Charlotte Beers: the Leadership of Change Essay Example

find like-minded “kindred spirits,” and began soliciting ideas for change from her senior managers in one-on-one interviews in order to probe their views on disciplines, different regions, as well as other staff members.

Charlotte Beers clearly wanted a strategic organizational change to the firm. The interviewing process gave her the ability to hand-pick potential political allies to neutralize the resistance to outsiders that was characteristic for the firm. Focusing on the brand, Charlotte Beers recognized the need for the agency to understand the complex relationships between the consumer and the product. She created the ‘Thirsty for Change’ group to address the organizational changes that were imperative to reinvent the agency, and invited this group to a meeting in Vienna.

Beers established a low-risk environment for the progressive-thinking members of the company to gather and share their views. The Vienna conference yielded a special opportunity for the chosen group to finally interact personally – which had not happened before. These people came together and recognized the glaring issue facing O&M: “media advertising, by itself, was becoming a commodity product” and each participant made the commitment “to brand building through a broader, more integrated range of communication services. ” The Vienna meeting was Beers’ structuring of the organization.In it, she made it clear what type of behavior and attitude would be required from her people. Vienna developed a vision for the company, while Chewton-Glen created a mechanism for the implementation of that vision.

This meeting showcased the second element of instrumental leadership: the creation of systems and processes for measuring, monitoring and assessing results. Chewton Glen yielded a long “to-do” list of priorities. Charlotte Beers coalesced these ideas from

the newly-energized leadership into a condensed and implementable plan focusing on “Client Security”, “Better Work, More Often” and “Financial Discipline”.From these three main concepts came major structural changes, such as the creation of the WCS and the introduction of the Brand Audit as a vital tool in the integration of the Brand Stewardship concept. Through continuous focus and inter-level communication, Beers and her team were able to begin the integration of the new vision into the existing O&M culture.

The initiation of such dialogue showed the leadership of the company that Beers wasn’t going to be the one that would be implementing the changes; it would be them, with Beers acting as the catalyst.She made it clear that it was going to take a team effort in terms of ideas and implementation to right this ship. Ms. Beers embodied the qualities of the “magic leader” -- the ability to inspire and command presence. She won the support of senior executives and overcame the ingrained internal culture of opposition to outsiders.

Nevertheless, Ms. Beers needed to be more than a magic leader in order to continue to transform Ogilvy & Mather--she needed to be an instrumental leader as well. While Ms.Beers developed a core group of senior executives who believed that O&M needed to change, identified the issues that the company faced, and crafted a new vision and mission statement, there are still several steps that need to be taken in order to complete the change effort. First, consensus must be fostered among all employees, not just top executives.

Second, changes must be institutionalized through formal policies, systems, and structures – including the implementation of reward

and censure systems.Lastly, it is important to continue to monitor and adjust strategies as new challenges arise. As Ms. Beers communicated her new vision, there were two immediate challenges: resistance from the creative faction and insufficient communication within the company.

Ms. Beers needed to identify people who embrace the changes, utilize them as model employees to increase buy in, and let go those who opposed change. While Ms. Beers effectively communicated her vision, she cannot effectively be the only “missionary. The vision needed to be horizontally communicated throughout the organization, by both senior executives and lower level employees in order to generate greater levels of buy-in.

Once there was enough support, the transformation of the organizational structure began. O&M has had autonomous, local agencies in its corporate structure since the early days; the new vision required greater centralization of the World Client Service (WCS). In order to achieve this vision, Charlotte needed to identify local offices that supported the new structure and were rewarded as a result.These examples could then be used as catalysts to transform the corporate structure from the old, separated local “fiefdoms” to a centralized, integrated structure. Perhaps the most important aspect of change is that it is continuous.

Whether it is creating a new culture of team work, resolving political struggles between local and central offices, or continuing to innovate, new challenges will always arise. Charlotte Beers will have to continue to adapt to the changing landscape of the industry, and refine and reinforce the O&M corporate vision.