Source: theHRDIRECTOR
Date: April 2007

How one international company introduced a management programme that really started the wheels in motion for a united management culture across its European operations.

Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of tyres and rubber products, employs over 123,000 people worldwide. Bridgestone Europe (BSEU), a regional SBU, employs approximately 12,000 people across 20 countries. Bridgestone sales in Europe reached €2.7 billion in 2006.

Like many international companies, BSEU seeks to harness operational synergies by managing activities, once the responsibility of national entities, on a coordinated European basis. These include production, marketing, sales and pricing, supply chain, logistics and IT activities. Achieving these synergies poses a challenge for any company with a heritage of strong national entities, long service among manager groups and an operational mindset. For BSEU it provided an opportunity to build a stronger identity with the European organisation, a more consistent management culture, ‘big picture’ thinking, and to engage managers in a more pan European approach to management.

“It was clear that developing a core Bridgestone management culture to support the new ways of working being introduced across Europe would be a priority,” says Eric Motte, vice president for Human Resources. “It requires developing European minded managers and removing national and functional boundaries. We had to create a sense of belonging and commitment to Bridgestone.” In conjunction with changes to organisational structure and roles and responsibilities, Bridgestone’s response was to design, with the support of external consultants, a three level development programme aimed at new, middle and senior managers – in total about 900 employees. Level one, “First Steps into Management”, is aimed at developing the techniques and tools of effective management for those entering manager positions with two to four years’ experience. Level two, “Strengthening your Management Skills”, is designed for middle managers with five to fifteen years’ experience and focuses on policy deployment and managing change in the organisation. Level three for senior managers is titled “Developing your Strategic Vision” and concentrates on the development of vision and strategy as well as emotional intelligence in the business.

The programmes last between four to six days and the role of the manager is examined through facilitated discussions, role plays and case studies, all within the context of BSEU’s mid term plan. The purpose is to build common management competencies and ensure that managers are able to translate the BSEU business strategy into their function and align behaviour with the goals of the European business. While level one focuses on the move into a manager role, levels two and three involve a 360 degree assessment of each manager, developing a balanced scorecard for the manager’s team, as well as a personal action plan against which performance is measured. The programme challenges many of BSEU’s managers despite having years of experience in a management role. “Managing operational processes has been a core competency for many of our managers, but now there is a real emphasis on managing people because they, not simply technology or process, are our differentiators,” explains Brigitte Bestgen, manager, Management Development.

Brigitte has found that time scarce managers are enthusiastic about participating because of the recognition that’s associated with being selected for the programme and the strong link with executing the group’s strategy. This has resulted in over 200 managers participating in the programme in the last few years. Many of the benefits stem from the way in which the programme is structured. Deliberately mixing participants from different functions and geographies has obvious team building and knowledge sharing advantages. Simply meeting peers from other countries is contributing to the development of a European mindset. It’s no surprise that a Kaizen driven company is piloting additional programmes designed to continue improving its performance. “Leading and Managing - The Bridgestone Way” is one such programme. It focuses on how the corporate philosophy drives Bridgestone’s performance and differentiates the company from its competitors. Another involves setting up key management development centres to organise the process of transformation of functional leaders to general managers and create a talent pool for the future needs of the BSEU Group. There are obvious implications for succession planning – a keen focus for many managers as they seek further development opportunities.