Sanofi-Aventis - Leadership Coaching for Managers and Experts

"According to Ek-Petroff, the decisive factor that Innotiimi brought to the program, was the participatory coaching method — the people really needed to get involved and become aware of the importance of leading the people, not only the business."

The discussions between sanofi-aventis and Innotiimi were began during the second half of 2005. The client’s aspiration was to develop the leadership skills of the company’s managers and experts, especially in the context of organisational change. "Our chiefs and experts felt they lacked resources when it comes to leading change processes", says Sari Ek-Petroff, the sanofi-aventis HR director.

Prior to the Innotiimi program, two different corporate cultures of sanofi and aventis were combined in a merger. Hence, the main goal of the expertise and skill-based program was to deepen the collaboration between teams and departments. "We want to avoid sharp demarcation between departments and work together as a whole. That is why the meaning of team work has been emphasized." Not surprisingly, the 360 degree measuring carried out after the program showed that organisational networking had been enhanced.

The theoretical core of the program was The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) that aims to recognise the psychological type of each participant. MBTI encourages people to analyse their inherent manner of interaction. During the program, MBTI was used to gain self-knowledge: the behaviour of colleagues is easier to comprehend once your own manner of interaction is familiar to you.

According to Ek-Petroff, the decisive factor that Innotiimi brought to the program, was the participatory coaching method — the people really needed to get involved and become aware of the importance of leading the people, not only the business.

More information: Antti-Juhani Wihuri (firstname.lastname@innotiimi.com)