Case Study

General Mills

Guided the development of the newly formed Shared Services Division which was funded through Medallion Labs.

Situation

General Mills New Product Development and Field Deployment Was Not Competitive

The GMI Board of Directors discovered that new product development and field deployment was taking too long (5 months) and were no longer competitive. They wanted the process reduced to 3 months. The Shared Services Division was created to support this initiative. In short, Shared Services was a mini-GMI. In other words, the division would build the entire product development lifecycle in a simulation rather than the traditional product roll-out which was no longer working. This way, using the simulation, they could design ideal outcomes, supply chain requirements, vendor management, logistics, marketing, and customer service programs for optimal new product development in no more than 3 months. The division was to seek funding through the revenues produced by Medallion Labs, another legacy division of GMI. The team was under the leadership of an experienced EVP for GMI. This person assembled a brand new team from within the ranks of the firm. The team was given one year to produce results.

Details

Taking General Mills to

the Next Level

Problem

An initiative like this had never been attempted before. The new division faced an unprecedented challenge to solve a serious corporate issue. There were no benchmarks, guideposts, or procedures for this project. The team was very talented but brand new and had never worked with each other before. They had no strategic plan, no specific goals other than the mandate from the board, and they were given a limited budget. They were given one year to perform.

Action Taken

I was retained to lead a three-day strategic planning process uniting the entire new team (14 executives) around a crystal-clear vision. My simple but powerful planning model was used to answer five questions:

Where are we now?
Where do we want to go?
How will we get there?
Who will do what?
How do we measure the results?

The session was very successful, and I was asked to create a planning manifesto – a detailed article to govern and tightly manage the implementation of the plan. The Shared Services Division was launched, succeeded, and eventually was self-funding. The division created a mini – GMI, a business model that simulated the entire roll-out of a new product. The Medallion Labs Division was the funding source. I helped lead a growth plan for Medallion Labs taking them from $ 5 million to $ 14 million in 4 years which more than filled the gaps for the Shared Services budget. I was retained over a five-year period to continue supporting the development of the two divisions.

Result

The Shared Services Division grew from a brand new 14-person team to an international high-impact powerhouse with over 1000 employees. The mandate from the board, combined with the efforts of the new leadership team, and the services and planning models provided by me, created one of the most successful internal service divisions in GMI history. A secondary result was the growth and prosperity of the Medallion Labs Division which provided funding for Shared Services. I helped select and build the entire sales organization leading to Medallion’s explosive growth.

TEAM MEMBERS

1K

years supported

5y

Sales Increase

9M

Testimonial

“General Mills is a better company having attended the Breakaway Strategy session. We are getting great results. Medallion revenue is up 40 % and analytical is having record delivery. Lab cycle time is 33 % faster due to our re-design. The partnership between Medallion and Analytical is now solid with real trust. These investments have paid off. Thanks to you, Mike and your team for helping us get to the next level.“

Heather Larson
VP Innovation, Technology and Quality, General Mills

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mike@mikekerrsion.com

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