3SIXTY

Maximising Operational Efficiency & Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Background & the Client Challenge

A large outsourced-services company, this client had grown significantly over two years. But like many businesses that have achieved rapid expansion, the company had struggled to scale a number of its processes. The client had ambitious plans for additional future growth and wanted to ensure the business could scale accordingly.

In particular the management team was concerned that service levels were under pressure and, in some cases, being missed. As a result, they were constantly fire-fighting. Rather than building on their growth and developing future avenues for success, senior executives were trying to deal with high staff turnover and all the challenges that come with it.

At the same time, shareholders were thinking about how to exit. They too needed the company to be performing as strongly as possible.

Recognising that it needed to make some big but targeted changes, the company called us in to help.

What We Did

We conducted a full lean/operational review of the company in order to understand its existing way of working – the ‘as-is’ state. We then worked with all stakeholders – from the senior leadership team to subject matter experts and employees – and together developed a picture of their desired future state.

With a joint vision in place, we built and rigorously tested processes across the value stream, implemented agreed improvements and linked them to robust KPIs.

During the work, we noticed that the company lacked a unifying culture, which meant its people often saw themselves as working directly for their client. To address this, the company’s senior management worked with our team to implement an Employee Development Programme, which defined good management and employee behaviours and helped create a culture of continuous improvement.

To keep things on track while we were on site, the CEO invited the 3SIXTY partner to represent the overall programme on the Senior Leadership Team.

We also worked closely with on-site ‘Champions’ – nominated by the company to ensure that new ways of working were embedded throughout the business so that the company could continue to improve its performance after we had left the field.

Results

The new processes helped the company steady the ship, giving it a stronger base from which it could continue to grow – without losing margin from existing client accounts. As a result, the company was able to:

  • Increase management capability
  • Take ownership for continuous improvement
  • Improve its EBITDA by 15%
  • Reduce client attrition
  • Maximise the value of shareholdings when the business was acquired

Brian O’Brien

Partner & Head Of
Growth Strategies

Get in touch to find out how 3SIXTY can help your business deliver its full growth potential.