Fonterra Co-operative Group is a New Zealand based multinational dairy co-operative that produces around 30% of the world's dairy exports. With revenue exceeding NZ$17 billion, it is New Zealand's largest company.

Fonterra Brands (FBNZ) is its New Zealand based brand business responsible for producing some of the world’s most loved dairy products including the likes of Anchor, Mainland, De Winkel and Symbio.

In July 2007, FBNZ’s Executive Team invited us to help them improve the performance of its 1,300 employees across each of its seven manufacturing sites. Once we had agreed the strategic priorities with the Executive, they deployed our Leadership Programme to equip their managers with the tools to deliver the outcomes they were looking for.

Even though our brands are well established, we operate in a highly competitive market that is under constant scrutiny from lobbyists, customers, consumers and government officials alike. Therefore, getting our strategy right to ensure it resonated with our stakeholders was paramount to us delivering our objectives.

As we were readying ourselves for the change, Peter (McClure) gave me the mandate to find a solution that would enable us to achieve it - essentially to help us create the next great era for the business. Having looked at what was out there, I could see that SPS were in a league of their own when it came to improving both leadership and workplace performance which is why we chose them.

Daniel Love HR Director

During the strategic review Craig (Steel) facilitated, we identified two areas of opportunity where we believed we could outperform our competitors and in doing so, win additional market share. These areas were ‘innovation’ and operational ‘transformation’.

Once our strategic plan was in place, we agreed the only way we could execute it was by lifting the performance of our leaders.

How we’ve achieved this is not only testament to Peter’s vision, but a compelling example of how a company can transform the performance of its workforce when led from the front and supported by the right framework.

Daniel Love HR Director

Peter and I agreed that if we were serious about proceeding with one of SPS' programmes, we'd better be able to lead it. So in April of 2008, our ELT started working with Craig.

While the makeup of the ELT has changed, the impact was such that every member of the team agreed their process had the potential to not only help us change the game in terms of how we operated as an Executive but create a completely different culture and mindset across the business; which we knew would be crucial to us realising our vision.

Once we had the foundations in place, we then rolled their Leadership Programme out to our 3rd and 4th tier leaders to help them bring about the changes we were after across the business.

To simplify the process, we also made the decision to make it our primary leadership and performance improvement tool given the impact it was having on our managers. 

Although Fonterra had an extensive suite of HR systems and processes, none of it compared to the programmes SPS offered in terms of helping us build the capability and culture we needed to be successful.

What difference has it made?

In terms of outcomes, we've realised an unprecedented improvement in staff performance and engagement across every level of the business.

In regards to commercials, we've increased our market share by over 20%, improved our innovation-led revenue from 2% to 16%, improved profit growth by over 30% and improved our health and safety status from one of Fonterra’s worst performers to one of its best.

Critically, however, what it's done is given us a completely different mandate to challenge ourselves, to engage our people in completely different conversations about their role in the business and the outcomes we need them to deliver. It has also changed the way our leaders engage their people so instead of their focus being on how they manage them, they understand they are there to enable them to deliver the things we're after.

What's been interesting, but at the same time not surprising, is the feedback we've received from staff. Comments like 'it has completely changed the way I interact with my team' to 'it has given me the mandate to have the conversations with my people that I've always tried to have but was never able to' to 'it is without question the best thing I've ever done in my 15 years of leadership' are commonplace. 

As we’ve rolled the process out across the business, we can see the momentum building. Today, we are hearing completely different conversations taking place across the business as staff become more engaged in what they're doing, and critically, how they can do things better. 

While improving a company’s culture is a never-ending journey, what we’ve introduced here gives me confidence we are on to something special. I'm also confident it has given us a formula that will offer us a true competitive advantage well into the future.

How would you summarise the SPS programme?

There’s no doubt, their programmes are by far and away the most powerful tools I have ever come across in terms of developing high performing leaders, organisations and cultures.

Daniel Love HR Director