ASX-200 listed McMillan Shakespeare refreshes purpose and clarifies EVP to become an employer of choice.
Context
Ne-Lo were engaged by McMillan Shakespeare Head of Strategy Andrew Suckling, CEO Mike Salisbury, CHRO Suzanne Shepherd and Chief Customer Officer, Julia Edwards-Smith to facilitate a refresh of their company strategy. The previous purpose had been developed five years previously but there was a feeling that it may not be as relevant in the current state of the business and it wasn’t providing the desired strategic focus in the face of some major business decisions.
The program of work centered around three key deliverables:
Engage as broadly as possible across MMS’ 1200 employees to clarify a purpose that unites everyone at an organisational level.
Develop a company purpose that builds strategic alignment and focus.
Connect the new purpose to the development of an employee value proposition, the MMS ‘Human Deal’, to support them to stand out as an employer of choice.
Solution
The Ne-Lo team first engaged the board, C-suite and group level executive leaders via 1:1 interviews, focus groups and team workshops, as well as reviewing previous purpose work and relevant strategic plans, employee surveys and customer insights. From there, we were able to develop an aligned executive draft of the MMS Purpose Framework. From there, we designed, developed and facilitated an online forum, designed to give a select group of MMS people awards winners and key stakeholders the opportunity of having a detailed and interactive contribution to the purpose refresh project. We also designed, filmed and managed a video survey, using VideoAsk, which was distributed to all MMS employees. Data from these engagements was analysed and refined into key insights which were workshopped with the executive team to develop the final MMS Company Purpose. As part of the refinement phase, final drafts were run by key stakeholders and the board for final feedback, and shareable assets were developed to support the launch of the new purpose.
Following the completion of the purpose refresh project, the Ne-Lo team worked with CHRO Suzanne Shepherd and her HR team to use the purpose framework and insights in developing an employee value proposition that would support MMS to stand out as an employer of choice in a challenging labour market. We presented pertinent purpose insights and conducted further primary research with key stakeholders before organizing focus areas on a quadrant consisting of a distinctive-hygiene axis and an emotional-rational axis. This aligned the team around the 1 emotional and 1 rational factor that they were going to be known for, and the 1 or 2 emotional and rational factors they were going to maintain as a baseline. Based on further research we identified where MMS were currently performing well or falling short against these promises, and developed a strategic roadmap to amplify the strengths and address the shortfalls.
Outcome
The new MMS purpose has led to focused and aligned decisions on some pressing matters and has informed many new cultural initiatives, such as the development of the aforementioned Human Deal and EVP strategy and the launch of a team award at the company’s much-celebrated people awards.
“Ne-Lo Consulting is exceptional to work with. They have engaged through all levels of our business and their methodology and professionalism have given us very high outcomes that are of real value”
