Think One Team, 2nd Edition

chapter 9 acceleration

three months later

Every month Jenny O’Donnell assembled the leaders of O’Donnell’s Jelly Bean Company to review progress and set the next month’s priorities for transformation. It was a part of the operating rhythm and a great example of executives and advocates working as partners without the status barriers that had previously stifled communication and decision making.

Quick wins built the momentum and confidence for change as staff saw that O’Donnell’s really could be reinvented without losing the parts of the culture that they all loved. There were still plenty of entrenched practices and heavy baggage to challenge, but as Steve noted, ‘The drumbeat is getting faster’.

Transformation initiatives had been launched using ninety-day Leading Collaborative Change programs to create urgency and a one-team approach. As a consequence, staff felt genuinely engaged in co-creating solutions to these big challenges and problems. Engagement was measured fortnightly as part of ‘closing the loop’ and the index had climbed steadily across the three months.

A customised online Collaboration Space was a winner that had brought people together to co-create in areas where previous attempts at using the company intranet and collaborative software had failed. Jenny used what she called the ‘Cspace’ to publish a fortnightly big picture update to everyone that included wins, losses and learnings.

Everyone loved the simplicity of the ‘think one team’ tools and had their ...