High performance team
building for Jaguar Cars
Jaguar has a long history of building fine cars, yet recent commercial
success has only been achieved by radical changes in working practices.
These changes have not been easy. The introduction of cross functional
teams highlighted problems of internal communication and the difficulty
of dealing with competing priorities. Differences between Jaguar's
working culture and that of its new parent, Ford Motor Company,
compounded these challenges by requiring people from Detroit and
the Midlands to work closely together.
Action:
SyCon - The Sporting Bodymind Group's brief has been to help Jaguar
teams improve their performance and thrive in a competitive, cost
conscious environment. Using a combination of individual interviews,
coaching sessions in real meetings and one or two day off-site workshops
we helped build the cross functional vehicle development teams responsible
for designing and building the XK8 sports car, the XJ saloon and
the new X200 mid-size saloon. This led to us working with teams
from discrete functional areas such as the paint-shop, manufacturing
engineering, purchasing and drawing office services. It also encouraged
us to develop innovative methods to help large matrix teams deal
with their problems of multiple loyalties and apparently competing
priorities. Instead of the more conventional approach of role play,
questionnaires or outward bound activities, we focus on on-site
relationships and discovering the unique identity of the team
Outcomes:
Team-members invariably report that internal communication improves
after our interventions. This directly contributes to faster decisions
and improved performance under time pressure, so that complicated
design processes remain on target. A greater understanding of their
role and their relationships within the team allows members to co-ordinate
their resources more efficiently. 'I now get support from people
I would never have turned to before,' said one senior manager responsible
for a £70 million project. 'Yet, if that hadn't happened,
we would never have succeeded.' It is widely acknowledged that bridges
have also been built between the diverse Jaguar and Ford cultures.
A new mutual appreciation of their differences has lead to an increase
of trust and mutual success. Launch deadlines have been met and
surpassed.
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