Engineering firm Festo has evolved in order to retain its changing customer base. By rolling out coaching to its salesforce it has ensured sustainability of learning, says Gary Wyles
In recent years, Festo’s operating environment has changed significantly. For many of our customers, product is no longer key. To evolve, adapt and continue to win market share, we have had to become more flexible and aware of this changing customer base.
In 1998, Festo, a global engineering and manufacturing organisation, launched ‘Fit for Change’, a company-wide initiative, targeted at our national sales teams. It seeks to improve our ability to negotiate with customers, suppliers and stakeholders, helping the business remain fit and healthy, and respond successfully to a changing business environment.
Coaching is the linchpin of this programme, ensuring that the learning is sustained. We’ve now embedded coaching more widely in our organisation.
Based on the ‘train the trainer’ model, Fit for Change is rolled out to our operating companies through master trainers who cascade learning to local trainers, typically sales managers, regional managers or managing directors.
The first module focused on sales training. Although successfully delivered, it was a box ticking exercise. It was perceived as too basic because we hadn’t bought into the thinking behind it.
Nearly two years on, the business unveiled the second module, focusing on customer reactions and responses. For the GB team it coincided with a change in national sales manager. This meant the primary interface between the master and local trainers was lost. It was in danger of becoming another box ticking exercise, so the business reviewed the programme and its role in the organisation.
The appointment of a new sales manager offered Festo GB a fresh perspective into the value of the programme. The sales management team also realised they needed to be more involved in Fit for Change to ensure it could contribute to increased productivity in the team.
Coaching was identified as the best solution to keep the learning alive and ensure it could deliver and sustain performance results.
Our culture
Although many sales managers felt they already coached as part of their management and sales support role, it was important to educate this key group about the potential and future of coaching in the business. This ensured they understood the difference between the direct operational support they already offered team members on, for example, customer calls, and the more objective, hands-off coaching that enables individuals to develop their own skills and experience.
To reinforce this and equip managers for coaching, a separate module was introduced to develop their strategic coaching skills and to change management behaviour.
Initially, some struggled to strike a balance between operational responsibilities and creating time for coaching. As a result the Festo GB senior management team has invested significant time to work alongside sales managers. This year, for example, saw the launch of a voluntary coaching forum which meets regularly to exchange experiences, ideas and approaches to effective coaching.
Embedding coaching
The coaching focus of Fit for Change means there is never really an end to the programme. As such, coaching has become a core element of Festo GB’s culture.
As Fit for Change participants, all sales consultants receive a minimum of 10 coaching days a year and most at least one day each calendar month. All coaching is delivered internally by Festo GB line managers, so for sales managers more than a third of their working year is dedicated to coaching.
Outside of his daily operational role, Marc Wellington, regional sales manager, regards his primary strategic focus as coaching to develop sales skills and performance in his team.
“My coaching input ensures the business development team has the opportunity to practise and reflect on their core skill set. I easily spend over three-quarters of my time coaching. Being an effective coach means resisting the temptation to tell people what to do and adopting a different approach, encouraging the team to reflect on situations and empowering them to think about and identify solutions for themselves. Topics are generally defined by those I’m coaching and I get regular feedback and supervision from the national sales manager to ensure my intervention is delivering results for the client and the business,” he says.
Coaching has been further embedded within Festo. All employees can offer feedback on their manager (and coach) during appraisals, reviewed alongside responses relating to the frequency and effectiveness of the coaching. Sales managers and coaches also complete a coaching feedback analysis after every coaching event; this is used by senior managers to more effectively coach the coaches.
Measuring impact
The Fit for Change coaching focus has helped attract sales talent, especially from competitor organisations. Applicants regularly tell us they want coaching, training and development and want to work for us because we offer it.
Justin Ellis, business development consultant at Festo, was first introduced to Fit for Change during her interview.
“In previous jobs training was purely a technical offering, but I wanted more than this to help me develop my skills as a sales professional.
“In my experience most programmes die out shortly after the training has finished and individuals forget what they learnt and slip back into their old ways; I’m sure Fit for Change would have gone the same way if it wasn’t for Festo’s commitment to coaching.
I receive structured, face-to-face coaching one day per month from my line manager, and informally from other senior managers.
“I am in full control of the coaching relationship and define the accounts we visit and the topics
I want the coaching to focus on. By contrast, in most sales organisations you might have regular days out with your boss, but these are usually geared towards showing what a good job you’re doing. With Festo it really is different. I’m actively encouraged to take my boss to my most challenging accounts so coaching can have a real impact on the way it is managed and therefore our future success.”
The last Fit for Change staff survey confirms that coaching has played a significant role in helping to transfer skills into practice and to change behaviour. Most respondents confirmed the skills coached directly improved business results through new customer acquisitions and increased business levels, for example.
In terms of overall business results, it’s always difficult to demonstrate the positive influence on any one initiative. However, we’re confident Fit for Change has been a contributing factor to our success. Over the past 10 years the market we operate in has declined by approximately 35 per cent yet Festo has grown its market share by more than 30 per cent. The performance and potential of our people, as supported by coaching, is surely a key catalyst for this continued and sustained growth. n
Gary Wyles is managing director of Festo Didactic GB, part of Festo
Learning points
- Recognise the potential of coaching to support and embed other training initiatives within the organisation.
- Clarify managers’ understanding of the definition of coaching in order to drive business performance.
- Give sales managers the opportunity to focus on coaching to support their team and offer them the freedom to spend more than 75 per cent of their time on this.
- Appreciate that a strong coaching and development focus and investment could attract key talent.
Coaching at Work, Volume 5, Issue 4