The challenge

Germany’s largest real estate manager faced a big and diffuse challenge. They predicted parts of their business strategy to become obsolete. Yet, they didn’t have an idea what the alternative might look like. They had the functional expertise but many things were not implemented. Guiding principles for the future exi:ted, but they were as diffuse as the challenges they faced: captured as a high quality brochure but without any impact on visible action.

After a top-team training with the board of directors and another workshop, we knew the guiding principles had to be redesigned. We needed to develop a clear strategy for the future together. We had to implement both thoroughly. And in order to do so, the client’s corporate culture had to be substantially improved.

4 topics were pivotal for the implementation of guiding principles and the culture change:

• Improve leadership culture and governance in order for managers to really spend time on leadership tasks instead of getting stuck in operational assignments
• Make the whole organization more open to change in order to better respond to future challenges. This included a reduction of the fixation on rules and regulations
• Steer the organization more towards a project based working style (and make clear which projects are actually relevant). More cross department collaboration would be needed to respond to customer requests more flexibly
• Be more customer-oriented. Instead of an administration mindset, customers should be proactively offered comprehensive real estate solutions. As a first step, this means to really get to know the customers, their business models, and needs

The journey

The board of directors started with a top-team development workshop. We intensely helped them to become a real team.  At the same time, we supported them in revamping, and partially developing for the first time, their guiding principles for the future.

In a next step, we integrated the management team into a participative process. In a special, natural atmosphere they jointly developed the guiding principles further; within the guidelines given by the board. We supported them on their way of becoming a team with a variety of methods. During these three intensive days, they built a higher level of closeness, trust, and shared commitment for the change program. After this starting event, we intensely worked together to improve teamwork and leadership behavior in the board and top management level in several additional trainings and workshops. This continuous work is an important success factor for change processes.

An extraordinary 2-day large group event with the top 100 was the starting point for the whole organization. At this Event, we jointly created an atmosphere that allowed for everyone to really feel the target state of our journey.  They experienced, e.g., the physical starting shot for their journey which was fired after a “reeeally” inspiring speech. Participants also worked on concrete business tasks, e.g., on how to improve functional exchange with employees while simultaneously building trust.

20-30 of them then started working in their respective workstream teams in order to integrate the subjects, as defined by the top-management, even deeper into the organization. In mixed teams, consisting of Timmermann consultans and the client’s workstream owners, we pushed cultural topics (e.g., feedback culture, dealing with mistakes, and cross-silo cooperation) and functional topics (e.g., strategy, key account management, and steering) even further.

For the last 3 years, we accompanied them on their journey, for which they planned a total of six years. As planned, step by step, we are becoming less and less important for the ongoing success of the change process. Some key actions of the change process include:

• Strategy development
• Reorganization in order to be more customer-oriented
• Joint development and implementation of a customized key account management system
• Training and guiding change agents in their task of setting cultural impulses and developing everyday actions throughout the whole company
• “What-does-the-journey-mean-for-me?” workshops with all employees
• Change leader training program for middle management
• Highly effective team development processes for important project and leadership teams

The results

The results of this change process are clearly visible on different levels. At the end of the top 100 event, part of the top leaders spontaneously started dancing with us on stage, overwhelmed by happiness. Within the whole leadership team, the atmosphere is much more trusting and open, leading to a measurable increase in efficiency, e.g., annual budget talks used to take 2 days, now they take 2 hours.

Jointly, we were able to activate an considerable number of people within the organization to actively shape the future with us; even though they are aware of the upcoming challenges. Also from a business perspective, positive results are apparent. E.g., the department for “Integrated real estate solutions consulting” which is highly relevant for the future, received new major orders.

As a Region Manager put it:

“Since the Timmermen are here, a new wind is blowing. I see happy faces, clear decisions, and recently also new major orders we didn’t even dare to dream about one year ago.”