Case Study

Aligning Leaders and Leadership

The Problem

To this global consumer product company, their mission statement is more than a marketing tool: it’s an identity. As a direct selling company with employees, distributors, and customers in more than 54 international markets, that identity acts as the glue that holds their people together.

Over the years, they had tried embedding the mission statement in a number of leadership competency models, but none of the models had gained the traction leaders had hoped they would. Meanwhile, the company continued to grow and with increased growth came increased demand.

A new CEO, encouraged by a proactive CHRO, realized that the pipeline was not as strong as he hoped and that the rapid growth was diluting the cultural connection to the mission statement and required a more systematic approach to leadership development.

The Solution

RBL was asked to help create a leadership brand that would resonate with all of the company’s stakeholders. They began with an outside-in perspective, conducting interviews with internal and external stakeholders to find out what it meant to regions, distributors, investors, employees, and management to be successful at and for the company.

Working with the executive team, RBL helped the company articulate a leadership brand that communicated what it meant to be a good leader and deliver results.

To implement the new brand, the company began rolling it out in phases and incorporating it into existing systems such as coaching conversations, total rewards, employee development, hiring processes, succession, and new employee orientation, all from a leader-led perspective. RBL has also helped to design and deliver a series of workshops built around the brand.

The Outcome

Because of its close relationship to the existing culture, it’s clear the leadership brand is gaining traction in a way previous attempts hadn’t. A successful leadership transition in the CEO role and the way the brand has been integrated into all the company’s people processes has helped create real belief and investment in the company identity.