Client stories: Mondi

This article is filed under: change, strategy, strategy implementation, team leadership

Global change for strategy

The call went something like this

“Hi – I’ve recently joined Mondi, which demerged from Anglo American a year ago. We’ve decided to bring our 150 senior leaders from our businesses across Europe and South Africa together for the first time. We want to use the opportunity to inspire our leaders to drive the strategy forward and we need some fresh thinking from you to make sure we build a stronger sense of working together in the same organisation”.

It was the sort of challenge that we enjoy.

What worked

With such a dispersed group of leaders – coming from over 130 sites in 31 countries – we needed to make sure we fully understood the needs of the leaders themselves. It was after all their conference.
By providing individual support to all the key presenters and integrating all the key messages into simple, strategic themes, we deliberately used the Leadership Conference as an effective catalyst for more lasting organisation impact. It was an experience that enabled leaders to build stronger commitment and momentum for change.

Two years on

In 2010, Mondi asked us to help with a second leadership conference. This time, the Executive Team recognised the power of using the event to drive the organisation on to its next phase of development. The demand from leaders to be more involved and engaged in determining their own leadership priorities to take the strategy forward is evidence in itself that we have succeeded in engaging a wider leadership group with the future business challenges.

As one participant commented, “It was very inspiring and definitely made me proud to be part of this organisation. I have come back to our business with a new perspective and new insights. It provided us with the drive to continue to succeed”.