How Europe’s HR directors are building fit-for-future teams

HR directors from Siemens and Decathlon reveal their strategies to prepare people for a changing future of work at Zukunft Personal, Europe's leading HR event. 

With technology like generative AI rapidly advancing, constant change is placing intense pressure on organizations. Long-term success depends on the ability to evolve and handle these shifts, meaning that businesses have to prepare for the future of work, today. 

HR leaders play a pivotal role in building organizational agility and designing forward-thinking solutions for people development. However, they face several challenges: financial constraints, the need to disrupt traditional top-down leadership, and integrating new generations into the workforce. 

HR and L&D directors at Zukunft Personal Europe, Europe’s largest people development conference, shared insights and strategies for building fit-for-future teams. Their approaches to keeping pace with change and innovation centered on building a high performing culture with 3 key areas of focus: 

• Leadership development
• Upskilling for Generative AI integration
• Employer branding and culture transformation 

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Boosting performance with "Positive Leadership" at Siemens

German manufacturer Siemens has a business mission to embrace innovation and automation. However, the company also believes strong leadership is vital to its success in adopting AI and managing organizational change.

Therefore, Siemens is invested in establishing a "Positive Leadership Culture" to optimize innovation, guide teams and improve organizational performance. Developing leaders with the mindset and skills needed to empower their teams during change lies at the core of this initiative.

To nurture positive leadership, Siemens uses the PERMA framework, which is designed to support leaders' well-being and help them grow: 

• Positive emotions: Increasing positive feelings and having the right mindset as a leader of teams.‍
• Engagement: Fully using one’s skills, attention and strengths when taking on tasks as an individual or a leader.‍
• Relationships: Developing the right connections with people across teams and forging strong bonds.‍
• Meaning: Working towards the company mission while backed by a strong sense of purpose.‍
• Accomplishment: Pursuing achievements and ensuring those of other team members are recognized.

“Positive leadership means optimizing your resources and strengths to improve customer value and business impact.”

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Sylvia Käsler, Organizational Development & Coaching at Siemens

Specifically, the company is training leaders in emotional intelligence, team collaboration, creativity and adaptability. The results take the form of higher productivity across the board. Sales teams in particular have experienced stronger client engagement, greater revenue generation and better retention. 

‍Training 10,000 Siemens employees deepens Generative AI integration

The potential of GenAI to improve business performance is growing rapidly. Siemens, at the forefront of the manufacturing industry, spotted an opportunity to leverage its potential in 2 domains: product portfolio and research and development (R&D). 

However, with time pressure to optimize the technology, integrating GenAI into the product portfolio and factories required a fast, agile solution. Siemens organized 2 bootcamps for 10,000 employees to accelerate GenAI adoption.

For the product teams, the 4-day event focused on creative skills and finding where AI can add value for clients. With roughly 1,600 participants, the first bootcamp was divided into 4 parts: Educate, Problem Solving, Solutions, Way Forward.

AI experts from companies like Microsoft and Sony shared knowledge with attendees, and by the end of the bootcamp, teams had generated over 450 new ideas for using GenAI in the product domain.

The second bootcamp included 9,000 people employed across more than 500 R&D teams. Together, they spurred the creation of Siemens’ GenAI sharepoint, a central knowledge hub containing over 2,000 AI use cases for deepening integration.

How Decathlon’s new employer branding attracts and retains talent

Sporting goods retailer Decathlon has more than 5,500 employees across Germany, and approximately 80% work in storefront settings. Engaging and retaining workers is essential for the company’s success, and it began a mission to transform its employer brand and attract new talent in 2022. 

The core of its employer brand centers on a key concept – Euphoria – that’s designed to excite, strengthen team engagement, boost pride at work and positively impact business performance. 

To start the transformation, Decathlon's people team gathered insights from leaders, analyzed offboardings and studied absence reports, ultimately identifying 3 main points for improvement:

• Processes: Standardizing onboarding across every store, as well as its annual leave and mental health support benefits. Recruitment specialists established a means of testing candidates’ attitudes, passions and behaviors to ensure a strong fit. To help leaders support the right behaviors in their teams, Decathlon also launched monthly conversations centered on career progress and feedback.

• Structures: To transform the employer brand, Decathlon’s people team also had to change. The organization concentrated on developing cross-functional, agile team members and removing silos that created division. The team was also encouraged to prioritize retention, inclusivity and career growth paths for team members.

• Mindset: The company’s people team realized that the biggest barrier to revamping its culture was their ability to create a mindset change. By proactively supporting employees and creating “culture agents” to serve as role models, the new employer branding is reshaping the DNA of Decathlon as a business. 

Continuous people development prepares companies for the future of work

The future of work is rapidly changing and approaching. Organizations that are staying ahead of the curve are identifying the skills their people need and finding agile upskilling solutions. 

That’s why companies like Decathlon and Siemens are focusing on leadership development and upskilling for GenAI. With the right leaders and capabilities in their teams, they’re building high performing and fit-for-future talent that secures their position as market winners, no matter the challenges ahead.