Schweppes Australia instills change management as a core competency – and transforms its business

After a demerger and then subsequently being acquired, Schweppes Australia had a host of legacy work practices and systems designed for a large confectionary rather than a mid-tier beverage business.

The business environment demanded change in challenging circumstances. Knowing that success would depend on how well the people side was managed, Schweppes engaged Change Synergy to build change management as a core competency across its business.

What we did

• Assembled a cross-functional team of HR, Sales, Finance, and other corporate functions to test if our framework, tools, and measures could help Schweppes grow and change its business
• Created a plan to build change management competency across the business
• Embedded a member of our team in the business for six months to be a change mentor, coach and consultant
• Facilitated the executive team through a one-day sponsorship development session
• Trained over 100 employees over 12 months in their roles in change
• Improved role clarity for leaders with respect to change management

The results, 18 months later

• A new vision, strategy and supporting behaviours were launched and embedded so successfully that every employee can describe how they personally contribute to achieving the company’s goals
• A customer-focused project that had previously failed was delivered successfully
• Data from three companies were successfully integrated into a single, streamlined operation
• There’s a new respect for business results that come from visible leadership, communications, tracking and monitoring
• There are dedicated change agents working holistically across the business to develop local change plans and to measure and track progress
• Monitoring, tracking and evaluating change progress has become “the way we do things around here”
• Senior managers are asking, “have we planned change management resources for this?”
• Change Managers play an active role in project steering committees
• A “Centre of Change Excellence” has been established to enhance change management maturity

“Working with Change Synergy is like having a really good pilot on board the aircraft guiding the team whilst they learn how to fly the craft themselves.”

– Human Resources Director