Bluprints References Poster detailing our client experiences with their Bluprints for Success

1. “As a professional consulting organisation we faced a
difficult challenge: inculcating our company’s DNA into
a dispersed workforce.The very nature of the Bluprints’
initiative appealed to IQ’s approach to work: innovative,
intelligent, dynamic.The Bluprints team rose to this
challenge and took us through a process which enabled
us to honestly examine who we are as an organisation
and to identify core principles that would make us more
successful, resulting in a phenomenal product.
The IQ Formula has become synonymous with the
IQ brand, and has been fully embraced by our people,
who continuously strive to live by these principles:
a testimony to the initiative’s success.The tangible
outcome has given us a unique insight, a mechanism to
communicate and a real understanding of who we are.
The Bluprints’ people demonstrated an unwavering
commitment to ensure the success of the initiative.
And it never ends... We are continually building on the
great foundation our Formula has provided for us.”
Donald Stuart
Chief Executive Officer,The IQ Business Group
www.iqgroup.net
RE-MAX SMALL BANNER 2/24/03 8:36 AM Page 1
Composite
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
2 2
2
2
2 2
3
3
“Bluprints is simply the best mechanism we have
ever used to help us drive high performance in our
business.
Not only did the people enjoy the process, but it is
now an integral way of our management processes.
Bluprints is an indispensable tool to shape the culture
of our business and to ensure our people are focused
on enhancing our business’ performance. I have no
doubt there is a direct link between the Bluprints
process we have implemented and increased
professional staff retention levels. I can see a direct
correlation between the scores we achieve in our
scoring process and the profitability in the various
parts in our business. Bluprints is therefore a great
predictive tool.
We are so convinced of the value of Bluprints that
we have decided to launch it as an offering in our
Deloitte Consulting service portfolio.”
Louis Geeringh
CEO, Deloitte Consulting
www.deloitte.com
“Bluprints has helped us a great deal in improving our
engagement with our employees.
“The inclusive nature of the project’s implementation
process not only assisted us in collectively developing
a great success formula that we are all proud to
commit to, but it also made a significant contribution
towards the prevailing collective spirit and enthusiasm
in participating in the organisation’s development
journey.”
Rene van Wyk
Managing Director, Imperial Bank
www.imperialbank.co.za
“Our experience with Bluprints has surpassed those
who had high expectations and has blown away those
who were a little cynical of the ultimate outcome.
‘The Citadel Way’, which is what we have named our
formula, is already something constantly talked about
and referred to. I feel that the co-creation and then
the vulnerability of the Industrial Theatre, were the
catalysts for such broad acceptance.
We sincerely enjoy working with the Bluprints’ team -
their attitudes, commitment, flexibility and passion are
significant contributors to the overall success of the
initiative.”
Keith Betty
Chief Executive, Citadel
Private Client Wealthcare
www.citadel.co.za
“We approached Bluprints with a need to improve
various aspects of our company’s effectiveness.We
wanted to define our unique DNA, develop our identity
and recognize what sets us apart from our competitors
by defining the way we do business and the positive
and negative driving forces that would either ensure or
hamper our success.
We found that the innovative service offerings and the
professional approach of the Bluprints’ team fulfilled,
and indeed surpassed, what we required to do to make
this a reality.
We are extremely proud of our formula and has, in
so many ways, unified all in the company towards a
common purpose and inspires the right behaviour and
attitudes to equip us to deal with the challenges as
they present themselves.”
Grant Dunnington
Managing Director, SBV
www.sbv.co.za
“The Bluprints project has been nothing short of a
miracle for Hertz rent a car.
We have named our Bluprints project,‘The INDLELA –
The way/direction forward’. The INDLELA blueprint has
been instrumental in redirecting the energy of our entire
company: - Every employee’s attitudes & commitment
to their fellow colleagues, our attitudes towards our
customers, our entire company’s customer service levels
and the company itself. The INDLELA Bluprint is truly an
innovative, fresh and amazing concept.
One that every company should adopt!
There is no doubt that it works miracles within
companies.”
Gareth Tindall
CEO, Hertz Southern Africa
www.hertz.co.za
“Betterbond has been on a steep growth curve over
the last 6 or 7 years and has grown from 30 staff to
600 staff members. The factors that underpinned our
organization’s growth were extremely important for
us to clarify. The Bluprints’ Formula/DNA project has
assisted us to recognize what this winning code is, what
good stuff we need to do more of to retain as well as the
bad stuff we need to do less of to work at minimizing.
The whole exercise has been professionally executed
and well thought out. All deadlines were met and the
interaction between Bluprints and Betterbond has been
a wonderful experience.”
Kevin Lancaster
Chief Executive Officer, Betterbond
www.betterbond.co.za
“What was particularly pleasing for us was not only
how inclusive the process was, but how it addressed the
issues in our business in a very honest and open manner
where people felt free to express their views. It was
also never a case of management dictating change to
staff, but rather everyone developing a blue print for the
company together, where every vote carried the same
weight.
The impact it has had on our company has been nothing
short of profound. Not only has it helped to bring people
of different backgrounds and cultures together, but it has
set a Tracker standard and a Tracker way of doing things
that everyone has bought into. Equally important is how
the BluPrint system isn’t a once-off intervention, but
rather a constant process of re-evaluating our formula
to ensure that it remains valid for our business. I am
more than happy to recommend the BluPrint approach,
particularly for companies facing the complex challenges
of change management.”
Alan Hutcheson
Chief Executive Officer,Tracker Connect Pty Ltd
www.tracker.co.za
“What a powerful process!
It urges the entire organisation to continuously
refocus on the fundamental success drivers, while also
providing an ideal tool to identify and minimise the
hurdles and blockers to success. As a major element
it involves all employees, makes them real and
accountable owners of the business.
Since start of the project we have seen a stepped up
change in culture and team spirit. In essence, Bluprints
at GSK is the mirror of how we are doing.
Challenging sometimes, but exciting, inspiring ... and
delivering!”
Heribert Voss
General Manager Consumer Healthcare
GlaxoSmithkline Southern Africa
www.gsk.com
“I am particularly excited by the work our joint teams
have done on safety and productivity, more particularly,
by the role of Bluprints in these areas. Bluprints gives
the whole organisation an opportunity to actively
participate in their improvements.
The presentation of the BP Transcon HSSE (SHEQ)
award for the BP Transcon region (Africa, India, the
Middle East and Turkey) was made at one of the
regular safety meetings at the new Durban warehouse
and included a Bluprints’ feedback session to all staff.
Attending this safety session once again reinforced for
me that we are on the right track and that our safety
record will continue to go from strength to strength.
Congratulations on winning the award.” - Bluprints ™
was the Winner of the BP Transcon HSSE (SHEQ) award
Ian Hodgkinson
Transcon Supply Chain Director, BP
www.bp.co.za
“Being part of a global organization makes it difficult to
identify what works for a specific region/country.The
process of identifying our formula has helped to bring all
stakeholders in the business together to identify what
makes us tick at our very best.
After a great deal of initial skepticism and logistical
challenges – all handled professionally and very
patiently by the Bluprints team – we haveWOWED the
organization with this innovative and creative approach
for driving the success of our business.The true value in
this process is that it deals with all issues - “soft”AND
“hard” - and as such gets buy-in from all players.
We are delighted with the ongoing positive impact
that this awesome tool is having on our business.
The opportunities seem endless!!
McDonald’s ranking, in the Deloitte ‘Best Companies to
Work For’, moved from 47th (Before Bluprints) to 13th
(After Bluprints)”
Roz Sandham
HR Director, McDonald’s
www.mcdonalds.co.za
“We wish to thank you for the extraordinary experience
that we have had in launching our strategy across the
organisation through your process.
In an industry where long term goals and opportunities
are almost impossible to predict, having the ability
to carefully define the core business practices that
will support our success, in almost all circumstances
and scenarios, proved to be an ideal approach. Your
assistance and experience in condensing all our inputs
into these core constructs are much appreciated.
While there was considerable resistance to the idea of
launching through the medium of industrial theatre, this
ultimately proved to be a huge success. The benefits of
this approach extended well beyond simply the unveiling
of the Bluprints formula. It gave staff the chance to
recognise Exco as part of their team and provide some
great fun at work. Here again the advice and experience
of the Bluprints team was invaluable.
We would not hesitate to recommend the Bluprints
approach to any organisation wishing to truly get to
grips with its unique ways of operating and make itself
fit for future challenges.”
Erik Venter
CEO, British Airways (SA Licensee)
www.comair.co.za
“We have recently completed our 5th company scoring
and I can comfortably state that Silica is now firmly
entrenched in using our Bluprint formula across key
aspects of our business, namely:
• Formula measurements -
to assess the “state of health” of the organization
• Personal action plans -
to manage individual objectives and commitments
• Performance appraisals incorporate the formula
• 360 degree reviews of staff
• Customer assessments against the Silica formula -
to assess the state of our customer relationships
• Recruitment – all potential employees are mapped
against the formula to assess their fit to our business
Silica showed a 86% participation rate in the process
and we are continuously acting on the outcomes.
Management has also entrenched the formula into daily
staff management. The benefits are really tangible!”
Michael Prentice
Chief Executive Officer, Silica Holdings (Pty) Ltd
www.silica.net
“The process was fascinating and enlightening, resulting
in a formula which I believe will assist RE/MAX in
achieving its goal sooner than planned, i.e. to be the
No. 1 Real Estate Organisation in South Africa.
Most importantly though it has been overwhelmingly
‘bought into’ by our Broker/Owners,Associates and
Support Staff, which means the ‘uniqueness’ of our
operation can now be evaluated on an ongoing basis
and delivered to clients through an ‘Above the Crowd’
RE/MAX experience.
I look forward to continuing our association into the
future.”
Bruce Swain,
Managing Director, RE/MAX of Southern Africa
www.remax.co.za
“Deciphering the Quest formula for success was a truly
exciting journey, and one which the entire company
will never forget. It was a fascinating exploratory
process in distilling everyone’s thoughts and ideas into
a mathematical equation, which led to the creation of
artwork. The unveiling was launched to an absolute
crescendo of emotions with all round buy-in.
It has been the most creative and participative strategic
tool that can be used to aspire to be even more
successful than you are today. Now that we all know
and measure our success dynamics in real terms, we all
know how to live by them! The moments of truth of our
Bluprints formula are experienced every single day in our
business. “
“The biggest contributor to our current success in the
Deloitte ‘Best Companies to Work For’ (From position
66 in 2003 to 17 in 2004) can be 100 % attributed to
the process we undertook with Bluprints on defining our
Formula for Success”
Francis Khubedu
Managing Director, Quest www.quest.co.za
“We have been working with Bluprints for many years in
formulating, launching and living the Formula into our
business.
Our success in rolling out the program across several
divisions, covering almost 60 Ster Kinekor branches
nationwide, is testimony to the excellent support
received from Bluprints and its staff. Their deep
understanding of the DNA methodology and the ability
to adapt it to our unique environment was key in
meeting our objectives. The ongoing support and advice
provided by Bluprints is proving invaluable in the rollout
and maintenance of this cultural transformation process.
Best of all perhaps is the simplicity of the whole
approach – why didn’t I think of it!”
Nelius Greyling
Director Group Services, Primedia Content Businesses
www.sterkinekor.com
“Our formula has changed the way we do things.
The process brought people together in terms of
understanding what makes us win or lose.This helped
share a load, cascading it down from the directors to
everyone.
The formula and visuals give us both daily inspiration
and a series of reality checks. Challenging projects or
issues are immediately relocated for discussion to the
boardroom and ideas are tested against the formula.
We have no doubt it will continue to play an
increasingly important role going forward.
Interestingly it also helps explain the way we work to
clients, and is helping us work through issues where they
exist to our mutual benefit.”
Peter Wallington,
Managing Director, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
www.ogilvy.co.za
“Having reached the stage where we have our formula
up on the wall, and three votes behind us, this is a good
time to pause and reflect on how far we have come. Our
context, that of needing to be a ‘corporate entrepreneur’
within a large and quite bureaucratic group, aiming
to regroup 6 very separate subsidiaries under one
new organizational structure, posed us some unique
problems.
Bringing together diverse cultures (both corporate and
ethnic) and getting each individual (45 in total) to
subscribe to a vision and culture was a real dilemma for
us.
The business strategies and corporate structure required
were relatively straightforward but we keenly felt
the differentiated approach of the various teams and
struggled somewhat to get agreement around our
common goals.
The Blueprint process, culminating in our own MCB
Capital Markets formula (or DNA), has achieved what I
personally felt might be out of reach.
The formula is constantly referred to, and is rapidly
becoming the key management tool within the
organization. It is still early days, but the alignment of
culture to strategy is already tangible.The team is in no
doubt what is required of them, because they helped
to establish those requirements. On top of that, the
process was great fun and a fantastic team building
exercise. I can’t recommend it highly enough!”
Marc Lagesse
MCB - Capital Markets
www.mcbcapitalmarkets.mu
“The Bluprints formula was THE best thing I ever did for
my business. What started out as a process to make our
Mission and Values come alive....moved along a path that
seems to have no end in sight. Many things happened....
we extracted our DNA... ‘What made us great’ and
‘What could take us out’.We trained management and
staff on our business and what makes it tick. We built
a team across all levels that made us one. We pushed
decision making down to all levels of the business.
We gained a tool that helps explain the way we do
business to clients that finds a win win solution.This
empowered the sales team and made them ultimate
partners with our clients. We use it for all HR related
issues from hiring to performance management to bonus
distribution. We use it to resolve problems in all areas of
the business from shareholder level to our suppliers. The
list is endless.
Our formula has transformed our business. The
whole process is fun and exciting.The visual impact is
stimulating. It’s all so simple really...but truly amazing.”
”The Formula has taken 94.7 from the fourth best radio
station in the world to # 1 in the world, against global
benchmarks”
Terry Volkwyn,
Chief Executive Officer, Primedia Broadcasting
www.highveld.co.za
“Think you can be a Chief Marketing Officer? According
to the over 4,000 global members of the Chief Marketing
Officer (CMO) Council, a CMO must be a customer-
centric visionary thought leader who can master strategy
in this digital age.
Through a proprietary mathematically based
methodology created by Bluprints, originators of
the process to decipher business genetics, the CMO
Council community was polled worldwide to define the
quintessential modern CMO, as defined by global CMOs.
The ‘DNA of a CMO’ is certainly in line with the
findings from our Marketing Outlook research that
showed Marketers are keen to drive the bottom line,
be strategic leaders and demonstrate clear ROI and
accept responsibility for marketing intentions. The role
of the CMO has been transformed from keeper of the
brand to true business driver and strategic leader. And
most important, CMOs themselves have mapped and
identified this new roadmap.”
Seeing this process be applied to the Chief Marketing
Officer community globally has brought a global think
tank to crystallize a unified goal for marketing: strong
strategies leading marketing and driving business. And
as the span of authority continues to grow, we venture
to say that the requirements and factors included in this
equation will grow and expand.”
Liz Miller
VP of Programs & Operations, CMO Council,
Palo Alto, USA
www.cmocouncil.org
“Bluprints is an experience, an adventure - where at
every turn you discover something new about the
company, the people and what we are all about.
Once the process has been completed it becomes
alive with a whole range of new possibilities. The
mathematical formula satisfies our analytical need to
measure how true we are to the DNA of our company
through the eyes of all stakeholders.
You have to go through it to realise the full extent of the
experience.”
Monica Singer
CEO STRATE Ltd, Central Securities Depository
www.strate.co.za
“Finally, someone has come up with a simple and
straightforward approach to aligning (or re-aligning) a
large organization towards a singular goal, getting all
team members to provide input on how to achieve the
goal, highlighting work that should be done - and also
what shouldn’t - and creating a memorable hook to
ensure the organizational change has legs. I have seen
this work in real life in my organization”.
Peter Yin
Senior Vice President, FedEx Asia Pacific
www.fedex.com
“In our quest for Zero Harm it emerged through a review of
the literature that organisational culture determines your
safety and health performance. It was clear that leadership
determines culture and culture drives health and safety. If you
observe leadership and culture you realise that without a clear
philosophy no organisation will survive, as can clearly be seen
during the financial crisis which we are currently experiencing.
We looked at several interventions to support us in
professionally designing our own success philosophy, and not
to merely continue with our organisational culture by default.
We were in need of clearly defined critical success factors
which could support our company in the behaviour change
process that we were engaged with.We heard about the
Bluprint approach and initially thought to use it as a safety
intervention, yet soon realised that it would be the right fit
for transforming our business into being the ‘First Choice’ for
our clients, suppliers and our employees.We decided that
Bluprints was the best methodology we came across in all our
research, including those from Canada, USA and Australia.
We decided to invest this money due to the fact that it
was fully inclusive, in line with leadership’s strategy and the
mathematically expressed visual outcome could be bought
into and understood by everybody. Simply put, if we do more
of the numerator and less of the denominator we will be a
more successful company.
It turned out to be perfect in the sense that the methodology
has helped us to monitor our enhancers and inhibitors of
success, which has measurably enabled the continuous
improvement that we have been striving for.
The rollout and launch were expertly and professionally
handled by Bluprints and the participation across our
organisation was far beyond our expectations.The program
is now part of our organisational fabric and has improved
our employee relationships on project sites, which we can
prove through the monitoring that is done bi-annually. It has
helped Murray & Roberts Cementation to improve our safety
performance from an LTI of 4.69 out of a million hours to a
LTIFR of 2.24, which is a marked improvement.
I would strongly recommend this methodology for both
improving your organisational and safety culture.”
Dr. Koos Oosthuizen
Risk Executive, Murray & Roberts Cementation
www.cementation.murrob.com
What started out as a possible solution to the
‘streamlining of the practices’ at Tsogo Sun Gaming
quickly escalated into something far greater, centered
around the creation of a ‘Disney style culture’, which has
frankly become a way of life at Tsogo.
The formula has added tremendous value and structure
to, inter alia;
i) creating and bringing to life the unique
Gamer-tainment concept, which separates our
business from our competitors;
ii) forming an integrated platform for the Tsogo
University/Academy;
iii) defining ‘The Unique Spirit of Tsogo’ - the core of
which we operate on a daily basis;
iv) creating unity and alignment in a largely
decentralized business in an effective, yet simple
‘democratic’ way;
v) streamlining communications creating a platform
for conversations using a unique Tsogo language
around tough and difficult issues;
vi) the ability to fully integrate HR practices and
policies into the culture one is trying to create;
vii) creating a platform for transformation and change;
viii) creating unity and cohesion during our expansion
and growth strategy.
The strategy to reshape business has been set for years
ahead. However, we have already reaped some amazing
benefits, such as in the first year where we did not need
to negotiate with the Trade Union (SACCAWU), as union
membership numbers fell dramatically.
Every piece of paper or activity in our organisation,
including, inter alia, letters of appointments, strategy
documents, short term incentive objectives, corporate
initiatives and performance management tools (from
induction through to career path planning) have been
themed around our success formula - The Tsogo Way.
I have no hesitation, whatsoever, in recommending
Bluprints to whomever aspires to embody the spirit and
potential of their company.”
Rob Collins
CEO,Tsogo Sun Gaming www.tsogosun.co.za