Magazine Management Trends recently published the following article on the inseparability of leadership and strategy, and how Anja Montijn-Groenewoud endorses this view in her role as Managing Director of Accenture Netherlands. This article is a translated abstract of that article.

In the last decades strategy has grown apart from organizations and people. Due to the importance of measurability, strategy has become less about vision and implementation by leadership and the role of strategist has been relegated to outsourced specialists.

According to Cynthia Montgomery, professor at Harvard Business School, executives and managers need to embrace the original holistic vision of leadership: what impact do they want for themselves and their organization to have on the world and the lives of their customers?

Connection
It is all about passion and motivation as a result of focus. Montgomery emphasizes that managers are not fully aware of these responsibilities: bearing the great responsibility to inspire and for setting an organizational course. She states that managers should not be fixated on beating the competition, because the leader is the strategist who creates market value and value for the stakeholders.

This ‘bottom line’ is also reflected in the believe of Anja Montijn-Groenewoud, Managing Director of Accenture Netherlands. Montijn-Groenewoud emphasizes the importance and pleasure of creating and maintaining connections with customers, partners, employees and, above all, with yourself. According to Montijn-Groenewoud the success of Accenture comes from insights that are not based on product offerings but on customer’s challenges and how Accenture can help them in creating value.

Lack of Execution power
This sounds logical, but for numerous organizations it is evidently not. Montijn-Groenewoud points out the recent Accenture HPB research which compares the performance of 25 AEX companies with international peers within their own sector. Dutch organizations perform significantly less than their international competitors on several important aspects such as “the ability to commercialize innovations”, “the limited presence in emerging market” and “the inability to manage the talents of people”.

She also states that Dutch managers lack execution power: they should be more explicit in holding people accountable for their behavior and performance. This is not only harmful to the operating profit; lack of feedback also means lack of inspiration and motivation to grow. She believes that leadership is bedrock crucial to every organization. If you don’t get strategy right, everything else you do is at risk. In essence, leadership is no longer based on intellect and analysis, but on the courage to be honest to yourself and others.

Montijn-Groenewoud endorses the holistic view of Montgomery that leadership should go much further than ‘mechanized’ strategy.

Dit artikel is afkomstig uit de april editie van Informatie: maandblad voor de informatievoorziening.
Informatie, April 2012

Het is tegenwoordig voor bijna elke professional mogelijk om plaats- en tijd onafhankelijk te werken. Het Nieuwe Werken dus. Dit zorgt er onder meer voor dat talentvolle, hoogopgeleide ouders (met name moeders) werk en privé beter kunnen combineren. Dit komt niet alleen henzelf ten goede, maar ook de economie in zijn geheel. Bovendien helpt het ons bij de aanpak van de naderende vergrijzing. De komende jaren zullen zich immers kenmerken door een grote uitstroom van oudere werknemers.

Als werkgever vind ik het van groot belang om mee te denken over hoe we het enorme potentieel dat we in Nederland hebben, zo goed mogelijk bereiken en benutten. Dan heb ik het niet alleen over het feit dat bedrijven hun huidige talent intensief en individueel moeten begeleiden en helpen ontwikkelen. Maar het gaat met name over de bereidheid om de aloude ‘werkweek’ aan te passen. De huidige, nog steeds meest gangbare werkweek – vijf dagen, acht uur per dag – is een constructie die stamt uit 1953. In die tijd voldeed deze structuur prima. De tijden zijn sindsdien echter enorm veranderd. Het eenverdienersmodel, waarin de man fulltime werkt en de vrouw voor de kinderen zorgt, gaat tegenwoordig veelal niet meer op. Bovendien woonden we vroeger doorgaans dichter bij ons werk en was het fenomeen file nog niet een dagelijkse realiteit. Ook hadden we nog geen beschikking over een pc of laptop op ons werk, laat staan over allerlei andere mobiele communicatiemiddelen.

Maar als er zoveel is veranderd, waarom houdt een overgrote meerderheid van de werkgevers dan zo klassiek vast aan een werkweek van vijf keer acht? Moderne werknemers kunnen en willen niet meer van negen tot vijf op kantoor zitten. Niet alleen vrouwen vragen om andere werktijden, maar ook de nieuwe generatie Y. Zij willen meer invloed op de balans tussen werk en privé. En de vrijheid om duidelijk gestelde doelen op een alternatieve manier, en op andere tijden te halen. Ook in managementfuncties, waarvan veelal wordt gedacht dat die echt op de “kantoorlocatie” vervuld moeten worden, kan veel vaker dan mogelijk wordt geacht op afstand gewerkt worden. Als werkgever moeten we alleen wel bereid zijn die verantwoordelijkheid op ons te nemen. En wel door te sturen en managen op basis van vertrouwen, in plaats van op controle.

Werkgeverschap 2.0 dus. ICT maakt het mogelijk om die rol te vervullen. Het kabinet heeft arbeidsparticipatie hoog op de agenda heeft staan: Waar wachten we nog op?

Door Anja Montijn-Groenewoud, Managing Director Accenture Nederland

Selecting a new health insurance plan has been on my ‘to do list’ for a couple of weeks. I was not looking forward to this task, as I was expecting my only choice was between marginal differences in monthly payments and reimbursements.  However, when I finally got to it, I was highly surprised! Not only could I choose from monthly payment options, but I could also choose between various levels of service defined per insurance package.

It seems that a majority of Dutch health care insurance companies have picked up a strategy that is called delivering a ‘Differentiated Service Experience’.  Insurance companies are now offering different service levels per insurance package. They range from a more basic package, where all requests have to be handled online, to extended packages where full support from a call centre is provided.

Accenture believes delivering a ‘Differentiated Service Experience’ will become a major trend this year. Our belief stems from research conducted among 2900 US consumers which established a link between an increase in customer retention, reduction in support cost, and growth in the customer base by providing a differentiated service experience incorporating control and choice by the customer. As customer’s needs are rising and becoming more diverse, companies can no longer offer a one size fits all service experience that meets the needs of all customers while controlling costs.

By offering different service experiences, the diverse needs and expectations of customer segments can be met. For instance, customers vary in the extent to which they prefer self-service. Different service levels can cover multiple degrees of self-service. A differentiated service strategy also allows for providing service through the channel that is preferred per customer segment. Our research confirms consumer receptivity towards differentiated service experiences: 82% of all consumers appreciate if they can customize their service experience.

Controlling costs is the another benefit of delivering a ‘Differentiated Service Experience’.  The costs of providing certain customers higher service levels are being compensated either by the higher price the customer is willing to pay, or the higher life time value the customer has.  Further, the research shows that consumers are far more receptive to differentiated service if they feel they are empowered to control their service choices even if their choice comes at a cost. In general, consumers prefer incentives for choosing a lower cost service and they don’t want to be charged more for better service.  The previous mentioned health insurance package are examples of cost controls and customer control and choice.

My positive experience with ‘choice and control’ when arranging my health insurance has left me with hope that I can soon customize my service experience for other products and services such as banking and energy.

Read more on Accenture’s research and insights on ‘Differentiated Service Experience’ in our recent point of view.

While many large companies have a share plan for their senior executives, only a few have one for all employees. Accenture is a good example of a company that gives all its employees the option to become a shareholder. In fact, we go further: employees can buy shares at a discount of 15% and when they get promoted they are entitled to a share package. The main reason we introduced this is to encourage commitment. Naturally, it’s highly motivating to be a shareholder of a company that’s doing well.

Nevertheless, in my view, the value of a share purchase plan for employees should not be overestimated. At Accenture, we also try to reward our employees in many other ways as well. In terms of pay, there are several other schemes in place. For instance, all Accenture employees have a personal annual target: if they achieve it, they receive a salary raise or a bonus.

However, many of our younger colleagues also feel the need for other types of compensation for their achievements rather than just financial. Take corporate citizenship, for example. Accenture makes it possible for employees to spend part of their paid working hours making a personal contribution to the society we live and work in. This gives them the chance to apply their ambition and knowledge in a practical way in less privileged areas. They can do that in many different ways – both far away and nearby. Also when it comes to flexible working hours, we offer a lot of freedom.

But I strongly believe that as a company you should offer your employees good opportunities to grow in their career. And that’s exactly what Accenture is very good at. We’re even able to offer them an international career. Getting the best out of ourselves in an inspiring environment – that’s what it’s all about. Whether we’re a shareholder or not.

Anja Groenewoud, Managing Director Accenture Netherlands

We do not argue for the immediate scrapping of subsidies. And we recognise that local industrial policies have their place. But it is worth noting the direct and indirect cost of uncoordinated financial incentives. We calculate that if all of Germany’s new wind and solar capacity between now and 2020 were to be built in the UK and Spain respectively, it would save the industry €110bn and save taxpayers €70bn.

Ideally, we would like to see a system of European Renewables Energy Certificates (RECs) introduced, using the existing ETS market framework. In time, with a rising price of certificates, investments would go to areas where natural resources minimise generation costs and maximise financial return without having to burden the taxpayer. It may not be a practical model today, but it does show that the lack of a Europe wide framework means we will continue to see an arms race of competing local subsidies that risks making renewable investments more costly than they need be.

Interest in smart grids has intensified in recent days. In addition to the $4.5bn of public money the US Government has put behind the infrastructure, the passing of the Waxman Markey bill in the House promises more support, which has at least satisfied some of the demands of the GridWise Alliance. But encouraging smart grid investment remains a challenge. This week we have published a report with the World Economic Forum exploring how to accelerate smart grid investments.

We identify awareness, technology maturity and even cyber security as some of the obstacles. But most important is the need for a shift in regulatory incentives. Today, energy companies are rewarded for producing more electricity in an age where we need to encourage reduced consumption. But they are not rewarded for making long term investments in infrastructures, such as smart grids. In short, we argue that the commercial interests of the industry must be aligned more closely with the needs of governments and society.

Meanwhile, forward looking cities will be the catalyst for smart grids in many markets. Some of the pilots that we are implementing in Amsterdam are now going live, demonstrating the role of cities in bringing together the public and private sectors to deliver innovative applications.