'Achieving an 8+ customer experience together'

Mohamed Baba

former Director, Woonbron

(now chairman of the board of Haag Wonen)

Background

Woonbron is one of the leading housing associations in the Netherlands. After a radical change in the organizational structure, Woonbron has also set its sights on earning an 8+ customer experience rating. Woonbron Director and person responsible for Cultuurkracht, the overarching culture transition program, was Mohamed Baba: ' In order to realize our high ambitions with the new matrix organization we had to create a culture with cooperation, ownership, and accountability, as the three leading values. In 2019 we wanted to express those values in the very capillaries of the organization. '

The culture of an organization is a reflection of the beliefs and behavior of its leaders. A cultural change must therefore also start there. Woonbron asked De Droomfabriek to develop and supervise a Leadership and Team Development program, with the three cultural values as guideline.

Mohamed : 'Partly due to the discussions with De Droomfabriek, we realized that we, as the board/management had to take the first step. We chose De Droomfabriek because they dared to be critical and did not shy away from confrontation '

Woonbron's challenge

Realizing a cultural transition in a new organizational structure to create a new élan and achieve challenging ambitions.

Approach
Cultural change needs to be led by example. This involved a leadership and team development program for all management teams (MT) with the Board/Management leading the way. In an interactive, intensive, connecting, and also confrontational process, we worked on leadership and improved cooperation, ownership, and accountability, both in and between the various management teams (MTs).

The tailor-made program took about three months per team to complete, and consisted of the following elements:

360-degree feedback assessment for every management and MT member
Personal interview
Team assessment
Team intake, focus program on the team's needs
Team two-day sessions, with each MT working on individual, team, and organization
Follow-up sessions to reflect on the initiated movement and to take steps forward

The program consists of a combination of our services in the field of organizational development and culture transformation, team development, and leadership development.

The result
"The management and all 11 MTs have completed the L&T program.

'De Droomfabriek has been particularly successful, from a basic program, in continuously aligning with the sometimes large differences between the MTs in terms of content and dynamics", says Mohamed. "Partly because of this, the impact on each team and therefore on the cultural transition for Woonbron has been so significant. We have taken an important step with tangible and measurable results. The impact is still noticeable. "

What we have done:

Do you want to know more?

Would you like more information about such a Leadership and Team Development program or do you have a similar issue? If so, please feel free to contact Marius Maljers or one of our colleagues.