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From a loose conglomerate to a high-performing organization – Change management at Keller EMEA

Starting Point

Keller Group is the world’s largest independent provider of geotechnical solutions. With revenues of roughly €500 million, Keller EMEA is one of the most important divisions. Keller EMEA conducts business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

 

Driven by the growth of the world’s population, urbanization, and GDP in numerous regions, the construction industry will experience excellent growth over the coming decades. Ground engineering will also benefit from this development. However, market conditions have changed. In the past, the markets were determined by local players. In our times an increasing number of large – often internationally financed - projects require geotechnical companies to efficiently combine local presence with global strength. A challenge for Keller, a typical medium-sized company. By the end of 2015 a new organization had been conceived that shall enable Keller to generate growth beyond the boundaries of local businesses.

 

Measures

We advised Keller EMEA on implementing the new organizational structure and supported the management team in finding and defining their roles as well organizing collaboration within the new framework.

 

In order to gain acceptance for the fundamental cultural shift alongside the structural change, we developed a new business and marketing strategy and plan for the division and its business units. This was done on the basis of a market study demonstrating the opportunities and risks provided by a strong growing but changing environment. At the same time we developed and implemented tools to measure change and its results.

 

Results

Die Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter von Keller EMEA arbeiten heute in einer vernetzten Struktur, in der die Rollen der einzelnen Business Units und der zentralen Funktionen klar definiert sind. Diese neue Form der Zusammenarbeit ist inzwischen weitgehend akzeptiert und beginnt am Markt die ersten Resultate zu zeigen. Die neue Kommunikationskultur fördert den offenen Dialog untereinander und mit den Kunden und hilft dem Unternehmen dabei, flexibel und effizient auf Veränderungen des Umfelds zu reagieren.