Developing leaders to support a new vision at Genesis
| Published date | 01 July 2005 |
| Date | 01 July 2005 |
| Pages | 10-11 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390580000813 |
| Author | Andrew Dyos |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
are now. Despite the huge growth of
our business in recent years, the mobile
communications market is saturated
and margins are being squeezed. This
program gives us the opportunity to
reflect on our competencies and our
challenges, and identify the areas we
need to improve to sustain our leading
market position.
Board development
A first step in the program was
undergoing the Team Maturity Index
(TMI). This provided in-depth and
reliable feedback on our current
performance at a crucial stage of the
board’s development and also provided
a reliable benchmark for the managing
director to assess the development of a
young and newly established team.
Genesis is unique within the larger
Dixons Group organization and to draw
parallels with a similar organization,
the board spent time with the
Christiana community in Copenhagen.
This “free city” within Copenhagen,
which was squatted since the early
1970s, gave the Genesis leadership team
the opportunity to understand precisely
what it’s like to be proud to be part of
a culture within a culture.
Genesis has had to adapt and grow
in the last nine years, whilst at the same
time stay grounded and fight off the
competition. To be as successful as we
have been, we’ve had to have an
10 Volume 4 Issue 5 July/August 2005
HR at WORK
,
Short case studies that demonstrate best practice in HR
Developing leaders to support
a new vision at Genesis
G
enesis Communications – a UK-
based mobile phone service
provider – has undergone
massive change and enormous growth
in its nine-year history. Following our
acquisition by the Dixons Group in
2002, we have welcomed a new
managing director and witnessed
significant changes in board-level
responsibilities.
Aligned with the changes in
leadership and direction of the
company, Genesis is in the midst of
significant internal structural change
and evolution. A program to update
the company’s entire business systems
suite – representing a multi-million
pound investment – is underway to
design and introduce new prospecting,
sales, fulfilment, billing and customer
relationship management systems and
processes.
We also needed to establish a
coherent leadership team to drive the
company’s future success. In partnership
with DIEU – The Danish Leadership
Institute – we created a board
development program.
The board development program
Genesis’ board development program is
designed to:
• Support the production of a new
vision and goals for the company.
• Take the “temperature” of each
board member’s team against the
company’s “Being the Best” corporate
values (see sidebox, right).
• Build self-awareness of board
members’ personal strengths and
weaknesses and identify the key
competencies of each individual to
support and enable cross-functional
team working.
• Help the development of a deep
understanding of customers’
requirements and loyalty.
• Analyze how Genesis can build on its
unique cultural capabilities, while also
promoting and growing with the
Dixons Group’s values.
Genesis is an ambitious organization
with a strong “can-do” culture, that
isn’t “corporatized.” Our challenge was
to establish how we could successfully
grow as part of the Dixons Group
family without eliminating our
individuality.
The board development program is
designed to maintain the attributes
that helped Genesis get to where we
Genesis Communications is the UK’s
largest independent business mobile
service provider and one of the country’s
fastest growing companies. Genesis was
acquired by the Dixons Group, Europe’s
leading electrical and IT retailing group,
in May 2002.
GENESIS COMMUNICATIONS
Andrew Dyos, HR director at Genesis Communications, explains how a unique board development program
helped the company unite its leaders behind a new corporate vision and values.
19096 SHRR run 30/6/05 3:01 pm Page 10
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