Sodexo Chief Emphasizes Innovation

LES ECHOS, April 25, 2008 - The headquarters of Issy-les-Moulineaux still smells new.  Bay windows, refined decor, all the world's continents represented on the walls as well as famous quotations (Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Marie Curie...), brightly colored common gathering spaces.   Sodexo - the specialist in quality of life - wants to show it has opted for transparency and mobility in its daily workplace.   At the end of March, it turned out the light on the old-fashioned architecture of Montigny-le-Bretonneux, its headquarters of thirty years. To encourage more fluid exchange, the services company, created in Marseilles in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, (who also is the current Board of Directors chairman), also wanted to abolish all doors, including those to the office of Michel Landel, CEO since September 2005.  A leader, who defines his role as a guide, shared his views with LesEchos on management, focused innovation and diversity.  

Consistency and direction
"Managing a company means being constantly faced with contradictions.  To succeed, it must be absolutely clear in terms of consistency and direction.   These are two elements that seem to me to be essential in management.

The company only works if the people who work for it understand what they have to do.  It is why the strategy must be clear, explained and repeated continuously.  We must carry out regular assessments, check that the messages are not contradictory, explain changes ...

Communication has become even more important as the world becomes more complex, and underlines the need for explanations.  

Complexity
Complexity is a daily hazard.  How does one make an international Group like Sodexo, present in 80 countries and on 30,000 sites with 350,000 employees from 130 different cultures, a simple operation? The only way is to be highly decentralized, to fight tirelessly against bureaucracy and, in particular, remain steadfastly close to the client ...  We must simplify at all costs.  

Innovation
Innovation is a necessity.  There are two imperatives for the company: put the client at the center of its concerns and create a climate of permanent self-examination.

It is also a question of attitude because, at Sodexo, innovation comes mainly from the field.

97% of employees are in direct daily contact with our clients and customers.  We need people who are capable of fully understanding our clients and customers.  People who are both flexible and rigorous, humble, with a great capacity to listen and with a certain force of character: this is an example of what I mean by the management of contradictions.

The ideal is to give space to everyone and create a mindset that allows employees to express their potential through autonomy and the development internally of an entrepreneurial spirit.

To sensitize my executive committee to openness and innovation, we spent a week in February in the USA, visiting different groups at the forefront on issues that are key for us (leveraging the brand, innovation, "knowledge management", etc.), to analyze the ingredients of their success and stimulate our thinking.  

Individual development
Sodexo hires many young people - often unskilled - for very operational, sometimes undervalued occupations, which require a high level of presence and, even, passion.  This is who the company looks for, individuals with this willingness, respectful of its values.  In addition to satisfying its clients and sharehoders, Sodexo is also a place for developing people, as it improves the quality of life (via its intervention in hospitals or in retirement homes, for example).  

But employees - young people in particular - will only share the values of the company if they see in front of them a company and leaders who demonstrate those values through example.  Certainly, leaders cannot ask their subordinates to do what they are unable to live up to themselves.  It is a form of discipline.  

Risks 
In a decentralized company like ours, there are risks.  Material decisions are reached through a good mastery of stress and clarity of judgment.  However, it is possible to be wrong.  And, in terms of human resources, this can have consequences in a sector such as services that depends on the behavior of people.  That is why we put such as emphasis on internal promotion.  My main obsession is not to put an employee- and therefore a client - in danger.  

Facilitators 
The role of consultants in business is important and necessary in helping us come up with new ideas.  In contrast, truly innovative solutions are often the result of teamwork between them and us.  Anyway, it's better not to overuse their services and, most importantly, under no circumstances let them make decisions for us.  

The practice of management 
I have read many books on management, but I have a conviction:  management is lived every day.  In my view, it is neither a science nor a great theory, but rather it is a practice.

Today, many leaders promote a participatory style and rely on the strength of teams.  Inevitably, every organization is made up of both leadership and the opportunities provided for teams to participate and develop.  

Meetings with employees
Every two months or so, I hold direct meetings with employees at the headquarters, regardless of their place in the organization.  Anyone can sign up to meet with me and discuss openly daily life in the company, their concerns, strategy, etc.  These exchanges are important for them - it helps them, I think, better connect to their daily work - but also for me - it allows me to better understand the general climate of the company.  It is also sometimes a real source of innovative ideas.  

Diversity 
The world is nothing but immigration, migration, exchange and diversity.  In such a maelstrom, there is an abundance of talent.  One talks about a talent war, but it is a war that can be won! And not just with money but also through consideration, sensitivity and respect for differences.  In this context, in early 2006, I appointed a director of diversity at the international Group level, a woman of Indian origin.  She reports directly to me and has a team and a budget for advancing diversity as a priority throughout our organization.

Respect for difference is in the DNA of Sodexo.  This is also reflected in the composition of the 10-person Executive Committee which includes 3 women and 5 non-French members.

To move forward on the path of diversity, we must set objectives and measure them.  It is an area where I think we have to force change.  Setting quotas could be one way to achieve it."