Strategic Change: Creating A Better World With Fries

In a dynamic business environment, organizations must be adept at navigating change to stay competitive and thrive, which requires change managers' excellent management and leadership skills – skillful navigation between complex processes and humans who bring the strategy to life. Inspired by an example from a business, this article explores the critical aspects of managing and leading strategic change.

Beyond Management

Managing strategic change requires skillful planning and execution to achieve specific objectives. The success of change goes beyond traditional managerial functions. It is also about navigating the intricate human dynamics within an organization. Changing human factors always requires leadership. However, as Henry Mintzberg (2019) from Canadian McGill University highlighted, there is no good leadership without good management, and we should not see leadership as superior to management. He also recognizes that there is no successful change management without leadership, which creates a synergy between the strategic vision and those who manage change and drive its implementation.

Success Story: Leading Executives

A case of Agristo, published by Callebaut Collective (n.d.), illustrates vividly the importance of skillfully managing both the technical and people sides of the change, applying both transactional and transformational leadership, which was necessary because of the scope and need for culture change to support sustainable transformation (Whittington, 2023). This company was founded in 1986 and is a Belgian gem, one of the significant players in the potato products sector, generating more than 600 million euros in turnover from sales in at least 120 countries and hiring merely around 1000 employees. They process potatoes into world-renowned French fries, providing the highest quality to consumer brands and private labels on a global scale. Despite an increasingly complex environment, this family-owned business has grown exponentially in recent years. In 2022, the Belgian financial and economic magazine ‘Trends' nominated Agristo as ‘Supergazelle’ – the most substantial growing company within the large company category, and later the same year as ‘Company of the Year.’

How did Agristo do it?

Following is an overview of how Agristo tackled the critical aspects of the strategic change:

• Agristo’s executives exercised self-reflection, asking, “How can Agristo define a supported ambition and strategic plan to ensure its sustainable growth in the future?”

• They thoroughly analyzed the current situation, collecting information about internal and external contexts to gauge the most relevant trends and dynamics. They identified different visions within the organization and the voice of the customer from external conversations.

• Agristo strengthened its strategic position as a reliable private label and consumer brand partner by establishing the end consumer as a starting point for Agristo’s value proposition.

• They created a shared understanding of the desired future, renewed strategy to enable the organization to achieve its expected sustainable growth, and wrote a story of their ambition.

• Agristo’s strategy and story in one-pager made it tangible and enabled clear guidelines for practice and communication.

Finally, they assigned leads to facilitate change implementation projects and set objectives, goals, KPIs, and timelines. They continue monitoring the progress of the strategy and implementation, revising it if necessary.

Agristo’s distinctive value proposition allows it to compete successfully in the market. They provide high-quality products to customers, which can be achieved only through excellent management, processes, balanced control, and transactional leadership. The ‘Technical Team of the Year 2023’ title reveals that they support process excellence but also people to collaborate (Bemas, 2023). However, Agristo’s new growth strategy is to create value and a future for their end customers – indeed, ‘creating a better world with French fries.’ Their people, culture, and vision require transformational leadership.

Insights To Remember

Hence, successful strategic change demands more than traditional management. It involves skillfully recognizing and managing technical and human dynamics within an organization during transition. Leadership is pivotal in addressing human factors and creating synergy between strategic vision and those responsible for managing and implementing change.

The case study of Agristo provides an excellent example of how transformational leadership often needs to be balanced with skillful transactional leadership. Agristo's executives engaged in self-reflection thoroughly analyzed the context and strengthened their strategic position by focusing on their value proposition. They created a shared understanding of the desired future, crafted a strategy for sustainable growth, and translated it into a compelling narrative. Agristo's approach was made tangible through a one-pager, providing clear guidelines for practice and communication. This facilitated shared understanding and ensured the strategy could be effectively implemented throughout the organization. Last but not least, they continuously monitor and adapt their approach and its implementation in dynamic business environments.

Key To A Strategic Change

Successful strategic change requires skillful navigation between complex processes and humans who bring the strategy to life and the ability to think, act, and influence an organization to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Passionate about creating a better world with French fries, Agristo is an example of strategic change, sustainable growth, and excellence. Co-CEO Filip Wallays said the key to Agristo's success was self-reflection – questioning the company's strategy and themselves (n.d.). Likewise, Pant (2023) suggested that for an organizational change to succeed, change leaders must first be capable of changing their behaviors. The path towards each change starts through self-awareness, changing the habits of the mind and behaviors (2023).

References

Bema (2023, March 22). Agristo is Technisch Team Van Het Jaar 2023, A&S Energie Wint De Publieksprijs. https://www.bemas.org/nl/updates/agristo-technisch-team-van-het-jaar-2023-energie-wint-de-publieksprijs

Callebaut Collective (n.d.). From Supplier To Potato Partner: How Agristo Lets Its Customers Thrive. Callebaut Collective. Retrieved November 29, 2023, from: https://www.callebautcollective.com/en/cases/conquering-the-world-with-belgian-fries-at-agristo/

Mintzberg, H. (2019). Bedtime Stories for Managers: Farewell to Lofty Leadership ... Welcome Engaging Management. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Pant, N. (2023, September 20). Leading Change May Need to Begin With Changing Yourself. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/09/leading-change-may-need-to-begin-with-changing-yourself

Whittington, R., Regnér, P., Angwin, D., Johnson, G. & Scholes, K. (2023). Exploring Strategy: Text & Cases (13th ed.). Pearson Education Ltd.