Geodis Road Transport
Establishing common managerial practices to address operational improvement
Challenge
"In 2013, Geodis Road Transport felt the need to deeply transform their managerial practices for more than 100 managers through their new program “Investors in people”.
An analysis of the current situation showed that so far, there were no shared managerial rules and desired behaviors (only a few managerial reflexes had been acquired in previous management trainings).
As such the managers did not have a same level of skills and capabilities in terms of behavioral competencies. A common language was also missing.
Furthermore, Geodis Road Transport was challenged by a difficult economic context. Managers had to be able to face complex situations and still show exemplary behaviors in order to prepare the future.
For Geodis Road Transport, people are a growth driver and as such, the definition of a strong cultural identity was seen as key to attract and retain talents within the company."
Solution
"The training programme was co-designed with Geodis Road Transport focusing on the client’s needs and objectives.
It concentrated specifically on three complementary parts: firstly, interpersonal relationships or how to take others into account when managing, secondly, key managerial practices to be able to apply the appropriate management practices in order to secure motivation and performance and thirdly, the leader’s role within the Geodiscontext, or how to optimise peoples’ behaviors towards themselves and the company culture.
The key learning activities for creating the desired impact were the explanation of the program’s strategic and cultural objectives, in order to enhance the importance of the trainings.
The use of the TTI Success Insights assessment (DISC profile) shows the different types of personalities and how to handle them as a manager.
The roll-out started with a workshop for the board. Then three pilot training followed with the board, the regional directors and the leadership mentors before the training was deployed to the first group in France. Afterwards, train the trainer programmes followed in Spain, Italy and Germany"
Results
"100+ managers (10 groups) were trained successfully in France. For Geodis Road Transport, the success of this program lies in the greatly improved collaboration, based on respect and appreciation of others, a more positive mindset, and a focus on action.
Many participants directly relate the breakthroughs in their challenges to what they learned.
The program was so successful that some managers even asked for a second one to be developed to continue with leadership mentors trained by Krauthammer: 20 people were trained as trainers, and today, are still proud and more comfortable in their roles as managers."
