver innovations and advances through science.
Challenge
Our client provides world-class scientific research. Part of its purpose is to deliver research in support of UK governments’ goals of increasing prosperity and quality of life. The challenge faced by the new CEO was to align more closely government priorities and business needs, so that UK businesses grow through the application of science to innovation.
Approach
We worked initially with the Executive team to create a shared narrative around the organisations’ ambitions and purpose. We also facilitated an approach to engage the whole organisation with the significant changes the ambitions would bring. We then worked with a broad group of leaders to shape and deliver transformational change. They faced tricky issues to resolve but were empowered by the Executive to lead thinking about the proposition to industry and lead projects to re-align the organisation to the new business model.
We facilitated this work throughout. Whilst our work included developing a new organisational design, the biggest challenge was cultural. Everyone in the client organisation needed to become more externally focused, collaborative and commercial, working more like consultants than researchers. We have supported the shaping of this culture using the change approach to model new ways of working, focusing on critical leadership behaviours and engagement and developing future focused capabilities.
Outcome
The organisational changes have been successfully delivered and the new propositions to industry have been well received. Employee engagement throughout transformation has been high and there is heightened confidence in the organisation to lead and deliver radically new working practices. The journey continues as this work is now embedded.
