Case Studies - Morgan Crucible

 The brief

Following his arrival in January 2003 as CEO at Morgan Crucible, the global engineering group, Warren Knowlton appointed Victoria Gould as Director of Group Communications. Morgan was a company in crisis and the overarching goal was to turn the company around. Scarlett Associates was asked to create and help implement an internal communication strategy to help Morgan Crucible through this period of intense change.

 What we did

Our first step was to work with Morgan Crucible to create an internal communication strategy that would support the business and the significant changes that the company was facing. This strategy defined communication roles and responsibilities, set out a communication planning process, agreed how 'fast news' would reach each of the global sites, and outlined a team meeting process.

To ensure communication had the right level of support across the five Global Business Units, we created a global communications network of senior managers. Their role was to provide input and challenge to the strategy and to ensure that it would work locally and be supported in each region.

In November 2003 we established a quantitative benchmark for internal communication against which progress could be tracked. This research, which allowed all employees the opportunity to participate, also helped to identify what employees needed to enable them to support the company through the changes. The survey conducted in November 2004 showed some dramatic improvements in employees' understanding of company direction and of how their role contributes to the company goals.

In 2004 we worked with Morgan Crucible to design a communication training module for all managers to enable them to create better working relationships with their teams. We pilot-tested the session and have to-date trained facilitators in the UK and the US who are rolling out the training.

So far the Morgan Crucible story is one of success: in August 2004, the FT heralded Warren Knowlton as the 'turnaround king'. It has gone from being a company in crisis to one that has a clear sense of direction and purpose and has a share price that has risen eight-fold.

"The internal communication task in early 2003 was very daunting. The company was in crisis as the global manufacturing downturn hit us hard, our financial results suffered and our employees in over 40 countries felt uninformed and disenfranchised. Scarlett Associates helped us form a quick and effective internal communication strategy using senior managers to add credibility to the campaign and to persuade employees at all levels in the company that honest, two-way communication in the new Morgan was non-negotiable. More than two years on, the research results speak for themselves"