The Problem
A global fast food company was slumping. Although they’d historically enjoyed many years of popularity and profit, changing consumer expectations combined with slow growth and negative publicity were beginning to take a toll on the stock price. Company executives knew they needed to make a huge strategic shift in order to win back customers and recover market share. One of the key components of this strategic shift was an increased focus on creating leadership and talent that met customer needs.
The Solution
The first step was gathering data to understand what world-class leadership meant and how it applied to the company. They enlisted RBL to help evaluate all of their leaders and identify critical gaps in capability. The company used this data and the standards of the Leadership Code to define a set of new competencies that would align with the company’s revamped strategy. These competencies reinforced the company’s new commitment to agility, effective execution, customer focus, and nurturing talent. The report was shared internally and with the board of directors to gain support and buy-in for their leadership development investment.
The company then worked with RBL to create a yearlong flagship leadership development program for select high potentials across different geographies. The company made an effort to create a highly experiential, hands-on experience for the participants that would help them learn more about great leadership at a variety of different organizations and apply it to their future at the company. To ensure that these new competencies and perspectives stuck, each participant also received one-on-one executive coaching.
The Outcome
The effort to define and align good leadership with the company’s new strategic goals made an impact both on an individual leader level and a company level. Several of the leaders in the flagship development program demonstrated enough change that they received promotions before the end of the program. The new leadership competencies were highly effective in redefining leadership for a new generation of leaders, shifting the focus away from operational excellence to customer obsession.
When RBL first presented their initial report on the state of leadership at the company, a P/E ratio analysis told the company that their stock was extremely undervalued. As a result of the company’s commitment to understanding the needs of their customers and willingness to change their internal processes and behaviors to meet those needs, their stock price skyrocketed over the next few years and continues to trend upward.