The Challenge

Scania GB, part of the global Scania Group, is on a mission to drive the shift to a sustainable transport system. With that comes the need for clear, effective transformation. Not just in systems, but in culture, leadership, and long-term thinking.

As Scania GB prepared to deliver on its sustainability goals, the business needed a structured and people-first approach to change. That meant aligning leadership, engaging employees, and ensuring the organisation was set up for long-term success.

Our Approach

Joining 6 months after the creation of the Transformation Department, in the role of Transformation Lead, working with and reporting to the Transformation Director, our mission was to kick-start a major period of organisational change within the business. We were focused on the UK market, but closely linked to the wider, global organisation.

Within 7 days of joining the company, I was asked to run a workshop for the UK board on vision and strategy. The sense of urgency, and the desire of the team to create long-term, sustainable impact was palpable and it was an exciting time to get involved in this journey.

The first year in the company was spent working with the UK board, the central leadership teams, and the regional leadership teams on getting aligned and getting really clear on purpose. First, building an understanding of the golden thread that links them and their team to the global vision and mission. Second, working with them to create a framework that makes it easy to know whether each decision aligns with, or detracts from, that overarching strategy. Third, ensuring that the strategy was owned and championed at all levels in their department or area.

It was then time to flip the script, from top down to bottom up transformation. From February to October of year 2 I ran a national roadshow, visiting over 50 branches and running hundreds of workshops in all 4 countries of the UK. Working closely with the leadership teams, and getting them involved in the workshops was key to building buy-in and engagement from everyone. We travelled with an electric truck to give people an introduction to, and first hand experience of, this new and exciting technology that forms a cornerstone of the change. 

The most important question throughout this roadshow was "what does this mean to you?". For each workshop that we delivered we dedicated time to this question, working with people, giving them lots of opportunity to ask questions, and help them build their own understanding as an individual, as part of their team, and part of the wider Scania organisation. 

In recognition of the impact and success of this project, the company awarded me a one-off bonus.

The transformation had now been kick-started. There was a buzz around the organisation of the potential and opportunity that we are walking into alongside a recognition of the challenges that we were facing, and were likely to continue to face as Scania works hard to achieve its sustainability goals in a hard to decarbonise sector.

My final year at Scania was looking at some of these challenges through an organisational lens. Working closely with the People and Culture Director to understand the set up of our current workforce today, and the organisational design changes that would be required to ensure that there are the right people, with the right skills, at the right time within the organisation to support it as the change builds momentum. 

The Outcome

After the end of almost 3 years, and with the transformation well and truly underway it was time to hand the baton on. Together, the Transformation team helped lay the foundations for a more aligned, future-ready Scania GB - one that is now well positioned to meet its sustainability ambitions with confidence and clarity.

• Executive team alignment around transformation goals
• Increased workforce engagement with change initiatives
• Organisation structure reviewed to support delivery of long-term strategy

TLDR

This was about more than change management. It was about embedding the kind of leadership and culture that makes real, sustainable progress possible.