$10B F&B Org operationalizes mid to long term $500M technology pipeline
When a $10B food and beverage organization needed to unlock a $500M technology pipeline, they needed more than a plan — they needed their R&D team to become a credible, strategic force. That’s exactly what we built together.
Challenge
Aggressive growth goals were on the line, but the mid-to-long-term global R&D team was invisible to the rest of the organization. Leadership couldn’t see into their work, couldn’t trust what was coming, and the pipeline that should have been a competitive advantage had become a liability.
Solution
We connected stage-gate processes to the way the broader organization made decisions, so the R&D team’s work finally had a home in the business. We aligned the team around a clear Identity, Mission, and Values, built resource and prioritization models to bring discipline to the pipeline, and closed capability gaps that had been quietly holding the team back.
Result (through year 2 of 3)
Transparent governance gave leadership the visibility they’d been missing, credibility climbed all the way to the CEO level, and stakeholder feedback turned decisively positive. Most remarkably, employee engagement climbed 4% — the highest level recorded across the entire company.
Best Practices
The transformation took hold because the team committed to testing and learning rather than waiting for perfection. By bringing cross-functional partners in early — before the work was fully defined — the R&D team stopped working in isolation, and what once felt uncomfortable became one of their greatest strengths.