Cadence Redefined: Unlocking Agility for Success

We partnered with a fast-growing FMCG company to enhance agility in their operations. During our initial “Listen phase,” we identified a critical issue: departmental silos were causing significant delays in the sense-analyse-respond loop, hampering the company’s ability to act swiftly.

The siloed structure meant that information flowed bottom-up within departments, was shared across teams, analyzed in isolation, and then cascaded back down for action—a process rife with delays. To address this, we introduced value stream-based teams with cross-functional representation and implemented structured meeting cadences. These changes dramatically improved the speed of information flow, strengthened stakeholder alignment, and paved the way for quicker decision-making.

The impact of this transformation was evident almost immediately. A frontline sales team noticed the competitor withdrawing their 100g product from the market—a signal that typically would have surfaced only during the monthly Area Sales Managers’ meeting. In the past, this delay would have triggered a slow response cycle involving analysis, strategy development, and eventual action.

However, the newly formed cross-functional team escalated this insight during their daily stand-up, bringing the information to the right people without delay. Recognizing the urgency, the team speculated that the competitor might reintroduce the product at a lower price or bundle it with another offering, potentially disrupting the market and jeopardizing their own market share for the coming month.

Faced with this imminent threat from a major multinational competitor, the brands and customer marketing teams quickly brainstormed counterstrategies. Acting swiftly, they revamped their trade push and relaunched their product with an enhanced offering. The proactive approach allowed the company to stay ahead of the competition, maintain market share, and avert a potentially significant disruption.

For the client, this was a transformative “A-ha” moment.

This remarkable success came early in their transformation journey, driven by a simple but powerful change: redesigning the cadence structure. Teams now felt empowered to share critical information directly and frequently with the right decision-makers. By eliminating the need to climb up and down the organisational hierarchy, they gained the agility to respond to threats in real-time.