Reinsurance Company - Switzerland
Office improvements; Technology leap; Behaviour reset
This Swiss-based Reinsurance company approached the changes to work Brough on by covid-19 with vigour. Creating Hybrid Working Agreements during lockdown enable their people to know how to behave in an emerging world. They realised their lovely office, and the technology within, had not kept pace with the changes to working styles and patterns.
MONTROC were hired to discover the way forward.
We carried out a detailed Workplace Strategy project, focussing on why and how people wanted to live and work. This gave us the ability to recommend what to do; office improvements, technology enhancements, and a revisit of those Hybrid Working Agreements.
It's an on-going project and this company are putting time and effort into getting it right at at levels; staff, managers and leaders.
Watch this space!
Lumen Technologies - EMEA HQ, London
Change Management
Lumen Technologies confirmed their London Real Estate strategy in 2018. The plan was to combine offices from the rented HQ in Fleet Place and site in The Docklands to their owned site on Goswell Road. An extensive feasibility study was conducted with CBRE of which MONTROC Founder, Christopher Allen, was a Director at the time. The refurbished office was to become the EMEA HQ. The $20M, 50,000 SqFt project would take 2 years of design, construction and fit-out with staff Change Management running in parallel.
When MONTROC founder, Christopher Allen, left the Morgan Sindall Group in 2018, Lumen hired MONTROC to run the Change Management programme for the consolidation and move to Agile Working for the 600 London staff. Chris was also tasked with [providing the 'voice of the staff' into the design process.
MONTROC joined the Project Team and established 3 Change Teams: The Board, Senior Change Leaders, and Change Champions. Using the MONTROC Change Track as a handrail, Chris ran a series of fortnightly workshops with the Change Teams. These workshops included extensive artistic visualisation, gamification and guided tours.
The Change Programme resulted in the development of an Activity Based Workplace with state of the art technology including the IOTSpot booking system, adaption to Agile Working and cultural change from different locations and ways of working to One Company, One Team.
The Office was completed in Jan 2021, during Covid-19 lockdowns, and has yet to be occupied. Watch this space!
Munich Re - UK HQ, London
Change Management
Munich Re conducted a Workplace Strategy and Real Estate review in 2019. They wanted to bring together 500 staff from 3 large Business Units located across the City of London to create a common culture and adapt Agile Working. Following the Strategy and review, Munich Re decided to occupy a new Enterprise WeWork space in 10 Fenchurch Avenue, London.
Munich Re hired MONTROC to run the Change Management for the move and adoption of Agile Working, including design input to the WeWork design team.
MONTROC joined the Project Team and formed 3 client change teams as part of the Change Management process. These were: CEOs, Senior Leaders, and Change Champions. MONTROC established a roadmap for change based on the Change Track and engaged the Change Teams in workshops and activities to embed and grow behaviours, drivers and work styles to make Agile Working a success.
The project took one yea ending with the outbreak of Covid-19. We await to realise the benefits of this programme.
Mari-Lizette Malherbe CEO Munich Re
'MONTROC was fantastic at guiding us through our office move project…Chris helped us through the transition very well. Along the way, he made sure that we don't stray back into our old, comfortable ways, but kept us on track to achieve our ultimate goal of driving a more engaged and motivated business.
I have personally also learned a lot from Chris and can recommend it to anyone who craves change, and even more so to those who know it is needed, but still feel a bit resistant to it - Chris will help you challenge your own thinking and biases.'
innocent Drinks HQ, LONDON
Culture, Change Management, Design and Fit-out
‘Fruit Towers’ in Kensal Green became the 3rd home of innocent Drinks 7 years ago. Major refurbishments ensued; walls were knocked down, the signature artificial grass went in, the ping pong table was positioned and its reputation as one of the coolest places to work in London was quickly established, winning them accolades such as the ‘4th coolest office in London’ (Glassdoor 2017)
But, after 7 years of calling ‘Fruit Towers’ home, it was time for a re vamp.
Task: ‘Evolve Fruit Towers to allow our culture to thrive and enhance the way we work’
CEO’s vision: ‘To refresh Fruit Towers and maintain the ‘heartbeat’ of the building. Rebalancing with a twist of WOW!’
SJ: ‘How do we make it feel like home, but a better home than we had before?’
A team of specialists from different companies was then selected by MONTROC to deliver the required outcomes. Key here was the great relationship between MONTROC as Programme and Change Managers and WyldeIA as Designers.
Highlights of the project for those working on it:
o Visual minutes in Discovery workshop
o Change Management-led visit / ‘day out’ to the furniture store
o The big Change workshops - ‘great for conditioning people’
o Enjoyed working with a team of different experts – Change Management, Design, Furniture, Construction (albeit this was not without challenges)
o The initial workshops – ‘generated excitement, spread the word and shaped ideas and designs’.
o Great collaboration and discussion between MONTROC, WyldeIA and innocent Drinks.
With the project now finished, its success is clear from feedback from innocent Drinks… the creative energy of the space, and the happiness and productivity of the people working within it. It’s clear to see how the integrity of innocent Drinks and their absolute refusal to compromise or stray from their values enriched the Change Management process with MONTROC and inspired the Design process with WyldeIA.
innocent Drinks are renowned for great culture and a great worksplace to support it. The secret of this success is their focus on their values, their culture and their people. When they sought a company to help them allow their culture to thrive and enhance the way they work, they looked for a company who thought the same way, who listened and made things happen. But they also wanted something they didn’t have; a team of creative change management and design specialists who question, not tell, who visualise freedoms, not state constraints, and who challenge because they, like innocent Drinks, take time and interest to properly understand, then act dynamically.
Sarah-Jane Norman Group People & Culture Director innocent Drinks
We were seeking a ‘dynamic’ approach and a ‘pragmatic and interesting person’ to work with which we found at MONTROC …Chris became more powerful in his connection with us. Tired of the big company refurb we wanted to do it in a more dynamic way, so called Chris. We felt that it would be more tailored to us.
Chris was really good at adapting as we went… another reminder that we picked the right person to work with. It was almost like some companies didn’t want to come near us unless the budget was a certain size & template. Values, culture and space are all working well together now, making the management of the change easy. It feels different, but it still feels like us.
CenturyLink SE - WINNERSH
Change Management
Case Study inbound!
Matt Leonard Director CenturyLink
We hired MONTROC to provide Change Management support with a focus on combining separate cultures (Sales and Ops) and creating new behaviours, drawing 300+ staff together into one building…. We went though the change curve and came out the other end in a better place.
Chris's style is relaxed, direct but also consultative to the desires of the group. We used an artist to capture and reflect upon all that we wanted to achieve as well as concerns about the change. All in a positive experience with Chris leading us through it!
CenturyLink germany
Change Management and Design
CenturyLink Communications were rolling out their Agile Working programme across EMEA. Germany had 5 offices that needed a redesign and rerun plus a large staff population to change to Agile Working.
MONTROC were hired to research and understand the office populations, create office designs that met the Agile Working programme goals alongside local needs, wants and cultural differences. MONTROC was also remitted to bring the staff along the journey to Agile Working through a programme of Change Management.
Starting with Frankfurt, then simultaneously to Munich, Berlin, Dusseldorf and Hamburg, MONTROC partnered with coneon GmbH to provide in-country language and legal support, plus furniture and fit-out. The Project Team acted as a 'Tiger Team', travelling to sites together and co-creating design and change management results through engagement at all levels and with the Workers Council.
Five offices were successfully refurbished (with some items found so old they made their way to a museum!) and the entire CenturyLink Germany staff cohort adapted to and adopted Agile Working.
Global Pharmacutical Company
Global Research Project: Covid-19
Coming soon
MONTROC were hired as the Covid virus emerged from China in Jan 2020. We established a 2-weekly survey of their global workforce which is still going.
UK Supply Company
Strategy Consulting and Visualisation
Coming soon.
This UK Supply Company hired MONTROC in September 2020 to help them revise and visualize their business strategy. They wanted specific focus on the strategy of hybrid working.