• South Africa

case study

From Artificial Harmony to High-Performance Trust: Sintrex’s Leadership Transformation

In a world where data is power, Sintrex empowers businesses to transform information into actionable insights. As trusted advisors, they guide clients toward smarter decisions, improved operations, and continuous growth. Sintrex’s leadership team needed to shift from operational firefighting to building scalable high-performance teams and maintaining a ruly high-performing culture.

The Challenge

When Credo Growth partnered with Sintrex, the company had grown rapidly over the last few years, bringing both exciting opportunities and new complexities.

A refreshed leadership structure and the promotion of engineers into management positions without sufficient leadership development, created challenges that highlighted the need for consistency in management practices and the building of high-performing teams across the company.

Challenges identified:

  • Leadership Gaps – Many new leaders had technical brilliance but no grounding in people leadership, with some defaulting to an “old school” command-and-control style.
  • Communication Breakdowns – With teams spread across locations and some leaders avoiding difficult conversations, communication was a pain point.
  • Cultural Friction – Shyness in larger groups, fear of speaking up, and the formation of cliques and friendship circles erodes trust and accountability.
  • Fear and Avoidance – A reluctance to challenge, debate, or hold people accountable meant that poor performance was tolerated, and progress risked stalling.

The result? A leadership team at risk of fragmentation, resulting in them being unable to fully unlock their people’s potential or sustain their ambitious growth trajectory.

How Credo Growth Ensured Impact

Credo Growth designed a 7-month leadership journey tailored specifically to Sintrex’s needs. Using Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team as the foundation and layering in Credo Growth’s practical coaching and leadership development tools:

  • Kick-off & Baseline Assessment – Measuring Sintrex’s team health across trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results.
    Focussing on what a feedback culture means and creating the space for EXCO and management team to re-design the culture they want.
  • Culture Code – Establishing shared commitments: openness, honesty, listening to understand, and assuming good intent that will impact the whole organisation.
  • Crucial Conversations & Ego States – Equipping leaders to handle tough conversations with clarity and empathy and understanding their own communication behaviour and those of the people they lead.
  • The Drama Triangle & Trust Equation – Breaking cycles of blame and replacing them with accountability and building lasting trustworthy relationships
  • Coaching Tools (GROW, Johari Window, Feedback Models) – Embedding coaching and feedback as a daily leadership practice.

The Result

A Culture Shift

  • 12–16 hours saved per month for the coachee, freeing time for higher-value tasks.
  • 144–192 hours saved annually, equivalent to nearly one month of full-time work.
  • Improved accuracy in stock records and reduced operational disruptions.
  • Increased ownership and morale among handlers involved in the redesign.
  • Sustained coaching culture as leaders continued using on-the-floor coaching for ongoing process improvements.

 

The Client’s Voice – Emile’s Reflections

Emile, Sintrex’s CEO, summed up the impact of the journey:

  • Greater Trust and Communication
    “The management team shifted toward more open and trusting communication. Difficult conversations are now being held instead of avoided, with people assuming good intent rather than bad. This change reduced gossip and helped problems get solved faster.”
  • Stronger Professional Intimacy
    “My own growth came from focusing less on operations and deadlines and more on building professional intimacy, taking time to get to know people as humans. Simple acts like asking about kids or personal interests created stronger bonds, which in turn made business conversations easier and more productive.”
  • Cultural Language Shift
    “I noticed a different language across the company compared to six months prior. Words like coaching, feedback, passionate dialogue, and trust had become part of everyday conversations. The tools weren’t just discussed in workshops; they were embedded in how people now interact.”
  • Accountability and Tough Calls
    “The team grew more willing to confront poor performers, even high output but toxic individuals. This led to the exit of people who weren’t aligned, creating space for healthier dynamics and improved team accountability.”

 

Conclusion

Today, Sintrex’s leadership team operates with greater trust, accountability, and alignment, positioning them to deliver on their bold vision of transforming data into actionable insights. By embracing vulnerability, dialogue, and ownership, Sintrex has laid the cultural foundation to scale its impact and growth.

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Partnering with Credo Growth has been one of the best skill investments we’ve made at Sintrex. Our leadership team shifted from avoiding tough conversations to embracing open dialogue and accountability. Gossip gave way to trust, and collaboration improved across the business.

What stands out is that this hasn’t just been a sort-term workshop, it’s been a long-term investment into toolsets and knowledge that our leadership team can use within Sintrex. It’s changed our everyday language and behaviours. Coaching, feedback, and trust are now part of how we work together, giving us the foundation to scale with confidence.

Emile BiagioCEO of Sintrex