Rethinking division planning — How we worked with L’Oréal Hellas

Working on a division’s plan for the next 3 years is no easy task. It includes many hours of work, lots of back and forth between the members of the top leadership and a ton of planning to then deliver the strategic framework to the rest of the division for implementation. Now that everyone is working remotely, it’s the best time to try something new: a more agile, more collaborative work process session that is faster, can be implemented also virtually and invites more people to the decision process. By preparing thoroughly, embracing restructuring and taking advantage of agile methodologies and new formats for online collaboration, we made it work in the best possible way.

Setting the stage

Late in 2020, our partners at L’Oréal Hellas reached out to us to help the Active Cosmetics Division (ACD) create its 2021 FRAME — a procedure during which the division’s strategy, KPIs, objectives and metrics for the next years are discussed, debated and defined, and then transcribed in an easily shareable document that is conveyed progressively to all of the 125- people strong division. Think of it as a lighthouse for business, in the form of a one-pager that connects the division’s mission with the specific metrics to monitor day-to-day business. This FRAME has been traditionally prepared every 3 years by the division manager, with the asynchronous support of only a couple other key stakeholders, working hard to get it down to its last detail, before it is shared with the rest of the division members — and eventually the whole division. However, having worked with L’Oréal Hellas executive team for almost 2 years, we were asked to aid the development of ACD division’s FRAME using a different approach. This time, we would be using co-creation methods and agile workshops, involving initially all of the 12-people division executive team, and then propagate this to the rest. We gladly jumped into the challenge.

The project was divided into 2 main phases:

• The Main Phase where the executive team would work to discover and define the FRAME for the whole division
• Τhe Propagation Phase, where the defined strategy and metrics would be propagated to the extended management team and actionable sub-objectives would be defined.

The circumstances bequeathed us with three challenges:

1. A new co-development team workshop
2. Online/digital-only work meetings
3. The unpredictability of the pandemic for 2021

The interactive co-development approach was something we were working on quite in advance, so, in a way we were prepared to address it. The Solution Design Sprint has been one of the methodologies included in our offerings for quite some time now. However, it was something new for the top level team we were going to work with, as was the complete online setup.
Looking our third challenge head on — the unpredictability of 2021 due to the pandemic — we decided to add a “futures” section in the process. Therefore, at Found.ation we developed 3 possible sociotechnical scenarios for 2021, shared them with the ACD division manager, who in turn translated them in financial estimations. On the day of the workshop, these were shared with the team, triggering discussions in case each scenario became a reality: What would be the channels priorities, how objectives would change, how budget goals could be achieved. Even if none of the 3 scenarios play out in 2021, these thought experiments exposed the team to possibilities, opportunities and threats, which will be useful for any shift needed during the unpredictability of the COVID-era.

To see what we did before, during and after the workshop, please head over to our thorough Medium article. 

The 2-day workshop was followed by 4 more, half-day sessions, as the division objectives and metrics set by the top level team had to be translated into actionable sub-objectives for each of the four business teams comprising the division. In this way, a total of 35 participants — almost the whole extended management team of the Division — were updated and aligned on the strategic direction of the division, and helped co-develop the sub-objectives relevant to their team.

The end result was too beautiful to not be framed for posterity…

Lessons learned

Running completely online business work sessions across the division, the results of which are of paramount importance to a company for the years to come, using an online interactive environment with participants who were not accustomed to it and making it work was rather satisfying. It strengthened our belief that tools and technology are here to support work, rather than hinder it. Online experiences ought to keep references from their “old” offline equivalents and facilitators still need to set the stage a.k.a the framework for effective collaboration. But beyond the online aspect, what is even more important is finding new ways to get to the desired result no matter the circumstances, including more people in the decision process, promoting collaboration and streamlining the operations for faster delivery and wider acceptance of goals.

For our partners, L’Oréal Hellas, the whole experience was a pleasant revelation. Not only were they able to develop their strategic FRAME while working fully remotely, but — most importantly — they did so in a new manner, taking advantage of new methodologies and technology that allowed them to work in a more structured and time-effective manner, while engaging more people and their vision in the process.

Are you interested in experiencing a similar creative process? We can help your business reach the solutions it needs with the best possible outcome through the most enjoyable process. Fill in the contact form to reach out to us.