Qeep case book uk kopi

CASE BOOK Leading Business Execution Consultants

Achieve your goal!

Dear CEO, You have almost certainly developed a number of plans and set many goals for your business – just in the past year alone. Take a moment to consider how many of those plans went unfinished and how many of those goals were never reached – then calculate their value had they been achieved.

This number is alarmingly high for most businesses.

Now ask your middle managers what it would take for them to actually achieve those goals and implement your plans.

Qeep has helped businesses like yours do just that for more than 12 years.

You know your competitiveness increases in line with your managers’ ability to execute. The book you are holding right now provides some examples of how coaching managers to be more consistent, determined and motivational has helped a range of businesses achieve extraordinary results.

When we say “ability to execute”, we mean the ability to motivate a team of colleagues to achieve a breakthrough on time, on budget and with the agreed output, be it a new product or 20 percent growth in customers year-over-year.

We work with senior managers and middle managers every single day.

Many of the goals they set are simply never achieved because they lack the courage, consistency and determination to lead their team to success.

The business leaders you will meet on the following pages have succeeded where others have failed, boosting performance and achieving outstanding results.

Our studies show that only 15 percent of middle managers have a strong capacity for ambition and execution. But what if that number were 75 percent? What if three-quarters of all managers were ambitious, consistent and determined?

How many more products would launch on time? How many more tool changes would be made on your machines within the set timeframe?

How many sales managers would reach their sales targets? How much would your competitiveness grow?

Enjoy the book!

Daimler Automobiles – From Loss to Profit in One Year Unrealistic Goals: Turn loss of DKK 47 million (€ 6,3 million) into profit in one year

Outcome: Profit

Solution: Performance Management Program – 10/10/85

The Challenge

Old Habits

Daimler Automobiles was a top-down organization where the employees did not take responsibility for common goals. This resulted in a loss of DKK 47 million (€ 6,3 million). To turn the situation around, new CEO Per V. Rasmussen sought in 2003 to change attitudes among management and middle management, inspiring them to embrace greater responsibility.

Daimler Automobiles was a top-down organization. When something went wrong, it was more important to explain why than to look at what it would take to achieve targets. Management and middle management did not assume responsibility and work towards the common goal.

the mechanics, who used to have to wait in line. The supervisors signed an agreement with key accounts to call cars in to service on short notice when an opening appeared in their schedules.

The Process Qeep initially helped Daimler Automobiles set a number of breakthrough goals, which they dubbed “10/10/85”. The sales department was to earn DKK 10 million (€ 1,3 million), administration was to cut costs by 10% and the service & repair centers were to increase invoiceable hours by 85%.

Qeep coached management and middle management to help them execute their personal action plans while tracking the goal and results.

New Behavior Management and middle management began focusing on what they could change to reach their ambitious goal instead of on how they could avoid making mistakes. They assumed responsibility!

Numerous concrete changes culminated in the realization of 10/10/85. The parking facilities were modified to save time when a car was in for service. The spare parts assistants were transferred from the warehouse to the service & repair centers, so they could fetch parts for

The new attitude among the managers also resulted in major organizational changes.

Communication improved and they began to work in a more results-oriented manner based on new procedures.

The Results • The annual results improved by DKK 52.5 million (€ 7 million) before tax

10

• The sales department gave a profit • The gross profit per car sold increased by several hundred percent • The efficiency of the service & repair centers increased from 57% to 82% • The invoicing time for all service & repair centers increased significantly

85

• Shorter waiting time for spare parts • Faster decision-making

If I had chosen a traditional consulting firm, I would have been given a nice report telling me to reduce my stock and to do this and that to achieve results. But we would have never achieved results that way because at the time we needed something completely different!

- Per V. Rasmussen, CEO

10

The Hero

The Unrealistic Goal

The Organization

Supervisor Erik Bo Pedersen is the hero of this story!

He successfully boosted efficiency, while maintaining a high utilization ratio at the Hillerød Service & Repair Center.

Daimler Automobiles set the unrealistic goal of transforming a significant loss into a huge profit – and achieved it!

Daimler Automobiles, now known as Mercedes Benz CPH, is one of Denmark’s largest car dealerships, employing more than 100 people at showrooms and service & repair centers located throughout Greater Copenhagen.

Sterling – 7-9-13 Love Is in the Air Unrealistic Goals: To turn a loss of DKK 800 million (€ 106,7 million) into profit Outcome: Operations became profitable

Solution: Executable Strategy and Performance Management Program

The Challenge In 2005, Sterling Airlines and Maersk Air merged via a new Icelandic owner, while posting a loss of DKK 800 million (€ 106,7 million). The newly consolidated airline had a total of 1,600 employees – 70% of whom came from Maersk Air. In contrast, nine out of ten members of the management were from Sterling and sought to spread Sterling’s lowprice business model to the entire company and make it profitable within 12 months.

The Process At a Breakthrough Workshop, the management pledged to make Sterling profitable via the goals they set, which they called 7-9-13 (operating cost per aircraft seat of max. DKK 700 (€ 90) – operating revenue per aircraft seat of min. DKK 900 (€ 120) – min. 13,000 aircraft seats sold per day).

Then, together with Qeep, they developed a design process that involved the company’s middle management. More than 200 middle managers and other staff members identified the critical factors for achieving 7-9-13 and devised solutions to address them.

The middle management received coaching to foster their support for the solutions and to enhance their ability to communicate these solutions to staff. The coaching also included an intensive focus on results leadership to help them achieve the goal.

Old Habits A variety of old habits had kept them from achieving their goals.

Management normally developed plans and was responsible for ensuring implementation.

As a result, only about 50% of the plans were actually implemented.

Follow-ups took place only once a month, after the financial reports were completed – the logic being that the finance department could not get the numbers ready in time for more frequent follow-ups.

The pilots took the stance that “I won’t fly with a Team Maersk/Team Sterling colleague in the seat to my left” (the captain’s seat).

Finally, most of the staff believed that success was simply a matter of following the rules and procedures for their positions. Achieving results was the management’s responsibility.

New Behavior The pilots overcame their resistance and began to work efficiently in the cockpit with a combination of staff from both companies. And everyone began to focus on results, with “on time performance” and “fuel saving” providing a new sense of solidarity.

The supervising flight attendants assumed responsibility for in-flight sales results. The realization that each extra sandwich sold per departure could contribute an additional DKK 2 million (€ 0,3 million) to the bottom line inspired inflight sales drives, resulting in significant growth in sales. Meanwhile, the extra focus on in-flight sales was perceived by passengers as an improvement in customer service because they felt much better informed about their choices.

Flight attendants, pilots, maintenance, ground staff, management, finance and customer service followed up on all their results on an hourly basis – as well as daily and weekly. They also communicated their results directly to management and to their colleagues. Middle management – instead of the finance department – became the go-to source for “business intelligence” on the status of the company.

The Hero Online Marketing Manager Morten Vilsen came to Sterling from a small travel agency.

Morten set out to make Sterling Denmark’s first online airline. By the end of 2006, 86% of all Sterling bookings came from online custo-

mers and Sterling had Scandinavia’s largest commercial customer CRM database.

The Results • Sales increased by 500% in one year

The Unrealistic Goal

• Operations became profitable

Sterling achieved all three goals; however, the DKK 700 (€ 90) goal for production cost per aircraft seat was reached so late in the year that the company ended the year with a loss of DKK 80 million (€ 10,5 million) on the bottom line.

• The consolidated company went from an EBIT of DKK -800 million (€ 106,7 million) to an EBIT of DKK -80 million (€ 10,6 million) – in 12 months

The Organization The company was founded in 1962 by Ejlif Krogager as a provider of airline services to the package tour operator Tjæreborg. Reestablished in 1993 following bankruptcy, the company was then acquired by the Norwegian shipping company Fred Olsen, which had previously supplied air transport. This incarnation of Sterling was then sold in 2005 to a group of Icelandic investors headed by Palmi Harraldsson via his investment firm Fons Eignahaldsverlag.

At that time, the Sterling Airways limited partnership company had a fleet of ten Boeing 737-800 aircraft and 600 employees.

The company entered into negotiations with A.P. Moller-Maersk on the acquisition of the loss-making Maersk Air. After the takeover of Maersk Air, the company now known as Sterling Airlines A/S had 29 aircraft and 1,600 employees.

In the period 2005-2007, Sterling Airlines A/S underwent a dramatic turnaround.

• 30% reduction in cost per km flown • Sales per passenger increased by +1000% We went from thinking in terms of traditional service and coffee breaks to thinking in terms of commercial efficiency and execution speed. Our employees went from the slowest and least willing to change, to the fastest and most productive in the sector – in 15 months. We went from Team Maersk Air vs. Team Sterling to a unified low-price airline that profitably outperformed all the others in innovation and efficiency.

- Stefan Vilner CCO, Sterling Airlines A/S

Hillerød Hospital – Rebirth

PERSO

PATIEN T PERFO RMAN CE

NALE

Unrealistic Goals: To reverse a budget shortfall and reduce waiting lists

Outcome: Budget deficit turned positive and waiting lists are shorter

Solution: Performance Management Program – Stay on Budget

The Challenge

Old Habits

In 2005, the OB/GYN department at Hillerød Hospital, located north of Copenhagen, exceeded a budget of DKK 100 million (€ 13,3 million) by the enormous sum of DKK 15-18 million (€ 2-2,4 million). This made it difficult for the department to function smoothly. Thus the challenge: To stay on budget!

The patients received proper treatment, but spending exceeded the budget.

The Process Qeep helped and coached the department management throughout the process. The managers began to set goals and keep close tabs via progress via weekly results meetings.

New Behavior Everyone at the hospital began to view their job as not just to meet the patient needs but to do so within the given budget. Proactive planning and follow-up on expenses for temps, material consumption, occupancy, etc. ensured that the staff assumed responsibility for patient satisfaction and budget compliance.

The Results • Budget shortfall of 15% transformed into a profit • Staff sick days reduced by 2% • Waiting lists reduced by 12%

In the beginning, I thought it was really irritating because they were so damned persistent.

And they would sometimes interrupt things that were planned in meetings and such. But after a while we could see that it really helped us drive the process. Because as health professionals, we have a tendency to say: ‘The patients come first!”

- Annelise Bertelsen, Chief Nurse

The Unrealistic Goal The projected budget shortfall of DKK 15 million (€ 2 million) made it difficult for the department to function smoothly, leading department management to set a goal of reversing the budget shortfall.

The Organization Hillerød Hospital serves 310,000 people in Northern Zealand. The OB/GYN department provides prenatal and birth care, fertility treatments and female pelvic medicine. The department has 283 employees.

Alm. Brand – Growth in sales Unrealistic Goals: Sales growth of 10%

Outcome: Sales growth of 48%

Solution: Performance Management Programme

The Challenge

Old Habits

The competition’s sales resources are three times those of Alm. Brand. The sales organization was thus satisfied with limited annual growth. Then, Carsten Rothmann, head of distribution, decided that slightly better was no longer good enough. Thus the challenge: To perform a lot better!

The sales staff at Alm. Brand had a variety of habits and convictions that kept them from achieving the ambitious goal.

The Process

They also believed that increased sales efforts would have a negative impact on quality.

Finally, they didn’t collaborate much – a common phenomenon in sales organizations. Sales representatives have a tendency to think it’s everyone for themselves.

Qeep was brought in to help the sales organization perform a lot better.

Each member of the sales staff – and the organization as a whole – set a number of extremely ambitious goals. There was follow-up at brief weekly Results Meetings attended by every member of the sales staff. All the old excuses were replaced by a strict requirement to focus on achievable goals for each individual.

Initially, they didn’t believe they could do any better. Sales were already up by 9% – which in their view was good enough.

New Behavior

The Unrealistic Goal

Alm. Brand put an end to all the old habits and convictions.

The sales staff at Alm. Brand could use the excuse that the competition had three times the sales resources. They and their managers could thus be satisfied with only limited growth each year. But they weren’t. Instead, they set the unrealistic goal to do much better than their strong competitors.

The sales staff and managers worked hard – together with Qeep – to achieve the seemingly unrealistically high goal of boosting sales by 28%.

I have come to understand the importance of having a highly structured workday with operational results goals to guide my way. The follow-up process keeps me sharp! You only go unprepared to a Results Meeting once. Anyone with a result they need to achieve can benefit from a Results Process. Suddenly, you can achieve the impossible.

- Henrik Høy Key Account Manager, Alm. Brand

Consequently, the sales staff and the sales organization had to think outside the box! The sales staff took a critical look at all activities based on one simple criterion: Does this activity improve sales? If it didn’t, it was abandoned.

Meanwhile, managerial involvement in the daily sales efforts increased by means of weekly sales meetings. As a result, long explanations and excuses were replaced by demands for action and results.

The Hero With the vision that his sales team could perform much better, Carsten Rothmann initiated the comprehensive growth process at Alm. Brand. He was ready to break with both his own paradigms and with those of his team.

He kept his eye on the goal when the team’s courage waivered. He supported those who fell behind and praised those who succeeded. He is a true results hero!

The Organization Alm. Brand is a Danish financial institution that provides insurance, banking, life insurance and pension services. Its 1,700 employees generate revenue of around DKK 7 billion (€ 0,9 billion) a year.

The Results • Qeep worked with three centers – located in three different Danish cities – and helped them to achieve growth of 48%.

• The growth rate of the three centers was 38% higher than for the other centers that did not participate in the Qeep process.

•

Law Firm of Holm & Schmidt – Results don’t wait, do you?

Unrealistic Goals: To create organic growth and become an attractive and equal merger partner

The Challenge The partners at Holm & Schmidt had come to the realization that the future couldn’t be built on the firm’s founding business principles.

The group of partners had been joined by two young, ambitious attorneys without their own clients. The future was clear – they would eventually have to specialize as a niche law firm or consolidate via a merger.

The Process Based on a Possibilities Meeting of the partners, it was decided that a merger was the way forward. But in order to succeed, Holm & Schmidt needed to bolster its position and ability to achieve organic growth. Otherwise, they would not be an interesting merger partner.

Outcome: Leading party in the 2009 merger with the law firm Nordia Advokater

The process involved most of the firm’s 30 employees, who ultimately made a commitment to set goals for new sales, additional sales and efficiency. During the process it became clear – with help from Qeep – that a number of results groups and units could be formed, each headed by one of the partners.

All partners received intensive coaching in results management.

The Results • 25% organic growth in fees • 12% growth in earnings • Successful merger with a larger firm, Nordia, with Holm & Schmidt’s partners leading the negotiations

Solution: Performance Management program

Old Habits Holm & Schmidt were very reactive in their sales efforts.

The partners did not actively contact clients, because they believed that clients did not perceive any value in their calls. The attitude was: “They know that I’m here and they’ll call if they need me.”

They also only focused on selling their own individual specializations – not those of the other partners. The attorneys were all concerned that a colleague could ruin their business, if given access to a good and loyal client.

The sales efforts primarily took the form of attending conferences and dinners the partners were invited to.

New Behavior The partners divided themselves among groups of employees and embarked on a process of professional management via concrete results plans and regular follow-ups.

The two young partners began working professionally with their own networks – and actively seeking out prospective clients.

The most important change, however, was in the partners’ behavior towards existing clients. They began to contact existing clients in an effort to expand Holm & Schmidt’s share of wallet. These efforts were surprisingly well-received and the firm achieved growth in business. Clients proved interested in proactive dialogue and continuous sparring. And they were willing to pay for it.

The Hero Attorney Niels Jensen took it upon himself to develop and launch an environmental evaluation solution for Danish local governments. The solution was launched with huge success and increased revenue by 29%, making him a genuine Results Hero.

The Unrealistic Goal Holm & Schmidt set the goal of playing a leading role in a merger with a bigger law firm.

The Organization The law firm of Holm & Schmidt was established in 1994 with five partners and a total of 30 employees. The firm is strong within charities/NGOs, life science and corporate law in general.

Qeep helped us change our behavior from just waiting for the next case to proactively building client relations, which landed us new clients and fullservice agreements with several of our existing clients. Qeep challenged our view of what it takes to run a law firm and the attitudes that traditionally characterize our sector. All lawyers can learn something here.

- Michael Vesthardt, Senior Partner, Holm & Schmidt, Nordia – now MAQS

Gain market share – SAS Cargo turns the tide Unrealistic Goals: To gain market share

The Challenge In 2007, SAS Cargo lost market share despite strong growth in the airfreight market.

The Process At the end of 2007, Qeep and the SAS Cargo management held a series of possibility meetings where they set very ambitious goals for 2008.

Qeep then coached and trained the managers, helping to change the mindset at SAS Cargo in the course of the 52-week process.

Old Habits At SAS Cargo, staff generally thought their job was to take incoming orders: “The customers call when they have freight that needs transporting.” Bringing in new customers and

Outcome: 3.8% increase in market share

meeting demand was considered “someone else’s” job.

New Behavior Customer service representatives took responsibility for proactively maintaining contact with their customers. They began to contact customers to ascertain future demands and in the process were able to determine whether competitors were in play. The new activities included keeping tabs on customers, following up on employee performance and taking action on any initiatives necessary to achieve their goals

The Hero Susse – a customer service representative – increased her sales by 234% in three months.

Susse became proactive and chose not to give

Solution: Sales Breakthrough Program – Gain Market Share

up on customers who used alternative freight solutions. She aimed for 100% share of wallet when it came to her customer’s airfreight. And she succeeded!

The Unrealistic Goal To turn a declining market share into positive growth.

The Organization SAS Cargo is an independent company within the SAS Group. Every day, 165 employees provide airfreight services on 1,000 flights throughout Europe and weekly flights to North America and Asia.

o g r Ca

We now have a finely tuned organization that is much more results oriented.

We are much more ambitious about achieving the goals we set for ourselves!

- Rasmus Enderslev, Director of Sales, SAS Cargo

The Results SAS Cargo exceeded its goals for 2008: • After one year, sales exceeded budget by 21% • Individual sales increased by 58% • 3.8% increase in market share

Cargo

Welltec – From stagnation to growth Unrealistic Goals: To reach a billion dollars in revenue by 2015 The Challenge After 15 years of strong growth, sales at Welltec stagnated because the sales organization did not share the senior management’s ambitions. They needed a cultural revolution in sales and a common vision for the company. Welltec was to be a billion-dollar business – hence the project name: Tour de Billion.

The Process For the first time in the company’s history, Qeep brought together every sales manager and sales representative from seven regions for a three-day Possibility Workshop. Qeep challenged them all to set individual, ambitious breakthrough goals and to think outside the box in order to achieve them.

Outcome: 41% growth in sales in one year

Despite the fact that the sales representatives had not achieved their sales targets for several years running, the groups set goals that seemed unrealistically high. The sales representatives and management also identified a number of areas that were critical for achieving results.

Subsequently, Qeep provided the managers with training in results management and coaching methods using on-the-job training, making it easy for each manager to provide sales management that was effective, inspired involvement and encouraged everyone to take responsibility.

Old Habits The Qeep process revealed several challenges, which everyone agreed needed to

Solution: Sales Breakthrough Programme – Tour de Billion change. A key challenge was that the sales representatives at Welltec lacked ambition.

They didn’t share the senior management’s vision and consequently didn’t take their sales targets seriously. In the minds of the senior management, Welltec was a supplier of complete solutions to oil companies, but the sales reps sold the company as a single-service provider.

Meanwhile, execution in the sales organization wasn’t up to par. Newly developed products weren’t selling, experiences with global customers weren’t being shared among the regions, and the CRM system wasn’t being used as an active management tool. All in all, there was a lack of leadership and insufficient follow-up on sales efforts.

New Behavior

The Hero

The Results

The breakthrough for Welltec came in several areas.

Jeremy Ray was sales manager at Welltec in Canada. The sales team in Canada had not previously defined specific goals and most certainly never challenged themselves to achieve breakthroughs. They simply grew with the market! However, Jeremy set out to change that. He wanted his team to achieve growth of +50%. The team doubted whether it was possible, but Jeremy was adamant. In 2011, he was named “Results Hero of the Year” by Qeep AS.

• Sales increased by 41% in one year

First and foremost, the entire sales organization came together around one common billion-dollar ambition and a vision to create a united company.

This inspired enthusiasm and targeted efforts within the organization to follow through on the increased activity needed to achieve the goals set by the sales representatives and management. Their sales approach evolved from reactive to proactive.

On the whole, the management and sales representatives began to follow up more consistently on their efforts and goals and to share information across the organization.

The Unrealistic Goal

• Sales trends improved in four regions • The CRM system was used more consistently • Strong growth in the number of jobs for both new and existing customers Furthermore, the process – especially the Possibility Workshop – quickly brought about a culture change within the company, resulting in a sales organization that is much better equipped to follow through on its goals.

“One Billion Dollars in revenue by 2015.”

The Organization Welltec develops and supplies solutions for the oil and gas industry. Since its founding in 1989, the company has seen remarkable growth and now employs around 800 people in 24 countries. The global sales organization is divided into seven regions.

Our sales reps and sales managers wanted to shoot for a billion in revenue, which I thought was impossible.

- Jørgen Hallundbæk, CEO, Welltec

MTH Construction – From project focus to customer focus – sales growth of DKK 700 million Unrealistic Goals: To establish a commercial organization and boost revenue significantly

Outcome: Growth in revenue from DKK 2.9 billion to DKK 3.5 billion (€ 0,4 to 0,5 billion) – in 12 months The Challenge MTH Construction had made several attempts to get their engineers and building contractors to adopt commercial and customer-oriented thinking – and had given up time and again.

With the cooling of the construction sector caused by the financial crisis, MTH Construction managed to achieve results by tightening its belt.

Now management wanted to change tactics and give the sales and tender function a boost to achieve a higher hit-rate and profitable revenue growth. The sales function had recently been centralized – in theory. However, in practice, the sales staff was still located in the regional offices and selling locally. National coordination, purchasing criteria segmentation and sales management were insufficient.

The Process From the outset, Qeep involved both the sales staff and management in the definition of MTH Construction’s commercial breakthrough.

Solution: Executionable Strategy

An impartial customer analysis revealed a clear gap between MTH Construction’s view of things and the real life situation. A performance and profile assessment also exposed disparities between the current competency level, the corporate attitude and customer expectations.

The involvement and analysis process identified the need for a new organization that matched the relevant customer segmentation.

Meanwhile, a commercial director with experience managing solution sales representatives was appointed.

In phase two, Qeep coached management and new/existing sales staff to help with development and operation of the new function. With the launch of the “win sheet, personal results plan, and weekly results meetings” tools, this process ensured that MTH Construction’s commercial staff executed the planned initiatives, despite in-house resistance encountered by the department. And they achieved their ambitious goal!

We set out to design a new strategy for profitable growth. Qeep challenged us directly at the very first meeting by asking what we wanted to achieve.

They weren’t interested in just writing a strategy report for us, they wanted to ensure execution and help us achieve the agreed result. That was something new! They pushed us hard – but respectfully – and established a relationship that I don’t normally experience with consultants.

- Jens Nyhus, COO, MTH Construction

Old Habits The MTH Construction sales staff believed they were responsible for identifying future projects and ensuring that the company had the opportunity to bid on them. However, responsibility for MTH Construction actually winning the bids rested with the tender function – not the sales department.

The sales staff was also convinced that MTH Construction was well known in the market.

According to the sales staff, there was only one reason why the company lost orders – they were too expensive.

Sales to national customers were managed centrally. Thus, when necessary, MTH Construction would bid aggressively on national customers, who also had to respect the fact that they might be too busy locally to bid.

New Behavior MTH Construction hired a number of market managers. In the centralized commercial function, they began coordinating key customers at national level. Key customers now received regular visits and their wishes could be implemented in all projects – across the country.

The Results • 25% hit-rate - up from 13% the previous year • Growth in order intake from 2.9 billion to DKK 3.6 billion (€ 0,4 to 0,5 billion) in a declining market

Sales staff members were assigned the title of Customer Managers, with responsibility for project win rates. They were tasked with identifying, prioritizing and coordinating customer contact from the initial meeting to the landing of the order. The customer managers now

coordinated all the resources and the next step was to make it easier for customers to choose different strategies. For example, customers could now negotiate directly with MTH Construction – instead of always having to put a project out to tender in order to obtain a good price.

The Hero Sales Manager John Sommer is the type of person who devotes all his energy to achieving what he sets out to do. As a consequence, people around him sometimes had trouble keeping up. When John was appointed head of the customer managers, he took on a huge management task that would take more than just energy to fulfill. John proved that he could get everyone to work as a team without losing sight of the goal. John has learned to pace his energy in order to ensure a high degree of execution among his customer managers.

The Unrealistic Goal Growth in profitable sales of DKK 700 million (€ 90 million) in a declining market.

The Organization MT Højgaard is one of the leading building and construction companies in the Nordic region.

The company collaborates with customers all over Denmark and abroad on projects of all sizes, from small construction projects to large-scale and complex works, infrastructure projects and the installation of foundations for offshore wind turbines.

Rambøll - White Spot Warriors Unrealistic Goals: To supply local governments in the Zealand region

The Challenge The local government sector is an attractive and highly competitive market. Despite targeted efforts, Ramboll had not had much success landing jobs for local governments in the Zealand region, where the Danish capital, Copenhagen, is also located.

The Process Qeep and Ramboll worked together for nine months to set and achieve a series of goals, which would ultimately lead to increased sales to the local governments in the Zealand region.

The first step was to define the goal. For the sake of visualization, the attractive local governments were marked in white on a map of Zealand – giving rise to the name of the project “White Spot Warriors”. The team of warriors initially comprised Ramboll’s Director of Marketing, Michael Schad, and seven area managers.

They worked to identify a number of critical factors, drew up personal results plans and

Outcome: Sales to all ”White Spots”

Solution: Sales Breakthrough

met once a week at results meetings, where they shared their successes, followed up on execution and evaluated what worked and what didn’t.

Throughout the process, Qeep’s consultants coached the warriors and ensured the project was firmly rooted in the organization. They also provided training for area managers in areas where their competencies could be given a boost. This process ensured that the area managers worked in a serious and targeted manner to achieve their goals – without losing touch with Ramboll’s original values and corporate culture.

Old Habits Ramboll had attempted to increase sales to local governments in the Zealand region without much success.

Area managers were highly focused on sales of their own particular product. When in contact with potential customers, they failed to consider the need for Ramboll’s many other services.

WHITE SPOT

WARRIORS

The effect of setting goals, assessing and launching initiatives, and addressing critical factors improves our results. Cultivating relations at a high level and involvement across the Ramboll organization became a natural part of the process for achieving success. The cross-organizational collaboration was particularly vital for developing the market. We owe a great thanks to our area managers, to our customers and to Qeep!

- Michael Schad, Director of Marketing, Ramboll

The Results

New Behavior

The outreach activities and cross-organizational collaboration resulted in a successful breakthrough:

As a result of the process:

• Ramboll now conducts business with 12 out of 15 local authorities – all new customers • More than 10% of company revenue stems from these new customers • Most of the area managers increased sales by 40% • Three out of seven area managers doubled their revenue The organizational outcome: Ramboll’s employees are now better at execution and achieving their goals – even after completion of the process with Qeep.

The area managers began to understand that they could involve other departments in their sales efforts – and benefit from this. They started out by selling each other – not just themselves. Then, they stepped out of their comfort zones and began to visit the local authorities more often, discovering a definite interest – not only in their own services, but in many of Ramboll’s other services as well.

The success snowballed. One successful call leading to a positive and fruitful conversation made the next call that much easier. And so on.

The Hero Area Manager Michael Vedel experienced fantastic growth during the process!

Prior to the process, he had neither the time nor the resources to approach new customers in the local government sector.

The role of area manager with greater crossorganizational responsibility for accounts and sales was new at Ramboll. Michael took on the task – in addition to his usual operational duties – and performed with flying colors. He generated new business and landed three new local governments in his own area (100% success) via renewed focus, the use of targeted sales activities, increased meeting activity, and

interdisciplinary involvement of competencies across the Ramboll organization.

Michael is an excellent example of the benefits of questioning paradigms and of dropping an “it can’t be done” attitude in favor of an “it works if you focus your efforts” attitude.

The Unrealistic Goal Qeep challenged the seven area managers to set unrealistic goals. They set the goals of landing new customers in selected local governments and boosting sales across the region by 40%.

The Organization Ramboll Denmark is a leading engineer, design and consulting firm, supplying knowledgebased turnkey solutions in construction and design, traffic and infrastructure, environment and water, energy and climate, and industry.

The Ramboll Group employs around 10,000 people and operates globally, with 200 offices in 23 countries.

MT Højgaard Construction – From Brick to Experience Unrealistic Goals: To ensure customer focus throughout the construction process

The Challenge MTH Construction’s production had been decentrally managed for many years by seven independent division directors. During this period, MTH’s staff functions underwent system and competency development based on centralized process management. The result was strong production management at local level but with a lack of cross-organizational knowledge-sharing and synergies.

With the introduction of a centralized MTH Construction commercial department focused on relations with Denmark’s major national contractors, a need developed for crossorganizational coordination and execution following common norms.

This was amplified by several rounds of restructuring, which reduced the number of divisions from seven to three. The three remaining division directors were expected to

Outcome 2012: 15% increase in A-customer satisfaction and zero errors in more than 50% of projects upon handover

Solution: Executable Strategy and Performance Management – MTHC 20-0-113

build bridges across the former divisions, but with what? What was the common platform – the plan?

A-customers; 0 errors or deficiencies in all building projects upon handover – and savings via improved project management in the order of DKK 113 million (€ 15 million).

The Process MTH Construction had conducted a series of customer interviews. Based on the knowledge collected through these interviews and with the involvement of the division directors and staff functions, they set out to define MTH Construction’s position/value proposition. The outcome was the vision: “Reliability from idea to ownership”.

All middle managers were introduced to the 20-0-113 concept and subsequently presented the vision to the company’s full staff.

Posters in every office encouraged employees to ask their local managers for an explanation.

Responsibility for the launch rested with the division directors, who were each assigned a cross-organizational results pathway (20-0113).

The group decided that, by the end of 2013, MTH Construction should be able to guarantee zero errors or deficiencies, efficient building operations and no financial surprises. The group then received coaching to help them formulate the KPIs against which the guarantee would be benchmarked: 20% improvement in customer satisfaction among

The company also introduced results boards for all major projects, which were hung up on-site at the project manager’s shed. Each week, they followed up on the KPIs and actions – including those relating to 20-0-113. Project statuses were defined as green, yellow or red. Photos taken using cell phones ensured quick reporting to the division, where the photos were printed

and posted as status red, yellow or green. This ensured that the status was always visible and up-to-date, from the shed up to the division director’s office

The project managers conducted daily execution meetings at the results boards with foremen and suppliers to coordinate and ensure target fulfillment.

Old Habits

Everyone at MTH Construction now keeps tabs on their progress with the 20-0-113 KPIs.

There wasn’t much collaboration across the divisions within MTH Construction. The division directors managed their divisions as though they were their own personal construction companies.

This meant, among other things, that the individual division directors were responsible for all relations with major clients within their own divisions. At no time did they hand over contact to anyone in another division.

Meanwhile, employees did not assume responsibility for project management. They entered information into the systems as required, but felt no responsibility for the result! Instead, their management approach was budget-oriented.

The Hero Area Manager Ole Christensen has proven himself a cross-organizational results hero. Ole has energetically developed and executed the entire Results Board project and ensured the incorporation of input from all involved project managers. Based on these efforts he made the boards indispensible and implemented their use in 20 major MTH construction projects.

- Jens Nyhus, COO, MTH Construction

The Unrealistic Goal Zero errors or deficiencies in all construction projects upon handover as of December 31, 2013

New Behavior

The Organization

The division directors worked together to drive the idea of 20-0-113 home throughout the organization. They implemented the concept across the divisions within their own areas and ensured reporting to the relevant staff on the same level within the organization.

MT Højgaard is one of the leading building and construction companies in the Nordic region.

The company collaborates with customers all over Denmark and abroad on projects of all sizes, from small construction projects to the building of large-scale and complex works, infrastructure projects and the installation of foundations for offshore wind turbines.

As part of the process, they introduced weekly reporting from the results boards to the top management, keeping employees focused on the goals and on the new, simplified methods.

Qeep established a relationship with me, my managers and key employees, respectfully provoking and inspiring us to fully utilize our crossorganizational potential. They quickly learned our language and got to know our organization, while at the same time continuously giving us examples from other industries that challenged us to retain the decentralized management of tenders, quality assurance and streamlining. They have an impressively simple way to get you to realize where the shoe pinches.

The Results – as of June 2012 • The company went from errors and deficiencies in all projects to zero errors in 35% of projects upon handover • 15% increase in satisfaction among A-customers • The increased efficiency for 2012 will be calculated as of December 31, 2012 • The deadline for achieving the 20-0113 goal is the end of 2013. Progress to date looks very promising

DCC Energi Denmark five-fold growth in new customers Unrealistic Goals: 5,000 new customers in 6 months

The Challenge The challenge for DCC was to attract more customers in a recessive energy market – without negatively impacting earnings.

For some time, the company had seen weak and unsatisfactory growth in market share in the Danish energy market. The introduction of gas distribution had not resulted in the desired customer influx.

Outcome: 100% achievement of the goals

The managers were challenged to their very cores in terms of leadership style, ability to work cross-organizationally and internal communication. Responsibility, prioritization and focus on the end result took over the agenda, pushing aside the old Shell culture.

Following up on activities that yield results became an integral element in achieving success.

The Process

Old Habits

Each employee at the company set very ambitious goals. The employees in corporate and private sales, in particular, set extreme goals for growth in new customers and they carefully considered what it would take to achieve them.

First, it should be nice to go to work; second to that comes results. That was the culture at DCC – with the results to prove it. It was always someone else’s fault if something went wrong; employees subconsciously resisted each other and took a reactive stance to internal and customer-related challenges.

Everyone agreed that the results couldn’t be achieved. At least not without new thinking and putting an end to the old “Shell paradigms”.

As a result, productivity remained unsatisfactorily low.

Solution: Performance Culture Program

New Behavior After massive resistance from management in the early stages of the project, every manager now drives the company towards the end goal via weekly or biweekly results meetings.

Responsibility for achieving goals now rests solidly with the individual employee. The “impossible” goals are achieved by focusing on the results, something that managers and employees thought to be impossible just nine months earlier. Consistency has become a trademark of top management and innovative thinking combined with process optimization are part of daily life for the vast majority of employees.

The Hero Operations Manager Kirsten Ramsing has always had a good handle on the business, always knowing what needed to be done. In the beginning, she resisted the “rigid resultsoriented method which doesn’t suit our business”. But as the process progressed, she embraced the results-oriented method and began coaching her employees to help them achieve results instead of giving them directives. The outcome is “win/win”, in Kirsten’s own words. She is now a better boss, while her employees assume responsibility and profit from the good results.

The two middle managers in marketing and private sales who report to Kirsten have both exceeded their targets for new customers.

Together, the three of them have established a fantastic results partnership.

The Unrealistic Goal For DCC Energy Denmark to grow significantly and gain market share in an energy market under pressure.

To grow from approx. 1,000 new customers in the first half of the year to 5,000 new customers in the second half. The vital result,

however, is how the corporate culture at DCC Energy Denmark has transitioned from a reactive energy supplier into an agile, proactive and results-oriented distributor in the energy market.

The Results • Five-fold increase in the first 6 months: • 5,000 new customers in 6 months • 5 new sales channels established in the market • 5 new products introduced to the customers

The Organization DCC Energy Denmark has approx. 70 employees and is an energy distribution company seeking growth in the Nordic market.

DCC specializes in the distribution of heating fuel, diesel, natural gas and lubricants to private customers and businesses.

DCC Energy Denmark is owned by DCC plc Ireland, which employs approx. 9,500 people.

And all with earnings on budget for the period.

We had a strategy, but we doubted our ability to execute. We heard about the results Qeep had achieved in a similar situation for another company, had a talk with them and initiated the transformation of our company. What we didn’t realize in the beginning was how strongly we were influenced by the old Shell culture. We can see now how that would have been fatal in the long term in an energy market under pressure. My mandate as CEO has grown, my managers have grown as a team, and the company is ready for the energy fight in the Danish market.

Christian Heise, CEO DCC Energy Denmark

SEAS-NVE energizes their goals Unrealistic Goals: Land 40,000 new customers, win back 95% of co-operative owners, and generate energy savings of 39Gwh – all in 2013

Outcome: 100% achievement of the goals

Solution: Performance Culture Program

The Challenge

The Process

Old Habits

The Danish energy market had been regulated by the state for decades. Customers couldn’t change providers, which meant that the main objective for providers in the market was to service existing customers, who were often cooperative owners.

We brought all SEPR employees together and involved them in the process of setting extremely ambitious goals for 2013. Each employee also determined what they personally needed to focus on to achieve these goals.

In recent years, the market has undergone extreme deregulation. Operating in this reality provides SEAS-NVE Private (SEPR) the opportunity to expand its business beyond its traditional geographic area.

Everyone agreed that these results could only be achieved with new thinking and by freeing themselves from the old “SEAS paradigms”.

The department’s established leadership style was examined and challenged, while the ability to cooperate across the organization and within the individual teams became the primary focus.

In the old department structure, the management and employees worked in a reactive culture, where nobody took responsibility and maintenance was prioritized above results. Employees didn’t know what management expected of them. They didn’t know which goals had been set, which tasks were critical for achieving results and which activities were required.

To seize this opportunity, SEPR needed to transform a service culture steeped in tradition into a committed and progressive sales and consulting culture. In 2012, the company set the goals of growth in customers, customer satisfaction and energy savings through consulting and partnerships.

The new, unifying agenda was defined as: personal responsibility, prioritization and focus on results. Weekly follow-up on resultsyielding activities became routine on the path to success.

In other words, the employees saw no correlation between their daily lives and the message conveyed by management.

New Behavior The goals set by the employees and management in SEPR seemed unrealistic and out of reach.

And yet, from the outset, both management and employees approached the project with

great enthusiasm and willingness to change.

As a result, the project progressed steadily and the goals became more and more realistic.

Throughout the entire process, the employees have been involved in the formulation of their department’s ambitions through workshops and quarterly meetings. And to ensure progress, everyone keeps tabs on the results at weekly results meetings, where responsibility for target achievement rests solely with each individual employee.

The new department is now characterized by consistency and the ability to change.

Employees demonstrate a strong sense of personal responsibility for their own results, as well as for the department’s and SEASNVE’s overall results. With their coachingoriented and inclusive approach to leadership, SEPR’s management has achieved record-high employee satisfaction ratings.

The Hero Carsten Fischer, Market Manager, has brought an unrelenting attitude to his operations, providing a breath of fresh air to the entire SEAS-NVE organization. And he has done so without losing control of his operations.

Carsten always knew what needed to be done, but now he employs his leadership style to ensure that managers and employees assume responsibility for goals and development.

Carsten has given his management team a sense that anything is possible, and SEPR

continuously incorporates the changing market conditions into the department’s operations.

Throughout the entire process, Carsten has delegated but never abdicated.

The Unrealistic Goal Why were the goals of 40,000 new customers and 4,000 returning co-operative owners (95%) so unrealistic? Across the industry, 220,000 customers change providers each year. SEAS-NVE is responsible for more than 20% of that activity.

The results appear even more impressive within the context of the numbers from past years. In 2011, SEAS-NVE moved 6,000 customers, in 2012 this total was 40,000, and this year the company will move 45,000 customers.

The Organization SEAS-NVE provides energy and communications services to 400,000 customers and co-operative owners.

SEAS-NVE merges its roots in the cooperative movement with modern corporate management.

SEPR comprises two teams – Sales and Post Sales (win-back and churn) – with a total staff of ten, including two managers.

The Results SEPR achieved every goal the company set for itself.

Personally, the process has given me much greater insight into our intermediate targets and goals. It has been very informative to learn which tasks my colleagues are responsible for, and this has made it much easier for us to provide help and support across the department. We have a stronger team spirit and are more cohesive.

- Employee at SEAS-NVE.

Read how companies improve their performance through execution management.

Qeep A/S SOHO, FlĂŚsketorvet 68, 1.

DK - 1711 København V Phone: +45 43 50 20 20 E-mail: info@qeep.as Website: www.qeep.as