The full package: How the Watershed Group transformed operations with Leadership 4 Growth

When Liz Waters became CEO of an international labelling company, she wanted to grow her skills and move the business forward. Enterprise Ireland’s Leadership 4 Growth equipped her with the confidence, competencies and know-how to unlock new opportunities and transform operations. 

Headquartered in Tallaght, Dublin, the Watershed Group is the only Irish privately-owned labelling company of scale with an international footprint. The group’s ambition is to remain Irish-owned and continue to grow by acquisition. 

With five sites across Ireland, the UK, Germany and Poland, the company provides innovative labelling and packaging solutions for some of Europe’s leading food, beverage, consumer and retail brands. 

CEO Liz Waters says the business has transformed its operations and decision-making processes since she completed Enterprise Ireland’s Leadership 4 Growth programme in 2017.

Finding new ways to grow

When she became CEO in 2012, Liz’s Enterprise Ireland development advisor Susan Byrne convinced her to enrol on Leadership 4 Growth to help hone her leadership skills and find ways to grow the business. 

Over 12 months, she took part in hands-on workshops, coaching, interactive learning and networking, all while running the business. 

According to Liz, her literature background and love of reading stood her in good stead throughout the course. 

 “Others may have had more experience and understanding,” she says. “But I was a literature graduate and a voracious reader. 

“I didn’t have very much to say because I didn’t really have much experience, but I was listening and reading. Those things can hold more value than talking because you’re absorbing what you hear.”
 

Navigating new territory 

Without a solid business background, Liz initially found Leadership 4 Growth challenging as she navigated unfamiliar territory. 

“I think all CEOs, even experienced ones, found it challenging because it’s a new space,” she says. “You’re pushed out of your comfort zone and I wasn’t prepared for that.” 

Liz says there have been transformative changes across the business since Leadership 4 Growth, including a shift towards data-driven decision-making and the introduction of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system – software to manage and integrate the business’s core processes.

“We introduced the first ERP system for packaging in Ireland, with the help of Enterprise Ireland,” she says. “We rolled out ERP systems to all our sites and it has changed our lives. It gives us 100% transparency and enables us to measure success. We realise now we only thought we knew what we were doing before.”

The Watershed Group has a strong presence across Europe, so Liz found Leadership 4 Growth’s culture module especially useful.

“There are big cultural differences across markets and it’s important to understand that,” she says. “I have one hat on if I’m presenting in Poland, but I present in an entirely different way in Germany, the UK or Ireland.”
 

Shifting the culture dial

According to Liz, the programme changed her perspective on company culture and securing buy-in from the team. 

“I went into the programme like a rabbit in headlights,” she says. “I thought, ‘I want to grow the business and I don't want to hear anything about culture’. Now I agree that culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Liz says the Watershed Group also saw big personnel changes after Leadership 4 Growth. 

“We changed the organisational chart,” she explains. “We appointed an operations manager and a supply chain manager – roles we didn’t have before the programme. We also introduced an in-house studio.

“Our supportive team and dedicated senior leadership team have been key to the firm’s new culture and continued growth.”
 

Reimagining the business 

Liz says Leadership 4 Growth completely changed her mindset, which had a knock-on effect on the company.

“The programme changed how I look at everything and that changed the whole business,” she says. “I always had the ambition, but I didn’t have the strategic backup to grow in a sustainable way.

“We now have a roadmap that’s realistic for growth. That takes out a lot of the noise and stops detours. It also opens your eyes and helps you realise what’s possible.”

Liz still speaks highly of her peer-to-peer learning cohort group throughout the programme. 

“They’re friends for life,” she says. “There’s extraordinary trust between everyone in the group. It’s easier to tell people you’ve never met about the wrong decisions, calamities and challenges, and they’re there to listen.”

Discover how other Irish CEOs sharpen their skills and develop business growth strategies with Enterprise Ireland’s Leadership 4 Growth.

Liz Waters, CEO of Watershed Group, in conversation with Lorraine Reid, Executive Coach.