CASE STUDY
Quantum Steppe Advisory
Selected iconic work done with
PE Funds and their Investee Companies
Leadership Profiling & Upliftment
of the Leadership Team
The Fund invested RM330 million into an electronics manufacturing company comprising 7 manufacturing plants within Malaysia and 2 in surrounding countries (Vietnam and Indonesia)
To drive the revenue earnings of the Investee Company as well as to enhance profitability by 20-25% compounded per year. To support this, there needed to be a leadership team as well as an organization structure which was aligned with the end game outcomes.
Conducted a holistic organization diagnostics review impacting people practices, structure, critical future centric role identification, role fit reviews, reevaluating norms of behaviour as well leadership profiling of the extended leadership team. Applied DISC, Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Competency Profiling tools, as well as Performance Gap Indicator analysis of the organization at large.
CEO, Top Team Leaders and members of the Extended Leadership Team from Investee Company, the Investment Team from the Fund.
Clear perspectives on areas of strengths and weaknesses both organizationally as well as leadership related. Identification of norms of behaviours and how to hold people accountable for commitments made. Linkage of roles and responsibilities to the outcomes expected of the Strategies.
Leadership Profiling &
Top Team Alignment
The Fund had invested RM250 million into a LED light manufacturing and solutioning company with a regional presence in Malaysia, Singapore & Australia.
How best to ensure that all top team members of the Investee Company are aligned to a common purpose and adhere to a common norm of behaviour which in turn drives the strategies for the future and exponentially grow the company by 25% compounded growth year on year?
Conducted a Top Team Alignment Exercise with not only the Senior Leadership Team of the Investee Company but also with the key team members of the Fund. This was interrelated to strategy execution as well as to roles and accountabilities and a common purpose to lead the organization forward. Applied DISC and Emotional Intelligence profiling tools.
CEO and Senior Leaders from the Investee Company including Senior members of the Investment Team from the Fund.
Clear norms of behaviours for the whole organization and how to hold people accountable for commitments made. Linkage of roles and responsibilities to the outcomes expected of the Strategies.
Selected iconic work done on Top Team Development
Coaching for Succession
With the retirement of the then prevailing CEO of a Central Agency, there was a need to identify a successor for the role. And this successor was to come from one of 2 Deputy CEOs were then heading the Organization.
How best to groom the potential successor for the potential role of CEO?
To do this as effectively as possible, a 6 month Executive Coaching program was crafted specifically for the 2 D-CEOs. Applied a 360 DISC and Emotional Intelligence profiling to acquire an appreciation of the 2 D-CEOs.
The CEO, 2 DCEOs as well as the Head of HR, Governing Ministry of the Government of Malaysia.
Coaching sessions which were held every 3 weeks with a clear focus on how best to enhance the leadership capabilities of the 2 D-CEOs with the assistance and guidance of the CEO. Clear outcomes of which of the 2 Deputy CEOs was most fit for role.
Driving Productivity
Senior Directors Development and KPI setting for the Organization at large.
In adequate alignment between the senior directorate team and the lower levels of management.
Entered into a high performing executive coaching sessions with the 3 Directors with the aim of enhancing capabilities to hold people accountable. Reviewed departmental KPIs to ensure alignment with the common goals of the Organization. Tweaked the KPIs to be more outcomes driven vs being transactional in nature.
The CEO, the Directorate Team and n-3 level of the Management Team.
Clarity of KPIs which are outcomes focused, enhanced capabilities of Directorate Team to drive effectiveness and manage accountability of their team members by conducting “difficult” performance based conversations.
Selected iconic work done in the Exiting
of People and Digital Transformation Space
Preparing for and Effectively Exiting the Workforce
The Insurance Group was going through a business model reframing, so leading to a very different manpower requirement and capability skill set.
To prepare for an exit of almost 15% of the workforce as the new digital business model for the Organization is put into operation.
Supported the Senior Leadership Team in their planning as they identified the “exiters”, based on clear criteria which fulfilled the spirit and letter of the Law as well being guided by the spirit of “compassion” at all times. Worked closely with the IR Consultant to conducted work workshops with the leaders to prepare them for the messaging both internally and externally. Crafted time lines and key milestones with the internal communications team as part of the bigger project management plan. Crafted specific talking points for the CEO as she conducted the townhalls to launch the “exit” program.
CEO, Chief People officer, Senior Leadership Team.
Clear succinctly executed Exit program impacting almost 80 people in totality. Managed well in that there was little or no mention of the exit in the mass media. “Noise” of the exit was kept to a minimum and this itself was the success in the manner of how the program was carried out.
Preparing the Leaders for Digital Transformation
The Insurance Group required a very different leadership framework given the changing business model that it was implementing. The focus was now on the digital environment and the changes that this brough to the work environment but even more significantly to the way the leaders managed their staff.
A very different mode of behaviour is expected given the digital model that is being implemented. This leads to different work processes and expectations on the job. How should the leaders behave in this regard? How different should their behaviours be relative to the operating model of the “old world”?
Conducted a variety of strategic decode sessions with Board members and senior leaders to distil the very DNA expected of the new Organization given the new model that its working towards. This led to the crafting of a new Leadership Competency Framework which aggregated future centric behaviours expected into 3 clusters and 6 key pillars. This was then presented to the Board of the Group Group for approval and to the Leadership Team for socialisation.
The CEO, Chief People Officer, the Senior Leadership Team, members of the Board
A future centric Leadership Competency Framework which will be used for assessment of all leaders within the Group.
Selected iconic work done in Mid Term
Incentivization and Preparing for IPO
Crafting a Mid Term Incentivization Program for Material Risk Takers
As per the Practice 19 Guideline from the Central Bank, the Insurance Company was required to inculcate a claw back mechanism for their Material Risk Takers vis their year end pay outs, in the event that bottom line financial growth does not correspond to declared expected earnings.
Given the strategic role that FS companies play in the Malaysian Economy, any adverse bottom line financial outcome will have a negative impact to the financial rating of the institution. To this end, the need to hold Material Risk Takers accountable for the mid to longer term for their actions is critical to the financial sustainability of their Institutions at large
Working with the CEO and his Senior Management Team, including the CHRO, we conducted various scenario simulations on a multitude of corporate financial and non financial metrices. Whilst there was a focus on ensuring financial sustainability and risk considerations, there was also a need to not thwart innovation and the spirit of entrepreneurship and an element of risk taking. A working model was then firmed up and submitted for approval by the Board. This incentive plan was then rolled out in FY20.
CEO, Chief People officer, Senior Leadership Team.
A Board approved incentive plan for Material Risk Takers which was then shared with the Central Bank.
Setting the foundation for Public Listing
Being a 20 year old interior design company, playing nationally and regionally, the ID Company was facing a plateau in its operational growth. As part of its mid term plan to go public, the need to drive up revenue growth and profitability now becomes critical for the short to mid term.
How best to align everyone within the organization to a common operational growth trajectory and financial targets and outcomes that will meet the demands of Bursa?
Conducted a variety of strategic decode sessions with Board members and senior leaders to define priority areas for the mid to long term. This was then translated into a Corporate Score Card with clear accountabilities and an interdependency matrix. All metrices identified were consciously aligned to the common End Game targets set by the Board.
The Board, the Senior Leadership Team and the Business Managers.
Clear KPIs within a PMS which is driven by a bi-weekly and subsequently a monthly reporting cadence. Improved accountability and commitment levels of Business Leaders and People Managers to ensure that all were working towards a common goal and sustainable financial outcomes.
Selected iconic work done in supporting business transformation
Building the Human Capital Pillars to support the Digital Journey
With the onset of the Digital Transformation journey that this Financial Institution (FI) had embarked upon, there was a need to reconsider its organization structure, the key roles as well as the capabilities of leaders to deliver on the same.
To prepare for an exit of almost 15% of the workforce as the new digital business model for the Organization is put into operation.
Working with the CEO and his Senior Management Team, including the Chief People Officer, several interventions were carried out. This included the designing of a future centric leadership competency model, that was then applied to profile all within the Bank. The conduct of an organisation structure review designed to focus on the future needs of the Bank. A productivity study to determine how best people are enabled to perform their best and deliver on the outcomes expected of them. A reframing of job families so as to enable succession planning and career pathing discussions with all critical employees. And finally, the review of compensation lines to determine their practicality, competitiveness and potential financial impact of migration of employees, given the future demands of the Bank.
CEO, Chief People officer, Senior Leadership Team, the Bank at large
Clarity of thought as to the current position of the Bank and how best to move forward with development plans as well as pay related considerations.
Embedding corporate scorecards to drive a high performance organisation
As a prestigious virtual local University, the need to have joint and seamless collaboration of scorecards between faculties and support functions are critical for academic, operational and financial success.
How best to align everyone from the VC and Deans to the junior lecturers of the various faculties together with the various Head of Businesses and their junior staff to a common growth trajectory of academic excellence, high organizational performance and financial targets that will meet the demands of the shareholders?
After conducting a variety of top level interviews with senior leaders of the University to define what the end game strategic targets are for the year, this was then decoded into a Corporate Score Card with clear accountabilities and an interdependency matrix. All metrices identified were consciously aligned to the common End Game targets set by the Deans and the heads of Businesses alike..
The Deans of the Faculties, Senior Leadership Team and the Managers of People
Clear KPIs which are driven by a monthly reporting cadence. Improved accountability and commitment levels of Faculty members and Business Leaders to ensure that all were working towards a common goal and sustainable financial outcomes and critically academic excellence and student experience respectively.
