HR's Role in Change Management at Cable & Wireless  

29 July 2008:

Turning around the fortunes of telecoms giant Cable & Wireless (C&W) has been no small undertaking. When John Pluthero took the reins of the business following its acquisition of Energis in November 2005 [Pluthero was formerly chief executive of Energis], he said that C&W was a "fundamentally broken business" and that every aspect of it needed to be transformed.

In a now infamous memo to staff, he declared that the company was "underperforming" in a "crappy industry" and urged those not up to the task of transformation to "step off the bus". Such honesty and candour has characterised the company's leadership style ever since - and the way it has communicated with staff on its transformation journey.

Now into its third year of a five-year transformation programme, C&W Europe, Asia and US [the UK division the other business unit is International] is once again cash-flow positive. It has restored revenue growth, slashed costs and improved customer service in an industry where poor service had become the norm.

"We had broken processes, disengaged colleagues, and badly performing financials," says Colm Coffey, HR director at C&W Europe, Asia and US.

"But that broken business is now fixed. We are on the path to growth and are differentiating ourselves by delivering great service."

C&W has refocused its business by concentrating its efforts on large enterprise customers - around 3,000 corporates, carriers and public institutions worldwide - and building deeper relationships with those customers. It has made service its number-one priority and recognised the importance of developing and engaging its people to deliver that service.

Indeed, people have been at the very heart of the transformation agenda from the outset, says Coffey. "At the time of the Energis acquisition, C&W was a failing business. Colleague morale was low and people were suffering from change fatigue. But the integration of Energis has been a breath of fresh air. In the last two-and-a-half years, C&W's European CEO, Jim Marsh, and executive chairman, John Pluthero, have talked openly and honestly to colleagues. As an HR director, I couldn't ask for more in terms of their commitment to the people agenda and to what we need to do to bring our colleagues with us on the change."

A key part of the transformation strategy is making C&W a great place to work, and HR has played a central role in defining and implementing organisation-wide change. Coffey and his HR team have built commitment among colleagues to the change agenda and improved communication to ensure that people know how they fit into the organisation's goals.

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Source: Personnel Today

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