Learning to be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Sanda Parezanovic, Chief People and Culture Officer, Coca-Cola HBC

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”, Alvin Toffler, the well-known futurist said a long time ago. In today's world, where our environment is rapidly changing, his observation couldn't be more accurate. Now more than ever, we need to be able to shift our thinking in response to change. However, what sounds simple is not always easy - in a company such as ours, with 36,000 employees, in 29 diverse markets - that’s a big challenge.

Here are some of the lessons we learned, unlearned and relearned which have helped us to drive high engagement, and with that, the high performance of our company.

Ask and act on the answers

Don’t assume, ask! Our people told us what is most important to them when it comes to engagement. Our last survey at the end of 2021 highlighted three key drivers of engagement within Coca-Cola HBC - a high impact learning culture, meaningful and empowering work and a positive work environment.  So, we knew where to start and what our priorities are. But we also learned throughout the process that listening is important.Technology  helps us to scale how we receive feedback through surveys, and data-driven insights are invaluable to understand the reality. However, we had to unlearn the "want to do it all" approach and relearned how to prioritise, focus, and act quickly upon feedback that we received.

Make learning accessible to everyone

Last year, we accelerated the shift to digital learning, with further investments in experience learning platforms. This proved to be a great move. Now, because of our focus on self-directed dynamic learning, everyone can learn at their own pace, and our people recogniseand appreciate this. On the other hand, we also nurtured other learning opportunities such as LearnFest, a virtual learning event that gathered 6,000 employees and more than 40  external and internal speakers who shared  their inspirational stories over 8 days.

Changing culture one story at a time

We believe that everyonein our companyhas a story to tell. And if each  story helps just one person, that’s already a huge impact. In that way, we like to say that we are transforming ourselves one story at a time. That's why storytelling is at the heart of what we drive.“Red Talks” is our storytelling platform through which our stories  become an inspiration for others. This allows them to learn, understand and relate, while we  present a different, more human side of ourselves. Every day, each and every one of us has good and bad moments, we succeed, we fail and learn from failures. “Red Talks” help us to build a culture where we feel comfortable bringing our true selves and sharing what we have learned, unlearned and relearned on our path to growth.

"people appreciate meaningful work - being involved, not just informed, and having the power to make their own decisions"

We are all here for our customers

Our vision is to be the leading 24/7 beverage partner – growing with our customers by ensuring we have a beverage for every occasion around the clock. To deliver that, every function in the company has to  support our sales force to serve our customers.

We developed “Sales Academy”, our flagship programme, which provides continuous, blended,  learning experiences for new joiners and existing Sales employees on business and commercial knowledge, leadership skills and mindset components. Based on the latest market needs,Sales Academy is designed to give them the best-in-class capability support. The curriculum is open not just for our sales colleagues, but to every employee in the company, so they can expand their commercial knowledge and strenghtenfurther customer centricity in the organisation.

Show, don’t tell

People appreciate meaningful work - being involved, not just informed, and having the power to make their own decisions. That’s why we are focused on increasing the capabilities of our managers, so that they can successfuly lead by example, serve their teams, take feedback and integrate it into their work, and  make sure everyone’s voice is heard.

Bring all perspectives to the table

Diversity fosters more engagement, brings innovation and offers great opportunities to learn. In 2018, we committed to having 50% of our manager positions held by women by 2025 and today we are at 39% - so some progress, but a way to go. Ourbelief in diversity, equity, and inclusion runs throughout our organisation, and we will continue our progress in this area.And through our“This is me”app and “Coffee Corner” online events, we encourage people to revealtheir true selves – their interests, hobbies, andpassions. Among us there are people who pursue their interest in music, art, sports and travel, and that diversity of thought and those different experiences help us to rethink, innovate and change.

Keep it simple

Last, but maybe  most important, we should find a way to work smarter, prioritise heavily and beat perfectionism. Simple as that!

Each and every lesson teaches us that we should challenge ourselves every single day and not rely on old ways of doing things. Every day we should ask ourselves - what didI learn today, and what do I need to unlearn and relearn?Our results show that we are on the right track - our overall engagement score remains high, at 88%, which has maintained 2020’s high level. This does not mean that we take it for granted, and we continue tolearn a lot of lessons along the way. It's an uncomfortable but exciting journey. And we should unlearn to expect comfort and relearn to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

 

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