Johannes Linden Case

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In terms of long-term challenges, Linden and the GEC faced a competition against their rival River Tech. As such, Linden had to focus on creating profitable growth in the FWD division. Linden knew that this profitable growth creation entailed going beyond the effort that GEC’s members were currently putting in. Currently, RDs never adjusted bonuses based on changes in marketplace or internal developments. This would have to change. As such, Linden’s long-term challenge is to create an agile GEC, whose members have both strategic and operational expertise, who can withstand a variety of changes ranging from geopolitical or economic external environments to internally led R&D type developments.

Q4: What should Linden do now to lead the GEC (especially in the upcoming meeting)?

A4: In preparation of the upcoming GEC meeting, Linden can do a number of things differently. First, it is very hard and almost impossible for Linden to make and manage all GEC decisions by himself. Instead of just sharing regional responsibilities, which he does now, he must share his global leadership responsibilities with GEC members as well. Several ideas can help Linden achieve this.

First, he must create an environment where GEC members, especially the RDs, feel comfortable and safe voicing their opinions related to the global strategy. Second, he must adopt a consultative or participative leadership style instead of being an authoritative leader. To get the GEC members to open up and to integrate their suggestions in strategic decision-making, Linden will have to foster support and understand the differences in opinions between what the RDs suggest and what he proposes. Third, he must make decisions with the team and not by himself. Linden should leverage the greater breadth of perspectives, experience, and expertise that the GEC members bring to the table. This heterogeneous team can prove to be much more creative in problem solving.

My second overall recommendation is around the fact that the RDs seem to care about just their own regions at the GEC meetings. One way to mitigate this could be Linden rewarding the GEC members based on their involvement in the global strategic issues. Next, Linden can leverage Martin’s recommendation. Martin, RD of the North America region, suggested that at least a portion of the bonus should be influenced by the division’s overall performance. I like this suggestion because this gives RDs a monetary incentive to participate in the global strategic initiatives and forces them to think outside of their regional boxes.

My third recommendation is that as suggested by the CFO, FWD should make a separate fund by pooling the surplus received at the end of the upcoming year. I believe this will create a better long-term value compared to dispersing the surplus amongst regional directors and country managers, a short-term benefit.

My final overall recommendation is for Linden to change the targets and bonus basis for the upcoming year. It is his responsibility as a leader to ensure the RDs stay motivated throughout the year and have to stretch a little to achieve their goals. As complexities increase, new developments occur, and contexts or constituencies change, I believe targets and bonus bases should change too.