Zest, an online meal kit provider is about to embark on a transformative journey of change. Their ambition is to become the meal kit provider of choice. Their subscription-based food service model involves sending customers pre-portioned and partially-prepared food ingredients and recipes to prepare home cooked meals.

An important part of Zest's culture is sustainability, and in recent years, they've been able to reduce all plastic in their meal kits by 50%. As much as this was viewed as a success, consumer research suggests that more people would be willing to sign up to Zest's service if their sustainability claims were verified by a third party. The senior leadership team have decided they want to partner with Planet Protect, a non-profit organization that brings together a global community of businesses that are dedicated to building more sustainable products.

For Zest to become a certified Planet Protect partner, there are certain eligibility criteria that they must meet. This has led to the creation of new sustainability targets, including to reduce carbon emissions in a weekly Zest box by 25% in the next twelve months, and make all packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable within the next twelve months. The CEO, Joan Potter, believes that being first to market with Planet Protect status is essential to get one over on their competition and solidify Zest as the meal kit provider of choice. However, not everyone is convinced, and Zest's investors are calling for more assurances that the company is growing and capable of selling more meal kits.

This prompted a review of the vision and strategic objectives of the company, whereby a decision was made by the CEO to incorporate three other programs into the wider portfolio of change. There are now four programs, a sustainability program, an online platforms-upgrade program, a brand-awareness program, and an expansion program. These programs focus on Zest's strategic goal, to improve services for customers, while maintaining their commitment to sustainability. There are already concerns within the steering committee, with the director of operations Denise Badu, claiming that the scope of the change is too broad. Meanwhile, the CTO Frank Austin, is skeptical about tech investment.

Finally, the CFO, Benjamin Eze has warned of budget cuts, including redundancies, to facilitate the focus on these programs. During the company's first five years, changes have been introduced, to varying degrees of success. This mixed record, and inexperience of managing change, has not led to a positive reaction by the impacted employees. It's now a job for the assigned change-managers, of each program, to ensure the organization and its people are ready, willing and able to accept the changes. As you progress through the various topics in foundation, you will hear about the actions of these change-managers, as a method of reinforcing the examined best practices. There will also be opportunities for you to put yourself in the shoes of these characters, to consider for yourself the best course of action, based on the scenario presented.

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