Unlocking Future Growth – By Looking Outside The Norm

Unlocking Future Growth

How senior directors from a major retailer used an external focus to gain internal insights that were geared towards transformation.

Maybe we all have a tendency to stay in our own lane a little too much. It’s where things are comfortable, and possibly where things work too. But could they work even better if we venture a little outside of that comfort zone? Realizing the potential of what lies on the other side is only possible when we actually step into it. 

This was the premise of a recent immersion experience that we guided our client through. They went on a journey that shifted the focus from this internalized tendency to a more expansive and innovative approach. 

The Client  – A Major Retail Group

Our client is a true retail success story. A retail giant, if you will. They do things well, very well in fact, and their name is known within families all over the world, even in countries where they are not physically present. As an organization they were seeking to deepen key strategic capabilities focused around transformation and strategy development, all while fostering the innovation mindset that forms the foundation of successful startups and disruptive entities. 

Their Situation – Unlocking Future Growth

The organization nominated a large group of 25-30 senior directors for our program, all of them coming aboard with high capabilities as future leaders. Using external perspectives of the immersion experience, we wanted to help grow their external focus and help foster an innovative mindset. That was the intention and it was embraced head-on with enthusiasm.

There were a number of impacts that were expected from the program, mainly a shift in focus from an internal (reacting) to an external (anticipating) as a key outcome. With this comes a desire to be more curious, leaning into unique insights that would help them face future organizational challenges with confidence and preparedness.

What We Did

With an objective to invigorate through expanding focus, we designed an immersive experience for our clients that brought together innovative leaders from other organizations and encouraged analogous thinking. 

The overall theme?  “Strategy and transformation: the keys to unlocking future growth”. The participants were divided into four teams, with each team having four meetings within the following themes:

  • Leading through times of disruption and transformation
  • Reimagining the digital world
  • Strategic alignment and innovation across value chains
  • Innovation as the catalyst for disruption and transformation

We collaborated with an incredible cast of exemplars from wide-ranging organizations, including:

  • Market front-runners in highly disrupted global industries that are transforming to face new realities
  • High-growth organizations recognized for disrupting how consumers engage in the digital world
  • Leaders balancing short-term growth while innovating for long-term excellence
  • Entrepreneurs and high-growth startups for insights on fostering a culture of innovation and agility 

We also faced our own challenges in creating this program: we had only nine weeks to set up a program in New York City involving four teams and 16 meetings, and all this against a background of the COVID pandemic and various logistics issues. We had to be pretty agile ourselves.

The Immersion Learning Experience

We introduced our client to an incredible list of hosts and organizations for their immersion learning program, and they brought us a group of willing and engaged participants. From day one, the participants saw the value of immersion as our wonderfully open exemplars shared their experiences.

While we all have professional weaknesses, the day one discussions highlighted that personal strengths can still make us great at our roles. Trying new things and failing fast were discussed openly and honestly. 

An example from day two that resonated with the group was how well do current schedules and methodologies work? The participants came to the realization that the accepted way is not necessarily the right way. All organizations found synergy when it came to alignment: as one of our participants said, “it is of the utmost importance to have the right people in the right seat and have the bus driving in the right direction”.

The Impact – Look Out Of The Window

At the end of day two, our client was quite clear that even though they were seeking to adapt, their organization already does things well. Part of the success is down to the internal culture of self-criticism – how can we do things better? However, this can be a surprisingly reductive mindset: how can we learn from external solutions? 

The immersion process opened the participants’ eyes to the problems and solutions experienced by organizations. They saw synergies within the differences, which will enable them to take an outward look to problem solving in the future. Just because something is approached canonically in a certain way, it doesn’t mean that it is the right way.

In the words of one participant:

“…we spend a lot of time looking into the mirror. This week made me realize it’s important to take the time to look out of the window.”

To find out how an immersion experience could transform your team, talk with us. We can work together to create a program that builds on talents and fosters innovation. Even pandemics, tight schedules, and cancelled flights won’t stop us from supporting your organization’s growth. Contact us to inquire about your options for immersion learning experiences.