Case Study

Cultural Transformation to Drive Growth in Global Energy Company

Context

  • Leading global Gas and Electricity company of more than 23 Bn € of revenues and close to 20.000 employees.

  • Its Power Generation division launched a strategic plan with the commitment of doubling its EBITDA in 5 years in a context of technological disruption and high competition.

  • The technological disruption was caused by the growth of renewable energies which became the norm on the new business opportunities and were not part of the company’s DNA and history.

  • The new business context implied a relevant reorganization and resource reallocation which resulted in initial confusion and resistance to change.

  • The company had to accelerate the culture transformation to keep up with their growth challenges.

Approach

  • Diagnostic to understand the current cultural situation, define the gaps and design project milestones.

  • Alignment of the executive team around the “why, how and what” of the organization; creation of new working agreement to role model the change that the organization needed.

  • Engagement of a group of 30 people who were identified as culture champions to inspire the rest of the organization to change.

  • Involvement of a group of 160 people in the fundamentals of the new organizational culture.

  • Creation of a project office to help in the execution of initiatives, increase project’s intensity and strengthen the communication of the progress made.

  • Support to develop the leadership capabilities of the CEO and executive team, and advice on how to steer the transformation.

Results

  • Alignment and engagement of the teams with the company and with the growth imperatives.

  • Increased leadership capabilities and cohesion of the executive team.

  • Creation of a common language around becoming players and not victims, being the change, they want to see in the organization, building strong relationships via authentic conversations, and creating an environment where everyone can connect to a relevant purpose.

  • Execution of initiatives that were suggested by different team members which tackled some of the organizational challenges that had a negative impact on performance.