BAE SYSTEMS had a problem. For years it had provided support to the RAF, but what the customer wanted was changing. Instead of fixing the fighter jet when it developed a fault, it was cheaper for the RAF to pay to have replacement fighter jets always available.

For BAE Systems’ CSS, MASS division — customer solutions and support, military air solutions and support — it was the motoring equivalent of changing from Kwik-Fit to Avis, from merely mechanics to providers of hire cars, always ready and fuelled to drive off in.

But, according to an internal survey in 2004, less than 50 per cent of the workforce understood the business strategy. The division urgently needed a way of communicating it. It was at this point that Julian Burton, an artist who specialised in drawing complicated ideas, got involved. The result was a visual interpretation of the strategy that could be taken around the group’s 3,000 workers.

“We didn’t just want it to describe the strategy but to generate a conversation about what it meant. It was to be a force for change and would show what would happen in the future, and the individual’s place in it,” says Andrea Adams, human resources director of the division.

Mr Burton says: “I start off by talking to the senior team. I act the naïve staff member and ask questions such as ‘What do you mean by striving for excellence? How does it feel? What does it look like?’ This stage can be challenging and quite uncomfortable for leaders,” he says. Then the first draft of the picture is tested on staff.

With BAE Systems, it was clear that employees were weary with constant initiatives, generated either by the customer, the Ministry of Defence, or the management. “I was showing the picture to engineers and their first reaction was ‘Uh-oh, here’s another one’. So I put that in the picture with a little guy saying ‘Oh no, not another strategy’. ”

Mr Burton has worked for 60 companies since he began his management consultancy business, many of them leading FTSE 100 players, and he has found a rich seam of problems that keep him in work. “It is almost universal that, for senior people, communication is a one-way system. That means the workforce can’t make sense of what is being asked of them,” he says.

At BAE Systems, the picture had a dramatic impact on the workforce’s comprehension of the strategy. After 150 copies of the picture were discussed, understanding shot up to 82 per cent.

Management believes it has also had an impact on the bottom line. “The business has grown by 40 per cent in the past two to three years. In the view of the board, a lot of this success is down to the engagement process,” says Ms Adams.

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