NEXT Electronics - Technical Productivity Initiative

  • NEXT Electronics - Technical Productivity Initiative

Scope

  • Whole of business - Nationwide, 21 branches, all levels
  • Leading a business transformation
  • Organisation (Re-) Design
  • Leadership Team, Line Managers & Technical Staff
  • Culture change / paradigm shift
  • Strategic and operational change
  • Technical capability
  • Measurement/Assessment
  • Organisational Learning & Feedback

Reasons for the initiative and change

End of a large passive income stream was imminent. The reason for the company's existence needed to be redefined and it needed to be able to stand alone, survive and grow as an independent company within the Group.

About the Initiative

A long standing and well established player in the Electronics service sector under the Group Rentals and Vidtronics brands, newly rebranded NEXT Electronics entered the commercial world of consumer electronics service. As a challenger brand in the commercial market, NEXT Electronics found it needed a significant culture change despite its well developed technical capability. Once the extent of the required change was fully understood and addressed, NEXT Electronics progressively gained market dominance, ousting the long established market leader from top spot.

The Technical Productivity Initiative set out to address the commercial viability of the company's service business.

Working with available data and then progressively building more precise measurement processes, a meaningful baseline for technical productivity and viability was established. Then through deep and iterative analysis and exploration with subject matter experts and managers throughout the 21 branch operation, and by implementing significant accountability changes, a major paradigm shift was achieved along with new work practices to support this. Although a lengthy and iterative process, the new thinking became deeply embedded in the organisation's cultural DNA and the company emerged as the new market leader setting the industry benchmark for productivity and performance.

Person, Role and Relationship

Scott Constantine, initially National Training & Development Manager, then Technical Performance Manager and later independent Organisational Development Consultant

Outcome

A monumental increase in productivity.

  • More than a 40% increase in recorded and chargeable productivity over a 3 year period
  • From no-compete to industry leader in terms of productivity and market share
  • Company's productivity levels proved sustainable and became the industry benchmark