Gaëlle Babouche

The launch of a new leadership program at Tarkett

Interview with Gaëlle Babouche, Group HR Development Director, Tarkett
 

Can you tell us about the program’s origins?

A year ago, the group’s shareholders changed. It is now jointly owned by the founding Deconinck family and the investment firm, Wendel. It is the start of a new era, with strategic choices made on investments and on how to manage the company, all while reaffirming a strong identity as a family-run business based on entrepreneurship.

This is the context for the rethink of Tarkett’s leadership program.
A leadership program had been offered to leaders at Tarkett for some years. This program, which was very business management oriented with a focus on academic skills such as finance, strategy, etc., needed to be revisited with a new development approach for our leaders.
The review was launched in 2020-2021, in the context of Covid and the acceleration required by the market, the materials shortage, and changes in shareholding and our managerial approach.

The aim of this new program was to get leaders onboard differently and to have them work on leadership skills such as how to define and engage a team around an inspiring vision, create and develop a high-performing team, develop and engage a stakeholder network, and manage change, all to ensure that our leaders find their strategy to support their teams around this constantly changing world.
It’s a real change: we have chosen to move from a mainly academic approach to development of our leaders to an approach that encourages experimentation and is centered on leadership skills.

What does this new leadership program actually consist of in terms of approach, target and operation ?

There was significant work to be done on alignment to start with: the HR director set the objectives, which were then discussed and negotiated with the board, which confirmed the roadmap and approach. Then we began a review with the talent team to refine the needs and think about the structure. The provider selection and the design phases followed. After a call for bids, we chose the firm Turningpoint. The board was updated regularly on how the project was moving forward.

The program’s target population is new or future senior directors & executives: we wish to prepare our newly appointed leaders or those pre-selected to become senior directors or executives in our divisions and group functions. The participants’ names came out of Tarkett’s existing talent reviews.

Unlike the previous program, which ran with cohorts of around 40 people, the new leadership program’s sessions are much more selective: the pilot group was made up of 14 people from all our businesses and all our geographical areas and divisions. We also pay close attention to gender representation on this program: in the pilot group 25% of the cohort were women, and we are planning to do more for the next cohorts.

The list of participants was put together with the help of the talent director of each division. Then each person was contacted individually to discuss their interest in participating (we prefer to keep the program voluntary). They were intrigued as we wanted to maintain some mystery around the learning experience, but they all wanted to take part!

The program was built around principles of appreciative inquiry and focused on the strengths of the participants and their teams. We wanted a very pragmatic approach, based on business concerns where participants could directly apply what they have learned in their day-to-day work with their teams.

It is structured by the following highlights:

- a virtual kick-off with the participants, the group HR director, the sponsor (board member) and coaches;
- a discussion between the participant, their manager and the talent director to set learning objectives and how they connect to business objectives;
- a 360° exercise and a personality questionnaire, debriefed individually with one of the program’s 3 coaches;
- a week-long experience-based seminar with 1 topic per day:

      > getting to know yourself and your leadership style; 
      > team engagement: Lencioni Model, how to use organizational strengths, building momentum, etc.;
      > stakeholder engagement: how to identify and engage them (testimonials and discussions around a case study);
      > definition and engagement plan for a team based on a vision; 
      > development committee practices.

During this week there was also a presentation from the sponsor, from our CEO and from our group HR director.

Beyond these components, the program includes:

- individual coaching sessions;
- webinars about different topics, e.g. innovation or management of teams in a complex environment;
- 2 learning sets, which are sub-working groups to discuss problems encountered by members. These learning sets are run by a coach from Turningpoint;
- to conclude, an alumni challenge where participants describe an experience where they were able to implement their learnings from the program. The best learner experiences are, among other things, presented to the HR director, the sponsor and the group’s different leaders.

The program launched almost a year ago, what has the initial feedback been?

Initial feedback has shown that the program had some very engaging highlights that offered structure:

- greater awareness among participants of their leadership style through the 360° exercise and personality questionnaire;
- greater awareness of the need to work on their teams’ engagement: participants have told us that they feel more at ease on this thanks to the tools offered by the program;
- an opportunity to build their internal network: strong professional relationships have come about; the participants talk to each other and challenge each other outside the program;
- strong professional ties between colleagues from different cultures.

So to sum up, I would say that the key points of the program are: 

- it is a pragmatic, operational program that offers tools that can be applied immediately;
- it operates collaboratively, like a workshop, which builds trust within the group, allowing genuine, high-quality discussion.

What were the key success factors and the main stumbling blocks?

The key factors for this program are: 

- the desire of all stakeholders to move forward on leadership and an awareness of the need to develop our leaders;
- engagement and sponsoring from the board and HR directors in each division;
- the selection of a strong, diversified cohort in terms of profiles and engagement;
- a choice to base coaching on experience and participation, allowing sharing of ideas and best practices, and the option to practice in a low-stakes environment;
- the quality of the coaches, which allows the content to be adapted based on changes and urgent situations in the participants’ business.

As for stumbling blocks, as in many organizations, we mainly noticed that participants lacked time: it is a constant concern to which we pay close attention, in particular to how they re-engage after the week off-site. 

What’s next?

First, we are going to conclude the first cohort of the program at the end of the year with the alumni challenge. It will be the opportunity to talk to participants about their learning experiences. We will also ask for feedback to take into account participants’ experiences, as well as those of HR, in order to enrich the program. 

We are also currently working on launching the next 15-person cohort at the end of the year. We are looking forward to meeting our new participants and to working with them throughout this year of learning. As HR professionals, we also learn a lot from working with them!