Find out how a two-programme approach allowed LBS to help Soren Jensen drive change in their organisation.

1. 1
The Leading
Change Programme
The Essentials
of Leadership Programme
Driving Organizational Change
Søren Jensen
& London Business School

2. 2
Executive Summary
Between 2003 and 2013, Danish engineering company Søren Jensen has doubled
in size. But sustained success brings new challenges.
Projects are bigger and more complex. To deliver quality the company needs to step up a level.
This means:
The Leading Change Programme
The Essentials of Leadership Programme
London Business School delivers two learning solutions: one that will deliver the insight, tools
and influencing capabilities to advocate for change. And a second that will empower leaders
to implement that change.
Addressing
a top-down approach
that creates
bottle-necks
Creating a new
middle management
stratum
Improving
people and
project-management
skills
Building a single
company culture

3. 3
A new management model with a middle management tier
Key business decisions delegated to managers
A common leadership culture and language
A focus on quality as well as bottom line
Greater employee engagement
Executive Summary: impact
Niels Lilleor is appointed change management lead. Through
the Leading Change programme, Niels secures buy in to build
a new stratum of management.
Two cohorts of leaders, including CEO Frank Jensen, pass through
The Essentials of Leadership Model, acquiring the insights
and capabilities to deliver:
A step change in culture to drive competitive edge and the retention of top talent.

4. 4
A business challenge
In 10 years Søren Jensen has doubled in size and positioned itself as one
of Denmark’s leading multi-disciplinary engineering consultancies.
But accelerated growth and success mean higher stakes. New business opportunities cannot
be exploited unless Søren Jensen addresses a number of critical challenges:
For three generations, each successive Jensen family CEO has run the company almost
single-handedly. The time has come for change.
Employee frustration
1. 2. 3. 4.Top-down
management style
that bottlenecks
decision-making
and hampers agility
Lack of a
company- wide
culture
Lack of leadership
capabilities
in employees

5. 5
From the outside the
company was very
successful. But inside it
was frustrating. Everything
was crossing my desk as
CEO, creating a bottleneck
for decisions. There was
a different culture in each
office. It just wasn’t working.
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen

6. 6
Bringing in outside help
In 2013, CEO Frank Jensen brings
in experienced project manager Niels
Lilleor to create a project management
system to put the company back
on track.
But Niels quickly identifies a greater need.
Søren Jensen needs a new project
management model.
But the company also needs a middle
management layer to implement the model.
A comprehensive change process will be
necessary if Søren Jensen is to step up.
And Niels Lilleor needs the tools to drive this.

7. 7
I told Frank I could make
a project management
model. But it would end up
on the shelf. We needed a
whole middle management
stratum to ensure that the
model was followed. And
I needed the learning and
the tools to do this.
Niels Lilleor
Change Agent, Søren Jensen

8. 8
Finding the right learning partner
The hunt is on for a solution that will empower
Niels Lilleor to:
¢¢ Identify classic change management pitfalls
¢¢ Identify and respond to change challenges
¢¢ Promote positive change
¢¢ Drive action by empowering others to unite and align
¢¢ Script the change narrative
“I told Niels to go to the source.
To find the top places in the world
where he could build the skills.
And Niels came back with the
Leading Change programme
run by London Business School.”
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen

9. 9
“I was surrounded by people who
made leadership inspiring. There
was no fluff. I got the tools, the
methodology and the framework.
I immediately stepped back from my
projects and became a full-time CEO
– concentrating on creating
a sense of purpose, listening to
people, explaining my ambition.”
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen
“The Leading Change Programme
was mind-blowing. I finally found
the model for running change and
the influence methods to present
my ideas to Frank. To truly
convince him about the new
company structure and to delegate
his responsibilities more.”
Niels Lilleor
Change Agent, Søren Jensen
“When Niels came back from
London Business School,
I didn’t know what had
happened to him. He was full
of energy and very inspiring.”
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen

10. 10
Putting change into practice
Following the Leading Change programme,
Niels has a plan: to align the company’s
strategy, brand, structure, culture and
talent around four new departments.
Department managers are appointed
and a weekend’s workshop is delivered
with CEO, Frank Jensen.
But a new challenge is quickly identified.
Senior staff at Søren Jensen lack the
leadership capabilities to manage other
people. A new solution is urgently needed.

11. 11
“When I talked to our new
managers it was like I was
speaking a different language.
The problem was that they
had not had any leadership
education at all. I told Frank
that we needed to put
this right.”
Niels Lilleor
Change Agent,
CEO, Søren Jensen
“The problem was that
we were engineers, not
managers. Somehow we had
to see ourselves in a totally
new light. This meant a
fundamental personal shift”
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen

12. 12
Empowering people to lead
Change agent Niels Lilleor has successfully argued the case
for an organisational restructure at Søren Jensen.
What they now need is a leadership development solution to empower these
new managers to deliver this change.
Søren Jensen has no hesitation to partner with London Business School again
to give its new leadership team the skills they need.
Two cohorts of leaders, including CEO Frank Jensen, are enrolled on the
Essentials of Leadership progamme.
department
leads
middle
managers4 10are put in place to align
employees around strategy
and a single company culture.
are appointed.

13. 13
Essentials of Leadership
The Essentials of Leadership programme aims to empower
Søren Jensen managers to:
Advance
leadership
skills by
mastering
five key
pillars:
define purpose,
leverage
strengths,
influence
people,
empower
others and
enable change
Enhance
their
strongest
traits
Define
personal and
organisational
priorities
with the help
of an executive
coach and
360 degree
feedback
Activate
a coaching
mentality
to manage
conflict
effectively
and foster
authentic,
high-performing
teams
Disrupt
business
as usual
with new, global
perspectives
triggered by
a world-class
peer group.

14. 14
“I was surrounded by people who
made leadership inspiring. There
was no fluff. I got the tools, the
methodology and the framework.
I immediately stepped back from
my projects and became
a full-time CEO – concentrating
on creating a sense of purpose,
listening to people, explaining
my ambition.”
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen
“There was real beauty to the
approach of getting all your top
leaders in at once – it condenses the
learning. When you have a common
experience, you’ve got a common
language – a coherent thread
when you’re back at the office. The
programme laid the foundation for
how the managers would lead and
also had a large change component,
which made sense for them.”
Mark Edwards
Programme Director,
London Business School

15. 15
Embedding the learning
In 2014 11 leaders from Søren Jensen graduate the Essentials
of Leadership programme.
Programme Director, Mark Edwards then delivers a wrap-up workshop for the
company in Denmark to review the key learnings and share them with others.
27-year old IT Manager Johannes Pham
attends the workshop. He sees:
“A real difference in the line
managers. They’ve changed the
way they perceive themselves
and how they do things. They are
now playing a really big part in the
culture change.”

16. 16
Impact in action
Brian Damgaard Lauritsen,
Project Manager, Søren Jensen
Since the programme Brian has adopted
a new change model to team leadership:
¢¢ Proactive leadership of meetings
¢¢ Enhanced communication with reports:
status updates and trouble-shooting
¢¢ Constructive feedback meetings
¢¢ Evaluation meetings with external
stakeholders to streamline processes.
Johannes Pham,
IT Manager, Søren Jensen
Johannes had a proposal for a new collaboration
platform for a multi-stakeholder project.
He lacked the change management skills to gain
buy in from lead consultant companies. Niels
shared the learnings from the Leading Change
programme with Johannes:
¢¢ A model for communication
¢¢ A model for change
“My team loves the
new approach.
I wasn’t aware
of myself as a
leader before the
programme. I didn’t
have the tools I
have now.”
“It was so easy to
understand and
implement. They were
all on board all the
way. As a result, I’ve
helped Søren Jensen
lead the way for others
in the industry.”

17. 17
A CEO transformed
After the Essentials of Leadership
programme, Frank Jensen was
nominated by his own staff for Young
Business Leader of the Year 2015.
“I think the Essentials of
Leadership programme was a real
catalyst for change – especially
for Frank. He is leading from the
front. At our wrap up workshop,
I watched him communicate
a really simple, exciting strategy
for the future.”
Niels Lilleor
Change Agent, Søren Jensen

18. 18
Far-reaching impact
A productive and flexible relationship with London Business School has been
a catalyst for profound change at Soren Jensen, equipping its leadership
with the management skills necessary for success.
4KEY
CHANGES
FOR THE
FUTURE
A new
management
tier and model
A new focus on
quality as well
as bottom line
A common
leadership
language
A high degree
of employee
engagement

19. 19
A lot of engineering
companies deliver good
practice, but we should be
improving practice. That’s
why we’re investing a lot
in the future. A continuous
engagement with London
Business School is a way of
keeping our ambitions high.
Frank Jensen
CEO, Søren Jensen