The Corporate Bank (Part III): Leading Yourself

Abstract

This case follows the Dutch bank Van Lanschot’s journey through a major restructuring. Hit hard by the financial crisis, Van Lanschot wanted to reduce its loss-making business banking division by half within five years and refocus on the more profitable wealth management services for private clients. Rob Van Oostveen was put in charge of the restructuring. His task was to establish a new Corporate Bank division that would take in most of the business banking activities and gradually reduce the business, clients, as well as employees. How did he handle this unpopular and challenging task? Moreover, how did he manage to do it successfully – not just shrinking the business, but also getting the people who were about to become redundant still working with him effectively? The case consists of three parts. Part 1 shows how Van Oostveen identified the organizational changes to be done; Part II describes how he developed a unique strategy to achieve the changes and how he led his team to implement this strategy; Part III presents his personal reflection on the key learning of being a good change manager. Combined, these three parts afford a holistic picture of an organization’s restructuring process and the typical challenges that the change manager would encounter. By addressing these challenges candidly, this case provides valuable insights to anyone who is involved in or concerned about change management.