Show case: PostNL

Noblesse Oblige - Discovering opportunities for growth in a declining market -

Currently, the demand for physical mail distribution is declining throughout the world. This declining demand, which has a negative impact on the market as a whole, makes it difficult to maintain a positive outlook when it comes to identifying future opportunities for growth. In an effort to overcome this real-world challenge, our team of seasoned professionals was invited to introduce a new leadership approach that would lead to the identification of opportunities for growth.

We started by assessing the personal passions and beliefs of each team member involved. The results of the assessment were used to highlight strengths, commonalities, and to show the others that each one had something to fight for as a cohesive team. While it was seemingly divided, we quickly found that the logistics division of the organization was far from dead. It quickly became clear that the division of this unit could be transformed into a true value-creating platform (Building a Mountain) that would transform them into a dominant market leader. Fred van Ommen and Corina Kuiper describe the idea behind ‘Building a Mountain’ in our latest book, Orchestration of Effectuation. After engaging in multiple steps of the destination unknown process, the team was able to locate a path that lead to growth and strategic adaptability.

We thank Managing Director, Erik Brink, and Commercial Director, Jan Hunze, for their courage and trustthey offered us. There were two essential aspects of working with these two senior Corporate Effectuating heroes. First, all we did was challenge them and provide them with the tools. Second, they showed that there is a discipline in corporate entrepreneurship if you are willing to stop predicting and start co-creating.

Want to learn more? Read the Dutch blog post by Ludo Oelrich, Director of Strategic Business Development of PostNL