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I fired one of the world’s biggest brands… and I would not hesitate to do it again

Freddie Guilmard.

People leave businesses because of poor leadership. Freddie Guilmard, of leadership consultancy RTP, reflects on an example he encountered at first hand of the art at its worst.

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THERE ARE times in a career when doing the right thing will be far more important than the purchase order.

Let me set the scene for you: It is 2012 and I have just launched my business when I receive a call to come and talk to the HR director of one of the world’s biggest companies. Imagine my excitement when I arrive at the plush head office, where I was promptly welcomed and offered an array of delicious beverages in the luxurious restaurant area.

“You see, Freddie,” said Patrick (not his real name). “We are a hugely successful business, we return 130% plus growth year on year and yet our employee scores never seem to get over the 50% satisfaction mark in our annual survey.

“This is concerning as one of our ambitions is to become the world’s most trusted brand. Can you help?”

“Well,” I replied “it might take time. There is no silver bullet or magic wand to solve this but if you are serious, let’s give it a go.”

On agreement of terms, I was introduced to the internal teams, including a lovely HR business partner, the head of internal communications and a communications exec. I then started my discovery phase and met several teams, leaders and senior leaders across the business, presenting the outcomes of my conversations to the team and the HR director.

In short, the culture I found was very hierarchical, extremely process-driven. Staff were expected to work long hours and management was not hugely empathetic to under-performers. However, everyone recognised that working for this brand added huge kudos to their CVs – and the salary, bonus and benefit package was particularly good.

It was during one of our first meetings that I started to experience the culture first-hand when, quite abruptly, the head of communicationsdemanded that I present my engagement strategy to them by the following Friday.

“OK,” I said. “So can you and the team be available to cocreate this with me early next week?”

“I am afraid not. This is what we are paying you for. I am far too busy.”

Following some complex negotiations, I explained that in order to achieve their ambition we needed to design, deliver, drive and document all of this together. This should include not just this team but also a number of other colleagues across the organisation.

“You see, if I tell you what to do, you are likely to forget,” I said. “If I show you, you might remember, but if I involve you, you will understand.”

Two years later, having set up a steering group, delivered a number of workshops and conferences and codesigned the internal strategy, our latest engagement scores went up to 87% and the ‘I trust’ barometer had gone into green.

We had just presented our strategy for the next 12 months to the board. Having been signed off, we then realised that we could produce a slightly better version and needed to resubmit this for sign-off.

Imagine my complete disbelief when I turned up at the office the following week to find my HR business partner in floods of tears having been at the receiving end of an absolute rollocking from the HR director who had called her at home to explain clearly that going back to the board outside of the process was totally unacceptable and that she should know better.

It was clear that Patrick wanted a word.

Later that day I found myself having a perfectly civilised conversation where I clearly stated that we had spent two years building trust, getting our teams empowered, creating an environment where we not only delivered exceptional growth and had achieved what many called the unachievable. By refusing to allow this review to happen, we would seriously undermine all the work we had done.

I was fully respectful of the fact that this was his business and that I was simply a consultant. However, I was also genuinely concerned by what had happened the night before and explained that if Patrick was not going to back down, I would have to seriously reconsider my position.

He did not think I was being serious because, after all, they were one of the world’s biggest companies. He did not budge and a week later I introduced another consultant to take my place. I also did not claim the outstanding amount on my quoted fee.

Two months later, the HR business partner and another colleague also resigned, citing bullying behaviours as a reason for their departures.

It did not make me feel any better when I heard the news but it reminded me that people do not leave bad businesses; they leave businesses because of poor leadership.

Integrity is also critical to build trust – If there is a gap between what a leader says and what they do, they will need to address this.

Freddie Guilmard is chief executive and high-performance coach at RTP, a boutique consultancy that supports leaders in addressing their big issues by building human organisations. 

freddie@the-redthread.co.uk 

the-redthread.co.uk

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