MONOCEROSMIND: OUR RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
OVERHAULING OLD SYSTEMS TO INCREASE RETENTION BY 60% AND ACHIEVE A $1.6B GOAL
THE SCENARIO: Sometimes a company grows faster than it is able to adapt. A major health insurance company operating in the EMEA was one of those companies. Founded in the late 90’s this insurance company had slowly but sustainably grown until an IPO in 2013 which was oversubscribed by 900%. The IPO represented the largest deal of its kind in the insurance market in Saudi Arabia. In 2015 The company became aware of the failing HR system that was struggling to keep up with explosive growth the company was facing.
THE PROBLEM: The company was recruiting 50-70 new people a week and at the same time losing 30-40 a week due to poor talent targeting, job classification and terrible retention strategies. Faulty processes were strangling this global company.
THE SOLUTION: Monoceros in conjunction with other service providers where contracted to redesign and deliver a new HR paradigm and recruiting methodology. This involved overhauling the entire recruiting system, upskilling an entire department, Integrating new technology and process and helping the CHRO redesign his delivery teams. Within 8 months an entire redesign had taken place and the company was recruiting targeted, strategic human resource and more importantly retaining them. Where the attrition rate had been up to 70% for some areas of the business, it dropped to under 10% within a year. As a result, the organisation is on track to achieve its 2020 goals to be a $1.6billion company.
THE SCENARIO: A global financial services company, as a result of its rapid growth from 2015-2019 had not paid enough attention to developing a clear succession and high-potential strategy for its diverse teams and business verticals. This lead to a significant short term vacuum in leadership and capacity within key areas of the business. This scenario threatened the vision 2020 goals of the organisation and Monoceros was contracted to assist in the design and deploy of a high-potential leadership development program.
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THE PROBLEM: the company was finding it more and more difficult to scale as it ran out of qualified leaders with the correct mindset and skills to help the organisation achieve its vision. This meant that unqualified and poorly groomed people where being placed in key leadership positions resulting in inertia, disengagement by staff and dysfunction throughout the business.
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THE SOLUTION: Deploying industry best practice and using data analytics and cultural norming, a bespoke leadership development program was designed communicated and rolled out within the company. Due to the specific cultural and demographic nuances a high degree of tailoring for circumstance was carried out to ensure adoption and program success. The company is currently recognised as an employer of choice in its geography and has won various regional as well as international awards for its mentality and attitude toward development of its staff and leaders. The companies achievements in providing the best quality health care products and services that meet customers’ needs in addition to its distinct performance and outstanding achievements in the field of social responsibility are a testament to the leadership it develops internally as a commitment to its continued success and growth.
OVERCOMING TEAM DYSFUNCTION TO FORM A HIGH PERFORMING CULTURE
3.3MIL CUSTOMERS AND MOST SUCCESSFUL HEALTH INSURER IN THE GEOGRAPHY WITH A HIGH PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
THE SCENARIO: BUPA Arabia is an employer of a diverse cultural set of individuals spanning the Middle East as well as Europe and the USA. Creating a cohesive mindset in alignment with the CEO’s vision for the company was becoming a challenge as the company transitioned away from a classic hierarchical structure to a matrix based organisation. IN a relatively young company many executives and senior Directors complained about the loss of the intimate days of being run like an entrepreneurial or family style business.
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THE PROBLEM: Some executives had held responsible positions across the world and as such had deep experience in leadership and building teams for the future. Many local leaders had not had the requisite experience and so were struggling to keep pace with the ever accelerating business needs. Unhealthy conflict and mistrust were starting to find their way into the boardroom and management meetings.
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THE SOLUTION: Monoceros was contracted to coach and facilitate 6 top executives within the organisation. Initially a 3 year project Monoceros was able to deliver the agreed results within 18 months saving the organisation significant contract costs. The leaders identified for development have remained with the company and continued to positively contribute yo BUPA Arabia’s stellar performance. Bupa Arabia is one of the largest and most successful health insurance providers in the KSA, servicing 3.3m customers, and has grown customers as well as revenue and profit over the last 5 years.
THE SCENARIO: An extremely nimble yet complicated entrepreneurial airline funded out of the USA, operating in the Middle East and managed out of South Africa under SACAA rules needed direction. The organisation was growing quickly as a result of an exponential increase in demand for commercial flights in and around Kuwait from 2009-2012. Flying large contracts for various organisations the airline found itself facing a bottleneck in process, operations and business administration capability.
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THE PROBLEM: With significant increase in demand in a highly regulated environment there is 0% room for error. The board of directors recognised some of potential areas of concern and impediments to growth.
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THE SOLUTION: Monoceros helped develop and deliver a new hiring and remuneration framework for current and new staff helping the company attract and retain key strategic staff Monoceros instituted a new document sharing protocol and technology to make operations across different time zones and geographies safer, smoother and efficient. Time savings equated to a reduction of waste and a decrease of flight delays of 32% Monoceros helped reconstitute the board of directors to reflect diversity laws in South Africa and supported the new CEO with leadership development across the business to guarantee growth and delivery of contracts.
BREAKTHROUGH IN GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERSHIPS MEANS WINNING $300M IN CONTRACTS
GAINING BUY-IN ALLOWS A SHIFT FROM HIERARCHICAL TO MATRIX MANAGEMENT MODEL
THE SCENARIO: Rio Tinto as an employer of 60000 people and a world leader of finding, mining and producing raw materials embarked on a journey in 2014 to address its outdated hierarchical management system and a adopt a matrix system
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THE PROBLEM: Rio Tinto, founded in 1873 had very specific ways in which it operated, a tried and tested system in an environment of predominantly engineering professionals. Rio Tinto faced a significant challenge in persuading key individuals across the world to adopt a new way of managing and new way of doing business.
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THE SOLUTION: Monoceros conducted deep research and rolled out a program of 360-degree assessments across parts of the copper business both in Australia and the USA. Observations were tabulated and individuals were allotted coaches to help with the transition to a matrix structure. 87% of leaders coached adopted and became strong proponents of the new paradigm thus allowing Rio Tinto to continue its growth and development strategies across the world.
THE SCENARIO: MAX BUPA is the Indian subsidiary of BUPA UK serving the Indian market. Founded in 2008 MAX BUPA was growing but not at the rate expected. A complicated management structure had led to confusion in the business and the inability to achieve targeted goals within the business.
THE PROBLEM: MAX BUPA was not hitting its revenue targets and the CEO was known to be tough and temperamental. BUPA UK was concerned about the businesses ability to continue growing and achieve its corporate responsibility responsibilities.
THE SOLUTION: Monoceros was contracted to conduct personality and 360 feedback assessments in the mid to upper tiers of leadership in the organisation. A comprehensive leadership development plan was devised and delivered to BUPA UK to action. MAX BUPA’s CEO now enjoys an 89% acceptance rating in India and the organisation continues to grow in a tough competitive environment.
OVERCOMING A POOR TRACK RECORD LEADS TO AN 89% APPROVAL RATING
A HIGH PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM LEADS TO ATTRACTIVE EMPLOYER STATUS THREE YEARS IN A ROW
THE SCENARIO: GRUPA LUXMED is a Polish subsidiary of BUPA UK serving the Polish and Eastern European market. Founded in 1992 MAX BUPA was growing but not at the rate expected. A complicated management subsidiary structure and external competition and disruption had led to a need to shift gears on talent and attract new innovative. GRUPA LUXMED was achieving targets but wanted to outperform the market and grab market share.
THE PROBLEM: GRUPA LUXMED was not using modern HR tools or sourcing technology to find and recruit excellent talent from around Europe. IN order to outperform mits competitors GRUPA LUXMED identified that it needed a new way of looking at its talent and acquisition strategies.
THE SOLUTION: Monoceros was contracted to conduct personality and 360 feedback assessments in the mid to upper tiers of leadership in the organisation. A comprehensive leadership development plan was devised and delivered to BUPA UK to action. Monoceros also advised on HR technology and ATS integration to make a recruiting process more efficient for the business but especially for applicants. GRUPA LUXMED has been recognised as an attractive employer the last three years in a row as a result of this foundational work.
THE SCENARIO: The CEO of a medical technology reseller was facing a slower than optimal turn around on new products and technology being contracted into the business. With the clear goal to be the market leader in this area of the market the team and the business was facing a major challenge as key performance metrics could not be reached with the current product spread
THE PROBLEM: Red tape surrounding import and sales of medical technology in this country is significant, leading to endless delays and lost revenue opportunities. The need for creativity and innovation within the team to overcome these bureaucratic logjams was high, neither of which this team had in abundance. The CEO was needing a new mindset in his product and acquisition managers to help them achieve their goals.
THE SOLUTION: Monoceros deployed a 6 month development program delivered onsite to foster creative thinking and KAIZEN methodology. Clear goals were set and the business overachieved its new product acquisition targets by 58% in 2017. The long term result has been the company able to maintain and grow its market share in the health and medtech niche in the EMEA. The creative thinking development also led to new verticals being identified, in this case, medical consumables that opened a $7M opportunity in patient rich environments.
MEETING GROWTH STRATEGY WITH NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
BUILDING LEADERSHIP EFFICACY WITH 360-DEGREE ASSESSMENTS AND COACHING
THE SCENARIO: Diaverum, a global best in practice dialysis provider, needed partners in disparate geographies to adopt and internalise its culture of patient first and to “improve the quality of life for renal patients” Having a multi-geography partnership approach, creating parity in mindset and approach was a challenge.
THE PROBLEM: Varying degrees of care, and renal patients receiving a different experience in different geographies. This was driving a negative perception about the solution in patients minds.
The SOLUTION: Monoceros provided 360-degree feedback to each participant in the program and provided 6 months one on one coaching. The result was an NPS score uptick of 42% with renal patient raters migrating from neutral to positive within a 12 month period.
THE SCENARIO: Large automobile importer and retailer struggling to achieve operational efficiency and revenue targets due to inefficient and ineffective international relationships with partner companies mostly in Japan.
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THE PROBLEM: The companies management and leadership team predominantly in the operations function had allowed their relationships to degenerate with their partners in Japan. The contracts remained in place and they were lucrative however neither of the teams on either side of the relationship were looking for efficiency or breakthrough
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THE SOLUTION: Monoceros used an emotional intelligence 360 degree feedback process to highlight deficiencies in the organisations ability to build and foster productive relationships with its customers. After a number of team training days were delivered, a one on one coaching program was introduced and over a twelve month period the relationships were shown to have improved leading to a faster turnaround on import orders and completion as well as a willingness of the organisations operations and import teams to learn kaizen methodology from the manufacturer. The end result was that the dealer network were able to fulfil customer requests for colour and specifications 20% more of the time leading to a margin increase on sales of 32% in one year.
IMPROVING RELATIONSHIPS TO BOOST PROFITABILITY
GROWTH AND PROFITABILITY THROUGH THE ROLLOUT OF CULTURE ENHANCING PROGRAMS
THE SCENARIO: A leading corporate facility fit-out company had reached a critical juncture in its growth trajectory. Its CEO an entrepreneurial visionary who had grown the company from a two man team into a 200 person business was struggling to keep all of his delivery teams, subcontractors and operations teams on the same mission and delivery strategy. The company had always been known and had built its reputation on smart and on time delivery, the once shiny brand was being damaged by the cultural misalignment in the business.
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THE SOLUTION: Monoceros was contracted to help the company envisage and develop a strong cultural image that could be used in conjunction with its brand image to reinvigorate a team that had felt the results of fast and furious delivery for 8 years. After facilitating 3 strategy sessions and diagnosing various team dysfunctions, a company-wide program was adopted to create six cultural non-negotiables. These non-negotiables became the motivating force behind the cultural alignment work carried out by Monoceros to help the company get back on track. Team and staff engagement went up from 40% to 68% and 27% to 70% respectively within six months. The company was also able to raise external capital to fund the next phase of its growth in Sydney.
THE SCENARIO: A major bank in New Zealand was looking for solutions and ideas on how to further dominate their segment by deepening their commitment to team and culture. Having been recognised as a Randstad good employer their rating had started slipping over the years and the automations department believed there were better ways to help staff be amazing.
With a robust internal coaching culture within the bank already what the exploratory team was looking for was a new way of helping internal teams to collaborate and share innovation through increased communication and creativity.
THE SOLUTION: Monoceros was contracted to investigate and recommend new and cutting edge HR technology and develop a business case for its test and deployment. A novel AI was developed in conjunction with Microsoft to be deployed within the ‘teams’ environment in the bank. Initial testing revealed that individuals were able to correctly anticipate feedback and collaboration possibilities 60% of the time. This translated into an increase of actual collaboration events within the team of 83% resulting in time savings and efficiency ROI of 23%
INCREASING COLLABORATION AND EFFICIENCY THROUGH INNOVATIVE HR TECHNOLOGY
AVOIDING RISKS AT ALL COSTS TO A CULTURE OF INNOVATION AND COLLABORATION
THE SCENARIO: A market leading SAAS firm providing technology in the background screening industry in the USA had experienced 15 years of unabridged double digit growth. Initially the technology stack used by the team had been revolutionary but in the last 3 years aggressive well-funded competitors had arisen to challenge the market leader in innovative and efficient ways.
THE SOLUTION: Monoceros was contracted to build a brand new integrations team and deploy a system to promote and reward innovation. The prevailing culture of the business was one of failure aversion, people who made mistakes normally lost their jobs.. In a SAAS firm this was completely illogical. The original contract was for a 36 month duration but Monoceros was able to build a new 14 person team, entrench a culture of collaboration between all divisions in the company, develop a completely new ATS integrations strategy and develop a KPI system that measured the key team deliverables including innovation that had been lacking. Significant leadership development as well as coaching was used to change mindsets and steer the team toward the ultimate goal of self-sufficiency and double digit growth.
Within 12 months of the program completion the company had increased its number of integrations from13p/a to 85p/a, it had increased its staff complement by 27%, its market valuation had increased by $57Mil to $147Mil and it was attracting new high value clients 3 of which would represent an increase of turnover of 11% projected for the next financial year. The double digit growth had been reinstituted.
TESTIMONIALS FROM OUR CLIENTS
Captain Earl Gibbs
President & CEO -
Gryphon Holdings - USA
“HANS IS A GREAT ASSET AS A DIRECTOR. HE’S VERY TRUSTWORTHY, TRUTHFUL, BRIGHT, INSIGHTFUL, AND LOYAL TO THE COMPANY, ITS SHAREHOLDERS AND PEOPLE.”
Ali Abdali
Director of Technology Services & Transformation - BUPA Arabia
“I HAD THE PLEASURE TO WORK CLOSELY WITH HANS. OUR RELATION BROUGHT A GREAT AND SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCE, I FOUND IN HIM A TRUSTED PARTNER AND A REAL FRIEND I CAN COUNT ON TO DISCUSS COMPLEX SITUATIONS AND TRANSFORM IT INTO PROMISING OPPORTUNITIES.”
Gregg Quy
Qualitative Research Director @ Firefish Ltd – United Kingdom
“HANS ASKED PROBING QUESTIONS AND INTERROGATED THE SUBJECT MATTER WITH INTRIGUE, DILIGENCE AND SCIENTIFIC RIGOR. HE IS ENERGETIC AND FUN TO BE AROUND, A GREAT PERSON ALL ROUND.”
Edward Wallace
Marketing Manager - Lamelle Laboratories – South Africa
“HANS IS A REMARKABLE INDIVIDUAL WHO IS EXTREMELY AUTHENTIC, MOTIVATED, AND DILIGENT. HE BRINGS AN ENERGY THAT GALVANISES ANY TEAM OR GROUP. HANS HAS THE ABILITY TO BRING OUT POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL HIS TEAM MEMBERS THROUGH SYNERGY AND UNITY WITH SUPERB RESULTS. THIS COMBINED WITH A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE THAT ONE IS COMPELLED TO USE THE WORD “WISE” IN HIS DECISION-MAKING, ADDRESSING ALL VARIABLES AND ASPECTS THAT WOULD AFFECT THE OUTCOME.”
Mathew Barber
Chief Operating Officer
Vutiliti LLC - USA
"HANS IS ONE THE MOST GENUINE AND GIFTED CONSULTANTS THAT I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK WITH IN MY CAREER. HE HAS A UNIQUE DRIVE TO DELIVER MASSIVE VALUE TO HIS CLIENTS THAT SUPERSEDE ALL OTHER MOTIVATIONS. HE LIVES THE CONCEPT OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP AND ADDING VALUE TO EVERYONE HE COMES IN CONTACT WITH. HANS HAS ALSO DEMONSTRATED TO ME TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT THE KEY TO CHANGE IN ANY ORGANIZATION IS THROUGH AN INTENSE FOCUS ON #1. THE PEOPLE #2. THE PEOPLE #3. THE PEOPLE. HANS BELIEVES THAT PEOPLE ARE AN ORGANIZATION'S GREATEST ASSET AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH. ON SEVERAL ENGAGEMENTS, WE'VE HAD DIFFERING OPINIONS ON EMPLOYEES WE WERE EVALUATING THAT WEREN'T GOING TO MAKE THE CUT. EACH TIME I LISTENED TO HIM, HE WAS ABLE TO FIND THE GREATNESS IN THOSE INDIVIDUALS AND COACH/MENTOR THEM TO BECOME THEIR BEST SELVES."
Bassel Gazzaz
Director Corporate Sales
Bupa Arabia
“WORKING WITH HANS WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE. HE HELPED ME IMPROVE THE DEPTH AND WIDTH OF MY THINKING. HANS ALWAYS PUSHES IN A POSITIVE WAY A PERSON TO IMPROVE AND DISCOVER ALL HIS POTENTIALS. HE IS EXTREMELY STRUCTURED AND ORGANIZED AND ALSO VERY SMART ON FLEXIBILITY, I.E., JUGGLING / CHANGING THE SUBJECT BASED ON IMPORTANCE. HE COMES WITH A VERY STRONG LIFE AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, ONE THAT IS NOT ONLY BASED ON THEORIES AND IDEALISM. I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO OUR MEETING, EACH TIME I HAVE A NEW THING TO LEARN AND IMPROVE THE WAY I THINK.”