Working Together to Make Successful Products
Guiding a Development Process Across Departments
Starting Point:
Early 2015 – Dr. Sven Ehrich, new R&D Director, presented his new goal for multi-project management. It required far-reaching changes within multi-project management and the entire research and development department. He came up against resistance. “Without commitment from employees and managers, the development project will not be successful. What can I do to get them on board with this transformation?”, he asked us in our first conversation.
Procedure:
Sven Ehrich took a radical step: he put his goal up for discussion. All employees and managers within the multi-project management department came together in a four-day series of workshops to discuss this goal using the Dragon Dreaming process. Concerns and conflicts were openly addressed. That cleared the way to developing a new, collaborative goal. A roadmap was also designed detailing the measures required to get there and how to implement them.
The roadmap included not only the changes within multi-project management but also in other departments which collaborate to create the products. All these departments were to join forces from the beginning and shape the changes together. A team of 25 was formed as a scaled-down mapping of the system. Senior management, divisional managers, heads of department and employees from R&D, product management, sales, production, purchasing, human resources, and marketing/communication took part in an intensive dialogue. The result: Five areas for action and the decision to carry forward the development project within the group. The project “DRIVE – Working Together to Make Successful Products” was set up by the group.
Results:
The most immediate result was the strong will and high level of personal initiative in the group, numbering over 60 employees and managers, whose mission has been to drive the project forward in different areas of action and work streams in the course of two years – despite the heavy workload of routine business.
Workforce approval has been high and employees have been attending regular ‘DRIVE Marketplaces’ to give feedback on the current implementation status. The project is showing visible results in all areas of action. The measures implemented are expected to yield impressive economic results. Plus: A new culture of teamwork has been created, which is spreading beyond the project into the rest of the company.
Our Tasks:
We guided the project from the start. As co-creators, we shaped the architecture, the procedure and the methods used in the development process along with the stakeholders. As facilitators, we led workshops and events as part of the development project. As coaches, we imparted the relevant expertise and experience and worked with HR to support the personal development of those working on the project. As mediators, we helped mediate any conflicts which arose and provided support in negotiating solutions. We helped the team through the low points of the development project. As communication assistants, we supported the DRIVE team in making the project more accessible.