How Robert Turned his Company Around

Robert was facing the biggest leadership challenge of his career. An executive in a Canadian oil corporation, he had just been named president of its refining and retailing company. Competitively, the company was positioned around the middle of the pack in a mature, margin-sensitive market. Long-range demand was projected to be flat. With little to distinguish the company from other regionals, its earnings were going steadily downhill. In a word, its future looked dismal.

Within the company, morale was at an all-time low. People at all levels were frustrated and unhappy. The previous president had taken many steps to make the company more efficient, including a series of layoffs, but these steps had not produced the desired results. The whole organization was seized by fear. People didn’t know what was going to happen next. Privately, the outgoing president had been considering which division would have to be sold or shut down. As Robert moved into his new position, everything was truly up for grabs.

What Robert did with this challenge was nothing short of remarkable. Over the next three years, he led the company through an amazing turnaround. At the end of this period, it had not only survived without selling any of its divisions, it had entered a phase of aggressive growth. The business press now dubbed it “one of the darlings of the stock market.” How did he do it?

Breakthrough Leadership

Robert saw that turning his company around would require a number of “break out” strategies. Realizing that he and his top management group might not have all the answers, he called in a world-class strategy firm. He hired ChangeWise to work along side it, facilitating a number of creative strategic thinking sessions, where employees and other stakeholders developed additional strategy ideas. He then had us facilitate a two-day retreat where he and his top management group developed all the “raw” strategy ideas and came out with true break out strategies.

The new strategies required a smaller, more focused and productive organization with a much stronger “people strategy” designed to catapult the company into the ranks of high-performing organizations. As part of this strategy, Robert and his management team increased the frequency and quality of communication with company employees. When the new game plan was ready, they presented it to the employees before they announced it to the market. In spite of the challenges some of the strategies presented, the response was thunderous applause.

Robert’s approach to transforming his organization not only led to a new set of innovative strategies. It also developed the commitment, trust, and alignment necessary to implement them reliably and effectively. As a result, during his first three years as president, earnings went from $9 million to $40 million, while cash expenses were reduced by $40 million a year. This once-failing company had become one of the most efficient and effective refiners in North America and one of the top retailers in its marketplace.

Leadership Agility

Robert accomplished this feat because the leadership practices he used to tackle his challenge differed from those of his predecessor. But why didn’t the previous president use these practices? Robert had mastered a level of leadership agility one step beyond that of his predecessor. The practices he used were natural to him but unnatural to his predecessor.

The research reported in our book shows that 90% of today’s leaders have not yet developed the level of agility that made these leadership practices a natural part of Robert’s repertoire. Drawing on original research and decades of experience, the book provides portraits of leaders at five different agility levels. It also shows how each level of agility translates into team and organizational leadership and the ability to conduct challenging conversations that have a pivotal impact on business results. (See Pivotal Conversations).