BT

CEO Ben Verwaayen’s arrival at BT signalled a reversal in strategy – from break-up to unification. ‘One BT’ became the rallying call, to mark the drive to reduce the cost inefficiencies and problematic hand-offs between the organisation’s operating divisions.

The project brief was to communicate the CEO’s new strategy to all 130,000+ employees, globally, and to demonstrate ‘One BT’ in action. A company wide programme of Strategy Action Meetings was developed, to explain the strategy to the people and, through facilitated discussion, identify potential barriers to its delivery. The sessions were designed to demonstrate a new leadership style, that of taking visible and decisive action based on employee feedback.

The process identified many critical issues, particularly those where intensive communication and leadership support were needed. Monthly feedback was provided to the top team to aid decision-making, shape communication messaging and provide focus for practical problem solving. A team of young management ‘high flyers’ were trained to co-host the discussion sessions.

The resulting measured improvements included increased employee understanding of Group strategy and their individual role in making it a success; the visibility of and confidence in leadership; feeling valued as a BT employee; and BT’s ability to take action on feedback from those closest to
the customer.