Client Overview
Innovation was a declared strategic priority for this global consumer health company operating across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Yet the organisational design, role clarity, and governance structures had not always kept pace with this ambition. The team spanned marketing, R&D, regulatory, medical, supply chain, procurement, and finance—working in a complex matrix that demanded high levels of coordination and clarity, and they needed support to strengthen the regional innovation capability.
The Challenge
The CEE innovation system was under pressure to deliver faster, but progress was being held back. Interviews revealed widespread confusion around roles and responsibilities, an inconsistent application of innovation processes, and misalignment between global, business unit, and local priorities. Despite having extensive playbooks, the team found them hard to translate into practical action, particularly at the early stages of projects, where decision-making was slow and accountability was diffuse.
Beyond structure and process, relationships across the system were fraying. Functional silos, uneven engagement, and communication breakdowns were undermining trust. What the team needed was more than a new operating model—it was a chance for the system to step back, see itself more clearly, and reset how it worked together.
The Journey
Mark and Simon designed a two-stage journey, spread over ten months, that wove together both design (clarity of structures, processes, and decision rights) and dynamics (trust, connection, and collaborative behaviours).
Stage One – Seeing the System
In late 2024, the team came together to make the invisible visible. Through interview-based sensemaking and large-scale mapping of the innovation funnel, they uncovered hidden bottlenecks, identified gaps in governance, and clarified where decisions should sit. Using systemic constellation work and creative methods—including LEGO-based metaphor building—they explored their “dream” and “nightmare” scenarios of collaboration, sparking honest dialogue about what helped and hindered innovation.
Stage Two – Strengthening the Network
When the team reconvened, the focus turned to relationships and ways of working. Participants explored how to build trust across functions, how to integrate new members quickly, and how to create the conditions for bolder, faster decision-making. The session gave the group time to reflect on their progress, experiment with new behaviours, and co-create the norms that would sustain momentum.
Out of these conversations, three priority projects were launched. These were designed to address process challenges and invite the teams to ‘lean in’ to new desired ways of working. These streams were supported by structured follow-ups and embedded reflection practices to ensure that energy carried forward into everyday work.
Outcomes
What began as an intervention to resolve bottlenecks became a moment of transformation, an experience of the system seeing itself and discovering its collective potential.
Participants left with a stronger shared purpose and clearer understanding of decision rights. They described a step change in both confidence and collaboration, noting how meeting in person accelerated integration more than months of remote work. This work is never done and new questions emerged that the leadership team will explore in the coming months.
Perhaps most importantly, the team left with renewed energy and optimism, and what had once felt like a fragmented network now felt like a connected system, with the confidence and clarity to innovate at speed.
