Engaging hearts and minds across Northern Europe
Encompassing 10 markets, and around 350 colleagues, our business in Northern Europe was performing reasonably well according to feedback from our values survey. However, their good, 'middle of the road' scores were out of step with their desire to be a great place to work for all their people.
So last year, a cross-functional team of 15 colleagues from different countries got together to reflect carefully on all the feedback. They then agreed on five priorities they believed would take Northern Europe from good to great:
- Managing workloads more effectively
- Remaining connected as a team across the geography of Northern Europe
- Improving P4G (Diageo's performance management process)
- Leadership
- Clearer and simpler processes - making it easier to get things done across the business.
The team worked hard to develop action plans for the five areas, each sponsored by a senior leader in the business. The approach taken to improve P4G is a great example. The team relaunched P4G, with the intention of making it 'the real thing' for colleagues across Northern Europe, focusing on great conversations about performance, development and careers. Workshops and 'lunch and learn' sessions encouraged line managers and employees to re-engage with P4G, and attendance was very high. Regular communication and updates kept the team in touch with progress being made in all five priority areas, and with what challenges still needed to be addressed.
And the result? The 2011 values survey scores demonstrated progress across the board, with improvements in most, and a substantial improvement in super-engagement - up from 33% to 41%. There were also positive comments from the team who are now even more engaged in their work for Diageo - well worth all the hard work.