Designing a common history to win the challenge of the future

I work as a management consultant and my job is, most of the times, to help client companies  review their current strategy and organization and decide how to change and adapt both, in order  to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving environment. I was recently engaged by a large  multinational enterprise that works in the area of consumer goods with the following request: the  management team of the Italian subsidiary (around 25 people) has been recently profoundly  changed with young new mangers joining the firm in several key roles. This change has created a  tension in the team between the new-comers, strong of their professional skills and updated  knowledge, and the “old guard”, composed by seasoned managers with lot of experience and  power in the organization. This split is not helping the company in moving ahead with the speed  and efficacy it needs. Moreover, now it is time to develop a new strategic plan and it is mandatory  for all the managers composing the team to offer their contribution while avoiding interpersonal  conflict or power fights. A hard confrontation is expected but should be limited to the different  views about the future of the company and should find a synthesis in a strategy shared and  supported by the whole team. How can we create the conditions for all this to happen in a one  and a half day of residential workshop?    I was working on this project together with a colleague of mine. She is a psychologist and her  knowledge was very helpful in finding the right solution to this problem. Our business partner was  the HR manager of the Company, a quite conservative professional who was afraid of the conflict  that might have sparkled during the meeting and of the evaluation of his (and our) work that the  CEO would have made at the end of it. He suggested to start the meeting by leaving the ground to  the CEO in order for him to set the goals for the strategy design effort and warn his people about  the need to overcome conflicts and work together as a team. The HR manager also suggested that  this way of proceeding was consistent with the traditional hierarchical culture of the company. We  thought about this proposal but then we said that the traditional culture was exactly what the  Company, and its CEO wanted to change and that to start a meeting in a passive way, with the top  guy preaching the change was not an effective way of overcoming resistance to change.   We didn’t know about “design thinking” at the time, but now I know that what we suggested as an  alternative solution was a mix of “story telling” and “visualization”.  Following  what André Martin from Mars has shared with us during the Design Thinking course, we  needed a “storytelling [that] is the difference between solving a problem and creating a  cause” and which could have an emotional impact on the people involved in the workshop, also  uniting them in a common set of values and in a shared history. We also thought that we needed  to stimulate the “right side” of the brain of the people involved, in order to stimulate their  creativity in view of the strategy formulation exercise that was at the core of the meeting. We  wanted to touch their imagination together with their hearts. Visualization, considered as  “anything that takes us beyond just using words or language alone”, appeared immediately as a  good approach to follow together with storytelling or as a way of telling a compelling story in and  by itself.     Following our (involuntary at the time) “design thinking”, this is the solution that we proposed and  that was accepted with some enthusiasm also by the HR manager of the Company and by his boss.  We divided the past 30 years of the life of the company in strips of 5 years each. We assigned each  segment of history to a small group of managers who were present at the time. A month before  the date scheduled for the meeting, we asked each group to prepare a presentation by following  these guidelines:

• You will be in charge of presenting this period in the life of our Company to the rest of the

team. Your presentation should be organized and delivered in a way that it should touch  the brain and the heart of your colleagues. We want the team to be able to recognize the  values that have inspired us over the course of our life, the challenges that we have  overcome, the crises that we have faced and the successes that we have enjoyed.  Following your presentation each of us should know  more about our Company and should  feel a greater level of commitment toward the common cause that unites us.

• Please support your presentation with any artifact of the time that you think could inspire

thoughts and emotions in the people listening to you. They can be pictures, letters,  products that we used to sell, t-shirts and other form of merchandising used at the time.  Anything that should bring us all into that period by visually reliving it.

We weren’t expecting the quality and creativity of the presentations that we enjoyed at the  beginning of the first day of the workshop. I remember in particular a group that was in charge of  presenting a period when the Company had diversified in disparate industries (and loosing then  money because they had no core competencies in most of the new businesses they entered). The  team extracted from a mysterious box, like magicians, racquets and tennis balls (the company had  acquired a firm in the sport business sector), bottles of wine, shoes, etc. The efficacy of the story  telling united with the objects and pictures that were visually supporting it was so high that, in the  end, the whole team knew that to venture into areas where you do not have any competence  base to sustain a competitive advantage was something to absolutely avoid in the new strategy  development exercise. The team was also able to recognize in the words and images provided by  the different groups, that there were common values maintained throughout the history of the  company. Trust and consideration for the people working for the company were core among  those values and stable across different periods of time. Among laughs and some tear moved by  forgotten memories, the experience that we designed reached also the goal of uniting the team,  beyond all the differences in age and experience, and preparing it for working together on the  new strategy of the Company.     By combining story telling with visualization we all gained insights about the history of the  company, its culture, the evolution of its strategy over time, its core competencies, the attitude  and values of its people etc. I do not think that any other way of sharing information and emotions  would have worked equally well, or at least not in such a limited time frame. Consequently, we  have used this approach also in other projects, always finding it very effective and engaging.


Designing a common history to win the challenge of the future I work as a management consultant and my job is , most of the times , to help client companies review their current strategy and organization and decide how to change and adapt both , in order to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving environment . I was recently engaged by a large multinational enterprise that works in the area of consumer goods with the following request : the management team of the Italian subsidiary ( around 25 people ) has been recently profoundly changed with young new mangers joining the firm in several key roles . This change has created a tension in the team between the new - comers , strong of their professional skills and updated knowledge , and the “ old guard ” , composed by seasoned managers with lot of experience and power in the organization . This split is not helping the company in moving ahead with the speed and efficacy it needs . Moreover , now it is time to develop a new strategic plan and it is mandatory for all the managers composing the team to offer their contribution while avoiding interpersonal conflict or power fights . A hard confrontation is expected but should be limited to the different views about the future of the company and should find a synthesis in a strategy shared and supported by the whole team . How can we create the conditions for all this to happen in a one and a half day of residential workshop ? I was working on this project together with a colleague of mine . She is a psychologist and her knowledge was very helpful in finding the right solution to this problem . Our business partner was the HR manager of the Company , a quite conservative professional who was afraid of the conflict that might have sparkled during the meeting and of the evaluation of his ( and our ) work that the CEO would have made at the end of it . He suggested to start the meeting by leaving the ground to the CEO in order for him to set the goals for the strategy design effort and warn his people about the need to overcome conflicts and work together as a team . The HR manager also suggested that this way of proceeding was consistent with the traditional hierarchical culture of the company . We thought about this proposal but then we said that the traditional culture was exactly what the Company , and its CEO wanted to change and that to start a meeting in a passive way , with the top guy preaching the change was not an effective way of overcoming resistance to change . We did n’t know about “ design thinking ” at the time , but now I know that what we suggested as an alternative solution was a mix of “ story telling ” and “ visualization ” . Following what André Martin from Mars has shared with us during the Design Thinking course , we needed a “ storytelling [ that ] is the difference between solving a problem and creating a cause ” and which could have an emotional impact on the people involved in the workshop , also uniting them in a common set of values and in a shared history . We also thought that we needed to stimulate the “ right side ” of the brain of the people involved , in order to stimulate their creativity in view of the strategy formulation exercise that was at the core of the meeting . We wanted to touch their imagination together with their hearts . Visualization , considered as “ anything that takes us beyond just using words or language alone ” , appeared immediately as a good approach to follow together with storytelling or as a way of telling a compelling story in and by itself . Following our ( involuntary at the time ) “ design thinking ” , this is the solution that we proposed and that was accepted with some enthusiasm also by the HR manager of the Company and by his boss . We divided the past 30 years of the life of the company in strips of 5 years each . We assigned each segment of history to a small group of managers who were present at the time . A month before the date scheduled for the meeting , we asked each group to prepare a presentation by following these guidelines : • You will be in charge of presenting this period in the life of our Company to the rest of the team . Your presentation should be organized and delivered in a way that it should touch the brain and the heart of your colleagues . We want the team to be able to recognize the values that have inspired us over the course of our life , the challenges that we have overcome , the crises that we have faced and the successes that we have enjoyed . Following your presentation each of us should know more about our Company and should feel a greater level of commitment toward the common cause that unites us . • Please support your presentation with any artifact of the time that you think could inspire thoughts and emotions in the people listening to you . They can be pictures , letters , products that we used to sell , t - shirts and other form of merchandising used at the time . Anything that should bring us all into that period by visually reliving it . We were n’t expecting the quality and creativity of the presentations that we enjoyed at the beginning of the first day of the workshop . I remember in particular a group that was in charge of presenting a period when the Company had diversified in disparate industries ( and loosing then money because they had no core competencies in most of the new businesses they entered ) . The team extracted from a mysterious box , like magicians , racquets and tennis balls ( the company had acquired a firm in the sport business sector ) , bottles of wine , shoes , etc . The efficacy of the story telling united with the objects and pictures that were visually supporting it was so high that , in the end , the whole team knew that to venture into areas where you do not have any competence base to sustain a competitive advantage was something to absolutely avoid in the new strategy development exercise . The team was also able to recognize in the words and images provided by the different groups , that there were common values maintained throughout the history of the company . Trust and consideration for the people working for the company were core among those values and stable across different periods of time . Among laughs and some tear moved by forgotten memories , the experience that we designed reached also the goal of uniting the team , beyond all the differences in age and experience , and preparing it for working together on the new strategy of the Company . By combining story telling with visualization we all gained insights about the history of the company , its culture , the evolution of its strategy over time , its core competencies , the attitude and values of its people etc . I do not think that any other way of sharing information and emotions would have worked equally well , or at least not in such a limited time frame . Consequently , we have used this approach also in other projects , always finding it very effective and engaging .