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(The name of the company and certain situations are disguised due to a confidentiality agreement. The actual client approved this case study)
In a quirky competitive environment, KRW, a network communications company in the Southwest, was floundering despite a history of success. "We fix one thing, and then something else needs fixing," said KRW's Chief Operating Officer, Tom Szabo. "We have to put in place new controls and financial disciplines to stanch the hemorrhaging and return us temporarily to profit. And that will be the easy part. We have to integrate all our change efforts and do everything at once."
"It's difficult to solve current problems and position yourself for the future at the same time, and in equal measure," agreed Marketing Vice President Kim Alderson. "But if we don't have the will and the creativity to find better ways and jettison the waste we've been hauling along, we're going to be irrelevant pretty soon."
"What we need to do first," she continued, "is figure out what part of the past we can use as a pivot to get to our future, and what part of our past success represents excess baggage."
To do this, KRW engaged Moravec and Associates. KRW and the consultants decided on a change management framework based on two sets of teams placed throughout the company. One set of teams was charged with finding and implementing improvements and cost savings for the present, the second set with activating innovative strategies and initiatives to keep the KRW future alive.
"Our consultants didn't deliver an inch-thick, colorful presentation describing a formula or business model. Instead, they provided knowledgeable guidance, facilitation, and a kind of blueprint to help organize and direct the teams. We felt that the employees should be heavily involved in what the business should do to be competitive today and stay that way," Szabo reported. "That's the only way they'd own the actions."
A side benefit occurred, in this "Forward to Basics" effort, when the teams started analyzing the company's past successes to see what could be built on and what should be replaced: they were able to crystallize KRW's business philosophy and use it to guide their implementation. This philosophy became the basis for cascading and executing the changes throughout the company. It also sustained the teams and sponsors when, as is usual in corporate redesign efforts, they encountered resistance to change and resource limitations.
The changes that were implemented involved structure, processes, and technology. KRW reported that profits improved 12% after the first year and 10% in the subsequent two years.