Boehringer Ingelheim
1994
Preparing for a challenging future
When Boehringer Ingelheim a pharmaceutical company, approached Wolff Olins in 1994, it presented us with a complex challenge. It was a company of paradoxes and in order to face a challenging future, it needed a clear, relevant and meaningful corporate culture. A consulting firm had outlined the structural changes necessary for the organisation, but the company was having difficulty realising them because they had not been put into a meaningful context. A clear rationale was needed to win over the hearts and minds of the people within the company.
Vision and leadership
Wolff Olins developed a blueprint to set out how change could be achieved throughout the organisation. It outlined what components were necessary for a programme of change: a clear vision, an appropriate company structure, committed leadership, a structured programme of effective communications and focused rewards. To maximise effectiveness, these had to be achieved through a programme that was as simple as possible. We created a Vision and Leadership programme, the principle behind which was that in order to achieve lasting effects throughout the organisation, people must pass through the following stages: awareness, commitment, understanding, action and review.
Award-wining culture
Wolff Olins helped this pharmaceutical giant to articulate a vision for its future, which continued to prosper, and in 2008 was named by The Sunday Times as one of its top 100 best companies to work for.
