The Beginning
When Amir first walked into the mill office, he was greeted not by people, but by stacks of binders. Strategic plans, hundreds of pages thick, gathering dust.
Yet the company was still bleeding money.
He pushed the papers aside and told his team:
“Our strategy won’t start with documents. It starts with people.”
This echoed Bryson’s (2018) view that planning must be a people-first process, not a paper-first ritual [1].
Learning as a Culture
Amir introduced “Learning Fridays.” Each month, technicians shared failures, supervisors shared wins, and managers reflected on mistakes. It wasn’t about blame, but about learning.
As Senge (1990) describes, organizations that learn collectively adapt faster [2].
Numbers with Meaning
At one meeting, Amir wrote on the board:
“Downtime losses this month = RM50,000. That’s 20 scholarships we could have funded.”
Silence filled the room. Suddenly, numbers weren’t just numbers — they became stories. Kaplan & Norton (2008) call this linking strategy to human meaning [3].
Breaking Routine
Instead of repeating stiff boardroom meetings, Amir sometimes gathered his team under a palm tree, or by the noisy press line. He rotated tasks too — a boiler man learned about effluent, a clerk shadowed maintenance.
This variety kept minds fresh, avoiding the rigidity Mintzberg (1994) warned about [4].
Challenging Old Beliefs
When someone said, “This machine always breaks, it’s just normal,” Amir replied:
“Or is it because we never dared to change the way we maintain it?”
By adopting condition-based maintenance, breakdowns dropped 25%. A textbook case of challenging strategic drift (Johnson et al., 2008) [5].
The Bad News Rule
Instead of punishing mistakes, Amir rewarded staff who reported problems early.
One operator who spotted a small pump leak received public praise. That single report saved thousands. Edmondson (1999) calls this building psychological safety [6].
Opening Minds
Amir invited external experts and even arranged visits to competitor mills.
“Don’t fear comparison,” he told his team. “Fear staying the same.”
This practice boosted the company’s absorptive capacity (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) [7].
Simplifying Strategy
No more 200-page reports. Amir introduced a 10-slide action plan, updated quarterly. Plans became alive, not dead. Beer & Eisenstat (2000) warned that ritualistic plans are “silent killers” [8]. Amir refused that trap.
Empowering, Not Controlling
Supervisors were given autonomy. They no longer needed to wait for “approval from HQ” to solve minor issues.
This built ownership, consistent with Kotter’s (2012) principle of empowering action [9].
Looking Beyond Numbers
Amir measured not only yield and output, but also worker satisfaction, community relations, and safety culture. Kaplan & Norton (1992) call this the balanced scorecard approach [10].
Shared Strategy, Not Technician’s Domain
Amir ensured that planning wasn’t controlled by engineers alone. Finance, HR, and procurement all had seats at the table. Strategy became holistic, not technical silos.
Focus, Focus, Focus
From 10 scattered initiatives, Amir cut down to three:
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Reduce downtime.
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Improve yield.
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Strengthen safety.
Rumelt (2011) says good strategy is about focus, not clutter [11].
Ethics as the Backbone
Finally, Amir launched the policy: “Good Ethics is Good Business.”
No more procurement shortcuts. Promotions were based on merit. Over time, trust grew, and with it, performance. Brown & Treviรฑo (2006) note that ethical leadership directly drives organizational outcomes [12].
The Results
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Year 1: Still in loss, but morale lifted.
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Year 2: Break-even achieved.
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Year 3: Profit returned. Downtime reduced 40%, yield increased 12%, staff turnover dropped.
Amir’s Reflection
“Planning is not about producing documents. It’s about producing people who care, numbers that tell stories, and leadership that lives by ethics.”
References
[1] Bryson, J. (2018). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Wiley.
[2] Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. Doubleday.
[3] Kaplan, R., & Norton, D. (2008). The Execution Premium. Harvard Business Press.
[4] Mintzberg, H. (1994). The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. Prentice Hall.
[5] Johnson, G., Scholes, K., & Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy. Pearson.
[6] Edmondson, A. (1999). Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2).
[7] Cohen, W., & Levinthal, D. (1990). Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1).
[8] Beer, M., & Eisenstat, R. (2000). Sloan Management Review, 41(4).
[9] Kotter, J. (2012). Leading Change. HBR Press.
[10] Kaplan, R., & Norton, D. (1992). Harvard Business Review.
[11] Rumelt, R. (2011). Good Strategy Bad Strategy. Crown Business.
[12] Brown, M., & Treviรฑo, L. (2006). Leadership Quarterly, 17(6).
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