Case Study: Food Manufacturing Sector

Exec Summary

The Issue

Our client CEO felt trust was missing at a key production site. “They are telling me what they think I want to hear”. This was during Covid, and the Exec team has been restricted from travelling so being face to face with the team was not possible. We were hired to understand what was going on and if the local management team were “performing or hiding”. The data pointed to poor productivity, low morale, quality and profitability was at risk.
The management team stood closely together, “everything is fine!”

What ACN did…

The CEO knew that ACN worked in the People and Culture space. “ACN work well with teams. I reached out to ACN and asked them to do ‘a cultural snapshot.’ I knew that they would be honest with the team, that their approach would be one of genuine curiosity.”
We kicked off with the local team and we listened to their perception of what was going on. We did not prejudge, and we genuinely wanted to support the team. Any hostility soon elaborated as we went through our process. Firstly, we interviewed people from across the division at all levels and representing all functions. Once we established relationship several key issues unmerged around quality, trust and a toxic culture of bullying.
ACN made sure that there was transparency, we shared what we found and helped all parties internalise the feedback. The management team of the division read the same reports that the CEO received which further built trust between ACN and the management team, as well as with the CEO. Our most significant findings surrounded behaviours which were impacting teams and productivity across the division. We workshopped options to address those behaviours, ACN, the CEO, and the management team came up with creative approaches and solutions and quickly and transparently implemented them.
The CEO quickly rebalanced the team, game them the support they needed and together they turned performance around. Two major contracts were rescued as a direct result of this work.

The Outcome

Productivity of the division took a significant step forward, further validating the reorganisation as well as other solutions. Some key managers chose to move on, and some reorganisations put a very focused management team formed. The CEO outsourced the maintenance function and together with productivity improvements realised a 500% ROI

Client Quotes :

“They empower the people to make their own change, to stop and take stock, and to build their own vision of what could be. Their cultural diagnostic is superb – it is inclusive, listening, and inquisitive – digging into the real issues and potential. They understand how the workplace, human nature, teams and productivity work together. I would definitely use them again.”

“With ACN, it is not looking for the negative, but rather it is looking for the positive; defining the culture you want. Everyone can agree that there should be a better culture, regardless of where you start. Their cultural diagnostic is of high value – cultural misalignment will cost you a lot of money”