European chemicals manufacturer: A self-sustaining strategic mandate

1 min read

Strategic Mandates

After three years in financial recovery, a specialty chemicals company needed its research and development function to become a growth engine rather than a cost center. We helped its head of R&D co-create a single, bold direction with more than 40 leaders, and a year on, teams were still organizing themselves around it without any prompting.

Outcome 1: Eight cross-business initiatives launched, five coached through to full delivery

Outcome 2: A single strategic direction co-created with more than 40 leaders, confirmed by the chief executive as exactly what he needed from R&D

Outcome 3: A year after the work ended, teams were still running their own sessions around the mandate, with no outside prompting

The challenge

A leading specialty chemicals company had spent three years in financial recovery. As growth returned, the head of research and development saw that the function was working well below what the group now needed: fragmented, split by business unit, and without a shared direction. Without a new mandate, it would stay a cost center rather than the growth engine the chief executive was counting on.

Left as it was, research and development would keep working in isolation, unable to earn the trust or influence of other parts of the company. Its contribution would stay invisible, and it would fall short of the ambitious role the group’s growth plans demanded.

The approach

We worked with the research and development leadership team to set a single bold direction, co-created with them rather than handed down. Together we formed a coalition of more than 40 leaders from across all businesses, regions and roles, who created eight strategic initiatives, each choosing and leading one, and we coached five of those through to full delivery.

The impact

Eight initiatives launched and five were delivered in full. The direction was confirmed by the chief executive as exactly what he needed, and the function moved from a siloed unit to a recognized contributor across the company. Leaders below the top team stepped up, several were promoted within months, and a year on, teams were still running their own sessions around the mandate.