"The success of Kuehne+Nagel depends on great leaders who encourage and inspire transformation, develop a culture of customer-centricity and build a supportive environment for high-performing teams and individuals."
The impact
- Increased revenue and profitability linked to new leadership approaches
- Participant recommendation scores increased from approximately 75% to more than 80%, even after the programme transitioned to fully virtual delivery during Covid19.
- Improved customer engagement, customer service and productivity across teams and business units
- A coaching culture embedded across the organisation, with greater accountability and decision-making pushed deeper into the business
- Participants recorded a 62% uplift in achievement of their leadership action plan goals through the combination of learning and coaching
The context
Kuehne + Nagel is one of the world's leading logistics companies, employing more than 78,000 people across 1,300 locations in over 100 countries. In 2018, the organisation launched a strategic roadmap to accelerate growth through digitalisation, new technologies and data-driven logistics services, while creating a culture centred on customers, innovation and empowered leadership.
At the same time, the logistics industry was shifting rapidly from one defined by process and precision to one characterised by disruption, complexity and constant change. Environmental pressures, digitalisation, labour market shifts, Brexit and later the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the limits of traditional, hierarchical leadership approaches. Kuehne + Nagel recognised that while its existing senior leadership programme had been successful, it would not deliver the cultural transformation needed for the future.
Our approach
Working in partnership with Kuehne + Nagel, LIW redesigned the organisation's flagship senior leadership programme, TRANSFORM, to become a catalyst for culture change rather than a traditional leadership course. Senior leaders worked on real business challenges aligned to the organisation's strategic priorities, combining experiential learning, workplace experimentation, peer learning, coaching and business-led discussions that connected learning directly to everyday leadership.
The programme was intentionally designed around application rather than theory. Leaders learned by testing new approaches in their own teams, reflecting on results, and sharing insights with peers. Coaching, agile learning sprints and practical business projects ensured leadership development happened in the flow of work rather than being separated from it.
When the Covid pandemic disrupted global delivery, LIW rapidly redesigned TRANSFORM into an innovative virtual experience without compromising engagement or impact. The virtual format proved so successful that it remained the preferred delivery model beyond the pandemic.
The lasting result
The programme fundamentally shifted how leaders performed to deliver improved business outcomes. Rather than being the person with all the answers, leaders increasingly became coaches who empowered others, encouraged diverse perspectives and shared accountability for results.
This cultural shift cascaded beyond individual participants into their teams, creating stronger customer focus, greater ownership and more collaborative decision-making across the organisation.
Because leadership development was embedded into real work and directly aligned to business priorities, the change has continued well beyond the programme itself, helping Kuehne + Nagel build the organisational capability needed to thrive in an increasingly complex and fast-changing industry.