Leadership Development & Performance Management,
BAE Systems (UK)
Client Issue: BAE Systems is the 3rd largest global defence company engaged in the development, delivery & support of advanced defense & aerospace systems in the air, on land & at sea. They have major operations across 5 continents, with customers & partners in more than 100 countries. Their strongest positions are in each of the following markets – Australia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, UK & the US-they have organised the business to reflect this. They employ 96,000 highly skilled people & their annual sales exceed £15 billion. Their UK leadership team requested support in identifying areas for potential leadership development to deliver the cost, capability & overall financial performance to meet their clients' needs.
Solution: Synergy facilitated a strategic workshop to explore the following issues: how they might further develop project managers’ leadership skills to integrate outputs from other functions, suppliers & stakeholders in order to deliver attainable project goals to time & budget - a vital capability. Given that within the Defence Sector the trend is toward customers demanding greater capability at lower cost, we also explored how leaders might motivate & develop their teams to ensure improved service. BAE Systems have since developed a program to ensure that all project managers now have the professional skills to achieve their full potential. Finally, we looked at how leaders were working towards a more motivational coaching culture as well as evaluating their performance management system to address skilled staff retention.
Outcome: Synergy helped to raise the awareness of development issues in the leadership team & facilitated dialogue & action planning, so that they could begin to address the identified needs & best practice sharing. This helped to ensure enterprise level leverage in the areas of management capability, team competency, diversity & positive cultural change, for the benefit of the organisation & their clients.