Case study

ADM

The challenge

The challenge was to simplify and standardise business processes while reducing tax and legal compliance risk and improve ADM’s financial and other reporting. Previous change programmes hadn’t met their potential, and the client understood that this was due to insufficient focus on business readiness and change management.

Ignite was engaged to lead the change management workstream, coaching both the senior Programme Director and two less experienced client team members to develop in-house change capability.

The result

Ignite developed a highly structured change approach that suited the company’s culture and provided reassurance for the developing change managers – who were operating as an integral part of the programme team. We provided a high level of support to the seven site coordinators and built them as a team that could support and challenge each other. As a result ADM:

  • Built very strong levels of engagement across the sites through involvement in process analysis, design, and impact assessment
  • Raised senior understanding of the need for exceptional levels of change leadership – and the impact that can have
  • Grew skills in change management planning and delivery

What made it successful

  • Pragmatism within a highly structured approach
  • Creation of a business change agent network to put ownership of change in the business. We ran a launch event at the start of the programme to engage the business in what would happen and trained them for their role in a series of workshops and communications.
  • Can-do focus on driving progress and challenging the status quo, showing how results can be achieved and not what’s preventing progress
  • Focus on outcomes – rather than just the project plan. At every point, we worked with senior leaders to remind people of the end-game and the benefits the programme would deliver
  • Capability building – we put a lot of effort into coaching the sponsors and Programme Director around the need for them to be role models for change leadership and decision-making, which in many ways was counter to the organisational culture.