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Case Study:
National Paper Company
Lack of Trust:
The fear-based thinking that stifles communication flow, kills self expression, destroys cooperation and enjoyment, and cements a "what's in it for me" culture.
The Challenges:
- Creating a culture where team members genuinely trust
each other.
- Creating a common leadership philosophy and vernacular
among far-flung management.
- Turning great energy into performance, team spirit, pride
of product, and pride in the company.
Over the past 60 years, this organization grew to become
a billion dollar plus company with over 100 facilities and
more than 6000 employees . As new properties were acquired,
fear of impending layoffs and distrust of the new management
created a pall of gloom. Production dropped and waste figures
increased.
Top leaders realized the entire Midwest division, comprised
of 6 separate plants, were in great need of a unifying leadership
ethos. They had great people with enormous energy, but needed
to turn this energy into performance, team spirit, pride
of product, and pride in the company.
To begin the process of creating a unified vision plus
a common leadership vernacular and methods, top management
brought all plant managers through line supervisors together
for a series of Pathways to Leadership programs over
a period of three years.
"As a part of my job, I visit four Midwest plants on a
regular basis to increase efficiency and reduce spoilage.
Since taking the training, I have been greeted with open arms
and minds. The savings will be $1.5M to $2.5M annually. Pathways
to Leadership training has made me more aware and sensitive
and has made my life less stressful and happier." - Midwest
Division Manager
"After the first layoffs/downsizing in our plant's history,
we had two options - 1) Become upset and negative and let
it affect our business lives and home lives; or 2) use the
Pathways to Leadership tools to deal with situations in a
healthy and positive way." -- Plant Manager
Tools and Concepts
Note: The following steps represent only a few of the key
concepts and tools applied in this case study.
- In addition to the Pathways to Leadership®
programs, executive
coaching was done individually with several plant
managers who requested this one-on-one mentoring. They
realized that their employees would follow what these
top leaders modeled - not the words they spoke.
- During the POIS
process, each group's facilitator helped them maximize
peer support and use of the Pathways
Planner in mastering the tools and concepts.
- They learned how to focus in a positive, solution-oriented
direction. When focused forward, they were actively engaged
in bringing their plans/goals to fruition. A backward
focus assumes the worst, and constantly looks for where
the people/plans are falling short. In this kind of fear-based
culture, there is no effective communication; no trust.
When they saw the boomerang effect of focusing backward
they learned several concepts that enabled them to make
this shift to an open-minded forward focus.
- Another key insight is the fact that the mind triggers
on questions. When a question is posed, the mind is programmed
to seek an answer. Depending on the way the question is
worded, the mind will go either to the front or back side
of the Energy Circle. This team became masterful
in asking forward focused questions.
- Plant managers and supervisors adopted the Pathways
to Leadership communication methods, and their support
e-mails and phone calls with their teams showed their
excitement about the progress being made at all levels.
- Ongoing support and planning between the Client Relations
staff and top leaders helped cement progress and identify
areas that needed addressing.
- Use of the Performance Review Questions was a
great help in aiding managers and staff when facing the
challenges that are a constant facet of this business.
Learn more about the Pathways
to Leadership programs.
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(c) 2003 Pathways to Leadership, Inc. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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Poor Morale