This industry-leading global meat processor had built its reputation as a dependable partner, committed to continuously improving its products and services and promising quality, on-time delivery, superior customer service, and real value. But demand was ever-soaring and commodity prices were rising, and persistent supply challenges across the food sector forced the company to redouble its efforts simply to stay competitive and exceed partner expectations in difficult market conditions.

Underneath the external pressure sat a deeper structural problem. The culture ran on continuous day-to-day firefighting with no relief, a pattern that reached from the top floor to the shop floor. The clearest symptom showed up in how supervisors spent their time: only 15% went to actual supervisory work, coaching, guiding, directing, and engaging their direct reports, while 32% of the day was consumed performing frontline employee work instead of leading. The Management Operating System had deficiencies across the organization, roles and responsibilities were not clearly defined, and frontline leadership training was insufficient for the demands of the job.

The consequences landed where they mattered most. Plants were underperforming in capacity, yield, and overall productivity, labor costs were climbing on overtime, and margins were tightening against projected commodity price increases. What leadership needed was not a one-time fix but a system: a way to reverse the chaotic environment, give supervisors back their real job, and align the company’s stated values with how people actually behaved every day.

POWERS treated the engagement as a leadership and culture challenge, not a one-time productivity push. The work started by building a more robust and definitive Management Operating System, giving the organization the structure its daily execution had been missing. With that foundation in place, managers and supervisors received hands-on training and guidance, learning the specific skills and behaviors needed to reverse the chaotic, firefighting environment they had been living in.

In parallel, POWERS clarified the roles and responsibilities of supervisors and of the entire production process, so ownership was clear and effort stopped falling through the cracks. As the structure took hold, frontline leaders were freed to focus on what supervisors are actually for: resolving problems and planning labor and equipment strategically rather than reacting to the next crisis. They could finally communicate daily expectations clearly to their teams.

Running through all of it was deliberate work to align the company’s existing values and purpose with daily behaviors on the floor. The cumulative effect reached well beyond the numbers: the leadership team felt more well-rounded and empowered, the firefighting culture gave way to planned, supervised production, and the company’s culture was strengthened by closing the gap between what it valued and how it worked every day.