Think One Team. Winter Graham

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      part I

      the story of the big jelly bean team

      Once upon a time, in a now-fashionable inner-city district of Sydney, Australia, a business called O’Donnell’s Jelly Bean Company became the market leader in the confectionery industry.

      Founded by brothers William and Walter O’Donnell on their return from the Second World War, O’Donnell’s Jelly Bean Company was enormously proud of its seventy-year-plus history, its role as an employer of people from the local community and its profitability. Most of all, however, the people of O’Donnell’s Jelly Bean Company were proud of its products.

      It had been that way since William and Walter produced the first jelly beans in the kitchen of their home in Birchmore Street and sold them to children in the neighbouring streets. ‘O’Donnell’s’, as the business came to be affectionately known, produced the best-looking, best-tasting and best-value jelly beans that money could buy. Any kid who lived near Birchmore Street could tell you that money spent on those monster-sized O’Donnell’s jelly beans was a far superior investment to the bland fare at the local store, which carried all the ‘brand’ lollies. Importantly, an O’Donnell’s jelly bean commanded a greater price when on-sold at school. Many children doubled their pocket money by investing in a few of those precious jelly beans and then selling them for a handsome profit at recess. The fame and profitability of William and Walter’s jelly beans spread through the schools across the city and within a few months a small manufacturing plant was created at a site that has since grown to accommodate the nearly 500 employees of O’Donnell’s Jelly Bean Company.

      When you bought ‘the real McCoy jelly bean’ (as Walter loved to call it), you could choose from the three colours (red, blue and black) that O’Donnell’s now manufactures in a gleaming, state-of-the-art factory. The enormous jelly beans (about the size of a bird’s egg) were sold in clear cellophane packs of five, ten or fifteen containing the one colour of the customer’s choice. The first jelly bean ever sold by William and Walter was red, so the teams on the red production line were suitably proud that not only did they produce the lowest cost jelly bean but also that theirs was the original ‘real McCoy jelly bean’. The blue jelly bean has always been the most attractive, with its sky-blue coating and light-blue inside, giving it what the blue production teams called ‘the sapphire look’. Last, but never least, was the black jelly bean, which, if you asked the black production teams, was the most popular choice of customers, the source of much media coverage and clearly a ‘better jelly bean’.

      O’Donnell’s never sold a pack of jelly beans with the three colours combined.

      Why? There were three simple reasons and they had all stood the test of time.

      First, to sell them separately enticed customers to buy more than one pack, and the sales figures supported this view. Many a shopkeeper would tell the story of a mother and her children engaged in passionate debate over the need to buy ‘a packet of each’ so that the full range of O’Donnell’s taste sensations could be enjoyed.

      Second, William and Walter always believed that the unique flavours of the three beans would be lost if you put them together in a sealed packet.

      Finally, there was no need to put those jelly beans together because year on year the company grew in revenue, profits and employees.

      Until, as they have a habit of doing, things changed.

      chapter 1

      real conversations

      Tuesday, 8.58 am. The Executive Team of O’Donnell’s Jelly Bean Company assembled for what promised to be anything but the usual 9 am executive meeting.

      Walking to the boardroom from their plush offices, the team members crossed a foyer dominated (tastefully) by two identical displays of three two-metre-tall crystal cylinders on either side of the automatic glass entry doors. Each cylinder was full to the brim with those monster O’Donnell’s jelly beans – red closest to the street, then black, then blue.

      As you enter the O’Donnell’s building, those jelly-bean cylinders escort you like a guard of honour towards Susan, the ever-smiling receptionist. An inconspicuous glass lid sits firmly atop each cylinder to ensure that no-one samples from the display. Floor lights project upwards to complete the striking effect.

      By 9 am everyone was seated and attending to final emails on their phones and tablets. Cups of coffee and bottles of water sat on coasters to protect the lush, wood-grained table, the compulsory three dishes of jelly beans in the middle of the expansive table and papers at the ready.

      Like most businesses, the O’Donnell’s Executive Team was made up of the heads of each of the six key divisions:

      • Operations (manufacturing and logistics)

      • Sales and Marketing

      • Research and Development

      • Human Resources

      • Corporate Services (finance, information systems and administration)

      • Customer Services (currently without a division head).

      The other member of the team, Charles Enright, was appointed Chief Executive fewer than three years ago after two decades with one of the world’s leading strategy consulting firms. The position had become available due to the sudden death of the previous CEO, and Charles had convinced a former colleague turned headhunter to recommend him to the board, which СКАЧАТЬ