Guiding Global Change: Building Associate Understanding & Action at Greatbatch

For nearly four decades, Greatbatch Inc. built a reputation as one of the more innovative original equipment manufacturers in the medical device industry. As the company matured, it began enacting a series of changes to further stimulate explosive growth: relocating its headquarters from New York to Dallas, expanding its scope to begin commercializing an innovative product platform, growing and shifting its manufacturing footprint in Europe, the U.S. and Latin America, and engaging in strategic spin-offs and acquisitions – including a $1.7B deal with Lake Region Medical in 2015.

Of crucial importance was aligning its thousands of associates with its strategic priorities, organizational change, and their roles in achieving success.

Working with McDougall Communications, the company reconfigured its approach to internal communications, implementing a series of custom-built strategies and tactics to create front-line accountability, enhance the timely receipt of information, and encourage valuable contextualization of information as it reached individual workgroups and associates. The result has been a more deeply engaged workforce that has actively contributed to significant gains in revenue, operating income and earnings per share over a five-year time period.