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Case Study: MasterCard Worldwide Takes Charge of Change
June 02, 2008
MasterCard Worldwide's melting iceberg first surfaced in 2006. That's when the company went public and began encountering all the changes associated with that milestone in the company's 40-year history. "We need people who can embrace change and thrive in a world of increased competition, shorter production cycles for new products, rapidly evolving technology, alternate workplace approaches, as well as changing political climates and demographics," explains Rebecca Ray, SVP, Global Talent Management and Development (GTM&D), MasterCard Worldwide.
After successful change-related initiatives in 2006 and 2007, the GTM&D team at MasterCard began crafting a more systematic approach to the way the company talks about change, leads change, and uses the new level of comfort with change as a competitive advantage. This entailed providing all employees with the necessary skills to both lead changes within their business units and the skills to be more receptive to change. In addition to MasterCard executives sharing their insights on change and a resource Website with change-related content, the GTM&D team selected Dr. John Kotter's Leading Bold Change (LBC) initiative, an interactive by-product of his book, "Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Condition." It then partnered with ISB Worldwide Corporate Learning Management, co-developer and distributor of Leading Bold Change, to train facilitators and bring the program to life at MasterCard.
"We wanted a program with many of the key elements already developed with quality support tools and a variety of learning modes to reach an audience of learners around the world," Ray says. "The LBC program, a direct result of Dr. Kotter's seminal work, allows us to speak about his model in an easily digestible manner. It has the right blend of accessible workshop content (what is not to love about penguins?), as well as research (books, HBR articles, videos) from THE thought leader on change. Furthermore, the ability to certify our trainers to drive the global delivery was key to the selection of ISB."
Going LBC
MasterCard kicked off the initiative with executive sessions to build buy-in and support for driving LBC through the company. Many participants in these sessions subsequently requested LBC sessions with their own teams tied to specific change challenges they are facing on their teams. Pilot sessions have been held globally in Purchase, NY; St. Louis, MO; London; and Brussels since fall 2007. All session participants were required to read "Our Iceberg Is Melting" and complete online pre-work before attending the workshop. During the workshops, executives holding team sessions developed action plans to apply the 8-Step model to their change initiatives. Over the course of the change initiatives, executives and their teams receive consulting services from the GTM&D team on action plan implementation on an ongoing basis.
The LBC workshop consists of several key components:
• Interactive dialogue on the book and reinforcement of key concepts from it.
• Identification and discussion of how the archetypes from the book relate to each participant's leadership style.
• Video presentation by Dr. Kotter of several corporate case studies on why the 8 Steps are needed and what successful implementation of them looks like.
• Breakout and group discussion on the past experiences of participants with change initiatives and how they relate to successful implementation of each step.
• Exploration of the current state of the team or organization, including strengths and weaknesses, and analysis of critical change issues (fissures).
• Application of the 8-Step model to the identified focus area(s), including completion of a plan and goals for each step.
Following the workshops, GTM&D consultants worked with each team to ensure successful implementation of the action plan—in most cases joining regular team meetings, and in some cases conducting additional workshops.
Now for the 8 Steps
So how far has MasterCard gotten with the 8 Steps of change?
To increase the urgency for change (Step 1), in November 2007, a getAbstract Chat hosted by Chief Marketing Officer Larry Flanagan involved close to a thousand MasterCard employees via a global teleconference of the key themes of Dr. Kotter's work and their application to the company. Later that month, employees heard from Dr. Kotter himself, and some posed questions to him during a live broadcast from Linkage.
The Guiding Team (Step 2) consists of CMO Flanagan and his communication team; Valarie Gelb, chief sales development officer and an early adopter; and the GTM&D team, supported by the ISB trainers. "While we focus on creating a culture of change, we allow each business unit to assemble the correct guiding team for each individual change initiative," says Ann Schulte, VP, Learning & Development, who leads GTM&D's MasterCard University. "We en-courage each 'Fred' and 'Alice' of each initiative to be sure they have all the necessary skills to execute each change. Our role is to support each change thread and to weave them into a culture of change readiness."
MasterCard's vision (Step 3), reveals Matthew Breitfelder, VP, Management & Leadership Development, is "To be ready, willing, and able to change as the need arises." The company's broad communication efforts (Step 4)—including Intranet coverage of the change initiatives—have been enhanced through its strategic partnership with Worldwide Communications (its internal marketing and advertising team). "We have empowered action (Step 5) by providing all MasterCard employees access to these concepts through a variety of means. By certifying our own GTM&D team and working closely with senior leaders and their intact teams, we are willing and able to assist each business unit with its change initiative as needs arise," Breitfelder says.
As for producing short-term wins (Step 6), Schulte says, "While we are early in our process, we already can see improvements in the ways in which teams think about and plan for change. We are beginning to build a common 'language' around change."
Adds Breitfelder, "We know we have to keep the momentum going (Step 7), so we spend time with teams helping them see the end goal but also making sure they remember the reason why this work is so important."
Making these changes sustainable (Step 8) does not occur by coincidence. "Following each LBC session, the participants have a detailed action plan that prepares them to not only launch their initiative, but to sustain early gains," Ray says. "The GTM&D team follows up with business unit teams, providing guidance, monitoring progress against action plans, and serving as 'group mentors,' all aimed at making the changes a permanent part of our culture."
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