The powers that be
Although ostensibly a total quality management issue, this assignment was a classic piece of Organisation Development.
An American multinational had introduced a worldwide initiative to improve the quality of internal processes and behaviour across departments and into the supply chain. Sales and Marketing executives in the UK operating company perceived this as a centrally imposed mechanistic training package. Instead of 'ownership', a cynical rejection emerged.
The challenge led to an assignment with three fundamental objectives:
Presentation and Status
• to re-craft and reposition the 'package' as a valuable set of tools for the achievement of business rather than training objectives
Politics
• to ensure that the initiative was championed by the Board with directors sponsoring a business project with individual managers
Capability
• to coach the Quality team in facilitation skills and to develop their organisational savvy so that they could build on Board support.
This bore fruit in terms of comprehensive take-up in the UK business.
