System Dynamics Group, Ltd – Inside One Company's "Leadership for Growth" Experience

Enterprise Ireland (EI), a government agency, is fostering Ireland’s dynamic export lead growth by advancing leadership capability among Irish CEOs.  EI partnered with the Stanford Graduate School of Business with the goal of developing a new growth-oriented leadership curriculum. Working in alliance with the Irish Software Association, they created the Leadership for Growth program (L4G).  Enterprise Ireland focused on the software and technology sector as the place to begin and selected System Dynamics Group Ltd. (SD) as one of its first candidates.  The vision for System Dynamics Group, Ireland’s largest indigenous Information Technology Business Solutions Company, was to “be #1 with a client-centric culture” according to SD’s CEO, Tony McGuire.

After the initial week-long Stanford session, the leadership team was assembled and once they committed to proceed, they were supported by subsequent modules from Stanford and onsite coaching and consultation from CLG.

The company needed to create an infrastructure that would enable it to grow to 2.5 times its current size in only a few years. The leadership team needed a framework to clearly differentiate between companies that displayed sustained high performance and those that did not.  The framework they chose was DCOM^®, a research-based model developed by CLG that identifies characteristics of high-performing companies.

DCOM^®’s four elements have proven consistent across all industries at all scales, and they gave SD a concrete roadmap for moving forward.  The DCOM^® elements are clear Direction, organizational and individual Competence, the Opportunity to perform at high levels, and the Motivation to “want to” perform rather than “have to.”

After conducting a survey of the DCOM^® elements, SD was surprised to see their company focusing on a project-centric culture rather than a client-centric culture. The leadership team started the change process by defining key behaviors needed from senior leaders in the future state; and developing clear values consistent with a client-centric culture, more specifically, to identify specific client-centric behaviors, team management behaviors, and commitment behaviors. System Dynamics prepared to roll out their strategy in three phases:

Working with CLG, participating in the Stanford sessions, implementing the change processes, and engaging in working sessions, SD’s senior leadership team had significantly transformed the firm’s culture to a client-centric one. Change did not come easy, but with the right reinforcements, effective leadership alignment, and great tenacity and resolve from Tony McGuire, SD became a model by which other Irish companies aspired.

DCOM^® scores increased an average of more than 72% and within 3 years, SD experienced a 50% increase in business; the leadership team now knows how to manage, sustain and lead this strong growth.

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