Hewlett Packard
Summary
I like the fact that the newly appointed CEO launched the “Reinvent HP” campaign. It is a great way for a new CEO to prove themselves and show what is important to them. I also love the fact that accountability is just as important to HP as the reinvention process. This CEO means business and wants to see results from her efforts. The process of Dynamic Leadership and its 6 key elements is impressive, although I question the amount of experimentation and testing that went into this effort. My concern is if there was enough time spent on this as the roll out seemed rather quick to happen. I guess it worked. 8000 managers trained in the first year and an outstanding return on investment is quite impressive.
Strengths
The company sending out reinvention surveys was a great way to use a simple and basic tool. By using the surveys, tapped into the best resource HP had its employees. HP gave their employees a chance to tell them what would work, what wouldn’t, and what they think would improve the company overall. The company listened. By using the surveys, the employees had a good idea that change was about to happen so there was no or little surprise when the changes were made. In order to make those changes, the Dynamic Leadership process had to be implemented. Realizing and acting on the survey was great. A company that listens to their employees is a real blessing. The company knew now that the “employees agreed that reinvention was necessary, particularly faster and better decision making across the boundaries of the organization”. The company also now had the green light to increase accountability for measurable results and greater focus on the customer. What better way to implement this than to start with the managers in their training sessions? The program’s two key areas are a good place to start. They can be summed up as, 1. Getting to the same page, and 2. Be accountable for your actions.
The second best thing for this plan is the extensive accountability aspect that accompanied the two-day in-person program. The class didn’t end; this was just the second phase of the program. HP “counted on the culture of high participation and management support” which worked. The Friday5s are a fabulous idea. Posting goals, receiving feedback from coaches, managers and peers every other week for over two months past the in-person phase reinforced on-the-job support and helped the managers and HP catapult towards success.
Limitations
“Several small pilot programs were run”, I would’ve thought there would be more of a plan put into place, maybe