Download PDFDear colleagues,
Further to the employee survey held earlier this year, workshops are being held or shortly due to be held in each Business Unit as part of the immersion into the results with the aim of creating ideas for action that need to be taken to address some of the concerns identified. We will share more on the impact of these ideas and actions as they progress.
From the results we know that we seem to be making great progress in the sense of “feeling like a family” as strong comments came through, but it is clear from what you tell us that we have a way to go to both feel and “act like high performing teams”.
Developing our leadership base
Knowing that business performance starts with leadership effectiveness, we built the picture of what good leadership looks like through the Colart Way. With this understanding we launched two key initiatives to develop our leadership base:
- the mentoring scheme (which has recently been refreshed across the Group this year)
- leaders for the future.
But of course we know to build high performing teams, that is not enough.
There is a changing landscape in which our leadership operates whether with respect to our people, the business as a whole or the wider environment in which we operate. So, trying to make a difference as an individual leader can only go so far and the only way is for our leadership team to act as a high performing team – in other words as one team so we succeed together through working together.
Developing a leadership programme
Understanding this and recognising the clear feedback from the survey about poor collaboration and indeed silo thinking across the organisation, we developed a leadership programme for leadership levels 3 to 5 that put collaboration as the core focus. The reason why we started with levels 3 to 5 is because we believe that collaboration must start and be reinforced from the top otherwise collaboration in the heart of the business cannot be nurtured.
Lego Serious Play workshops in the US, UK and France
This programme, run recently across the Group (US, UK and France), started by building self-awareness of what could be stopping each person from working properly as a team member whether intentionally or unintentionally – our aim was to ensure our leaders become mindful of self, team and the collective. This knowledge was then put into action through very participative workshops during which we introduced the concept of Lego Serious Play© – a technique for team building that draws on insights from extensive research. This technique puts the workshop attendees through varying levels of comfort as they move through the challenges at an individual level to increasing team size.
These workshops not only put an emphasis on collaboration but also improving communication through “story telling” to enable concepts to come alive to everyone. Based on the feedback from the workshops, we are keen to cascade the thinking to all our leaders and beyond particularly as communication has also been highlighted by our people as an ongoing weakness in Colart.
Workshops in China
On 1st & 2nd November, a workshop was also organized for the leadership team in CTAM. Similarly, in response to the results of the employee and using insights from a 360 leadership survey based on the expectations of the Colart Way, the workshop was focused on collaboration and building trust with the aim of unleashing performance. It was great to see all attendees actively and honestly expressing their views with clear understanding of what is needed for future success and transformation.
Reviewing the insights and ideas from the workshops
We are currently reviewing the insights and ideas from all of the workshop and we will update shortly on how we will be continuing this development throughout Colart. It is of course important to add that whilst we recognise the importance of leadership, it is not a “one-way street” and we still look for everyone in the business to proactively take responsibility to break silos; increase communication and escalate issues and opportunities whenever they arise.
If you have any questions or would like to know more, please do contact your local HR Business Partner.
Regards,
Jane Beeston
Chief People Officer