The context

For a global energy group operating across 18 countries, the goal was clear: 100% renewable energy by 2040. But getting there meant more than launching a few new projects. It required a full portfolio of digital, cultural, and process transformations, all while keeping day-to-day operations on track. Leadership quickly saw that real progress wouldn’t come from yet another external programme. They needed to build the internal transformation muscle to lead change themselves.

Challenge

To achieve their goal, the company needed to accelerate change on multiple fronts: digitally, culturally, and operationally. But that future had to be built using today’s resources, internal and external business context.

Across the 18 business units, we uncovered foundational challenges that impacted the organisation’s readiness for change. These included running too many projects at the same time without always having the capacity to see them through to the last mile or fully integrate them into the business. We also identified a gap in cascading the business strategy throughout the organisation, with departmental strategies and KPIs not always clearly linked to the overarching business goals. This made it difficult to align efforts and maintain pace.

Leadership also recognised a deeper need: to become less dependent on external consultants and strengthen internal capability. Leaders and change agents required practical tools, a shared change methodology, and a common language to guide transformation themselves within their own context.

And with such a globally distributed organisation, alignment couldn’t rely on rigid playbooks. What was needed was a shared language of transformation, flexible enough to work across borders, and concrete enough to support action on the ground.

Approach

The mission was set from the very start: not just to provide insights, but to build lasting internal change capability. This meant empowering local leaders and teams to take ownership of their own transformation journeys.

With tools like the Six Batteries of Change and the program scan, leaders were equipped to spot what was draining energy, identify where to focus, and take action with confidence. But insight alone isn’t enough, so we worked together to turn data into dialogue, and dialogue into impact.

Making the invisible visible

LQ began by running the Six Batteries of Change scan with the management team and the extended leadership team in all 18 business units. The data showed, per BU, which batteries were charged and which were draining energy, giving every leadership team a clear, shared focus for action. Based on the rapports, we really took a deep dive together with 7 BU’s.

In one of the BU’s 3 clear key projects were defined based on their battery profile:

• Creating a clear strategic direction;
• Measuring their culture, and involving colleagues from all layers of the organisation to give meaning to cultural values and desired behaviour;
• Balancing Running the Business vs Building the business.

In another BU we started working on both Top Team development and alignment, after their vision was translated into a clear strategic direction.

Training leaders on the job

We launched a global certification track for their internal change agents for both the 6BOC and for making the change happen through their programs. More than 100 business leaders learned to read their own scans, identify gainers and drainers, and “charge” their batteries in real conversations with their teams.

Building an enabler community

Alongside the leaders, 50+ internal change agents were certified through the Leader-Led Change programme and equipped with programme and adoption scans for key initiatives (such as the ERP roll-out in several BU’s). This created an internal engine room for stakeholder activation, resistance management, and last-mile adoption.

Impact

A shared change language now connects strategy conversations at headquarters with day-to-day decision-making on the plant floor: everyone speaks the same language of progress. Building the change muscle has become part of the organisation’s DNA. It’s not something that happens overnight, but through continuous practice, reflection, and learning on the job.

More than 100 business leaders now create their own readiness roadmaps and coach their teams using the Six Batteries mindset. They’re supported by over 50 certified change agents who drive programmes locally, reducing reliance on external consultants and accelerating internal capability across the business.

Curious what this would look like in your own context? Let’s explore it together.