Mining the MDW Dataset 10 – Why your Situation Isn’t Your Excuse

After analysing 150+ operational transformations across six continents, I’ve encountered every variation of “our situation is different”:

• “We’re too small to implement systematic approaches”
• “At our next greenfield site we can finally do this right”
• “Our attendance problems make cultural change impossible”
• “Brownfield cultures are too entrenched to transform”
• “Our project-based operation does not allow for any form of standardisation”

Here’s what the data reveals: every context has unique disadvantages, but they also have unique advantages that, when leveraged properly, accelerate transformation. The question isn’t whether your situation enables excellence – it’s whether you’re leveraging your specific advantages. And whether you’re digging deep enough to be part of the transformation.

The Greenfield Illusion

Everyone thinks building from scratch is easier than changing what exists. The mythology is seductive:

• ✅ No existing bad habits to overcome
• ✅ Fresh workforce without institutional baggage
• ✅ Clean slate for process design
• ✅ Leadership can “build it right” from day one

In 1999, Bevcan Cape Town had this golden opportunity – a rare chance to build Mission-Directed Work into factory DNA from day one. Greenfield site, world-class equipment, hand-picked crews, intensive training, new contracts.

Results were good: 80% equipment utilisation within 9 months, minimal customer complaints, monthly innovation implementation.

But here’s the surprise: Their brownfield site, and several others, achieved better results faster. For example

Polokwane Brewery

In 2000, they were SAB’s poorest-performing brewery, facing potential closure. Low morale, water shortages, declining results, workforce convinced they were fighting for survival. Instead of closing the site, leadership implemented MDW as a resilience plan.

Within 12 months they:

• Achieved dramatic improvements across all metrics
• Became a benchmark for revivals in the group
• Transformed their culture from despair to pride
• Sustained performance beyond leadership changes

That which enabled Polokwane’s transformation speed, greenfield sites lack:

1. Institutional Memory – No existing problem-solving experience means everything is a “first time” challenge. Brownfield sites had years of troubleshooting expertise waiting to be unleashed.
2. Crisis Unity – When survival is at stake, artificial barriers disappear. Union-management cooperation, departmental silos, “not my job” attitudes become luxuries organisations can’t afford.
3. Proven Systems Under Pressure – Brownfield implementations get tested immediately under real operational stress. Weak points are identified and strengthened quickly. Greenfield systems may appear to work until first real crisis reveals design flaws.

Continental Tyre SA

CTSA demonstrated this perfectly: 1,559 employees across 17 shifts, union complexities, previous failed transformation attempts creating cynicism. Yet structured re-implementation of MDW with executive sponsorship achieved measurable improvements in operational KPIs, cultural transformation, and sustained performance through economic downturns.

The insight: Existing expertise + structured empowerment = often faster than inexperienced workers learning both technical skills and cultural behaviors.

The Small Company Superiority

“We’re too small” is another more common excuse, yet the evidence suggests exactly the opposite.

Noelex Labels: 45 Employees, Outsized Impact

Tiny manufacturer without formal departments or layered management where everyone already multitasked. Initial skepticism: “MDW will be just another job without adding value.”

• The breakthrough: Adapted MDW principles to flat organisation rather than implementing textbook methodology.
• Results: MDW helped them do what they were already doing, but better – without creating bureaucracy.
• Cape Natural Tea Products told a similar story: 22 permanent staff, many without matric qualification, processing 1,000+ tons annually in a low-margin commodity business.

Leadership reflection: “I wish we had started this process 11 years ago.”

Why Small Companies Often Transform Faster

1. Higher Decision Speed
2. Higher Relationship Density
3. Less Politics
4. More Hands-on Leadership

Fruitique’s 10-year evolution from 2006-2017 demonstrated this perfectly. The 60-employee fruit processor evolved through three phases:

• Phase 1 (2006-2009): Prescribed systems with external support
• Phase 2 (2010-2014): Tailored systems with internal capability building
• Phase 3 (2015-2017): Integrated systems functioning independently

Result: High self-sufficiency in training, strong alignment, visual standards consistently applied, innovation embedded in daily routines.

The insight: Small companies don’t succeed despite being small – they succeed because they’re small. Characteristics that make small companies feel disadvantaged become competitive advantages in transformation when leveraged effectively.

Attendance Crisis as Catalyst

When Distell Parow faced 65% attendance post-merger, most managers would have implemented stricter policies, progressive discipline, attendance tracking, or incentives.

Instead, they transformed the work experience through Mission-Directed Work Teams.

• Result: 65% → 98% attendance

No policy changes. No new incentives. Just meaningful work that people wanted to be part of.

What Creates 98% Attendance

The pattern across

• Continental Tyre (93.6% → 96.8%),
• Nice House of Plastics Uganda (>98% consistently), and
• Multotec (84% → 98%)

revealed four universal drivers:

Meaning Over Money

• Traditional: Perfect attendance bonuses
• Revolutionary: Work that feels important and contributions that matter.

Distell teams didn’t attend for bonuses – they attended because their absence affected teammates and customers in visible, meaningful ways.

Voice Over Compliance

• Traditional: Follow rules or face consequences
• Revolutionary: Influence outcomes through participation and problem-solving.

Continental teams attended daily huddles because their input shaped decisions, not because attendance was mandatory.

Growth Over Maintenance

• Traditional: Show up to keep your job
• Revolutionary: Show up to develop yourself and advance shared goals

Nice House of Plastics provided translated materials and remedial classes, signalling investment in people’s development.

Relationships Over Requirements

• Traditional: Individual compliance with organisational policies
• Revolutionary: Team interdependence and mutual accountability

Multotec teams developed peer support systems where attendance became about not letting teammates down.

The ROI of Engagement-Driven Attendance

Based on typical mid-sized manufacturer (1,000 employees):

3% Attendance Improvement Impact:

• Prevented lost days: 7,500 days annually
• Replacement labor cost savings: $1,500,000
• Productivity loss prevention: $750,000
• Total annual value: $2,250,000

Additional benefits: 15-25% overtime reduction, lower recruitment costs, improved customer service, enhanced team performance.

The insight: Organisations that achieve 98% attendance don’t manage attendance – they create workplaces where attendance manages itself.

The Context Framework: Leveraging What You Have

Every context has specific advantages:

Greenfield Advantages (When Properly Leveraged)

• ✓ Design freedom for optimal systems
• ✓ Fresh energy for challenging targets
• ✓ No legacy excuses – must deliver immediately
• ✓ Opportunity to integrate excellence from day one

Critical success factor: Import expertise, don’t reject it. Create artificial urgency, don’t wait for it. Test culture through challenge, not just training.

Brownfield Advantages (When Properly Channeled)

• ✓ Existing expertise waiting to be unleashed
• ✓ Crisis pressure creating natural urgency
• ✓ Proven relationships enabling faster trust
• ✓ Institutional knowledge of what works/doesn’t

Critical success factor: Channel crisis energy constructively. Leverage expertise, don’t replace it. Use pressure as accelerant, not barrier.

Small Company Advantages (When Properly Exploited)

• ✓ Fast decision-making without bureaucracy
• ✓ Intimate relationships accelerating change
• ✓ Whole-system visibility for everyone
• ✓ Simple systems that actually work

Critical success factor: Leverage intimacy, don’t fear it. Adapt methodologies, don’t adopt them. Build capability, don’t buy solutions.

Large Company Advantages (When Properly Applied)

• ✓ Resources for investment and experimentation
• ✓ Multiple sites for learning and scaling
• ✓ Best practice access across divisions
• ✓ Ability to pilot before committing

Critical success factor: Use resources to accelerate, not complicate. Share learning systematically. Maintain urgency despite stability.

The Monday Morning Reality

Stop saying:

• “We’re too small/large to do this properly”
• “Greenfield/brownfield makes this easier/harder”
• “Our attendance problems prevent cultural change”
• “We need different conditions to start”

Start asking:

• “What advantages does our specific situation provide?”
• “How can we leverage our constraints as catalysts?”
• “What’s working elsewhere that we’re assuming won’t work here?”
• “What unique speed advantages do we have?”

Immediate conclusion:

• If you’re small: Use decision speed and relationship density to your advantage. Implement fast, adapt faster.
• If you’re large: Create small-company conditions through autonomous teams. Use resources to accelerate, not complicate.
• If you’re greenfield: Import expertise from brownfield operations. Create urgency that brownfield sites have naturally.
• If you’re brownfield: Channel existing expertise into new empowerment. Use crisis or pressure as transformation catalyst.
• If you have attendance issues: Fix the work experience, not the attendance policy. Create meaning that makes people choose to be present.

The Multiplication Effect

Here’s what makes context advantages compound: organisations that leverage their specific advantages don’t just transform faster – they build unique competitive advantages that others can’t easily replicate.

Small companies develop agility that large companies struggle to match. Brownfield sites develop resilience that greenfield sites must artificially create. Companies that solve attendance through engagement develop cultures that large competitors with better policies can’t buy.

Murray & Roberts Autocast PE demonstrated this perfectly. Operating at a loss in 2004 with outdated equipment, high scrap rates, eroding customer confidence – exactly the situation that “prevents transformation.”

MDW as turnaround vehicle achieved:

• 2004: Large loss
• 2005: Break-even
• 2006: Small profit
• 2007: Healthy profit

Plus scrap reduction, efficiency improvements, full order book, expanded customer base.

The insight: Existing knowledge + desperate motivation = breakthrough performance that comfortable competitors can’t match.

The Counter-Intuitive Truth

The organisations with the most impressive transformations don’t have the best starting conditions – they have the best understanding of their unique advantages.

Context doesn’t determine success. Context awareness and leverage determine success.

Every situation provides:

• Unique pressures that can accelerate change
• Specific relationships that can enable trust
• Particular constraints that can force creativity
• Distinctive capabilities that can multiply results

The question isn’t whether your context is ideal. The question is whether you’re exploiting the advantages your context provides.

The Strategic Choice

You can catalogue all the reasons your situation makes transformation difficult.

Or you can identify the specific advantages your situation provides and leverage them ruthlessly.

Greenfield or brownfield. Large or small. Crisis or stability. High attendance or low.

Every context contains the seeds of its own transformation. The organisations that succeed are simply the ones that plant them.

What context “disadvantages” have you discovered were actually advantages in disguise? Share your experience with transforming where you are rather than where you wish you were.