case study

Building courageous and purposeful leadership at Lindt UK

How BRIDGE helped Lindt UK's senior leaders turn a new global purpose into courageous, authentic leadership.

Summary

Challenge

Lindt launched an ambitious new global purpose. The Lindt UK business set out to adopt and ‘activate’ the new global purpose and in doing so, use it as a vehicle to enhance leadership capability.

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Solution

Lindt UK and BRIDGE partnered to design a disruptive, 16-week, multi-faceted leadership development programme called Leading With Purpose. The programme helped senior leaders to: 1) define their personal purpose, 2) develop the courage and confidence to lead authentically with purpose and 3) to lead in partnership as a senior leadership community.

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Results

Following the inaugural programme, it has been commissioned a further three times due to its impact and demand. The programme has been transformative for many individuals and has increased levels of engagement, confidence, inclusion and partnership amongst the senior leadership community.

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“Leading with Purpose continues to be a core part of our business strategy. The transformative impact it has on our leaders and our culture keeps us investing in it year after year.”

– Charlotte Moss, Lindt UK People and Culture Director

The challenge

Lindt and Sprungli, a global leader in the premium chocolate category, have been loved by customers for over 175 years. In 2021, they launched a new global purpose statement: We Enchant the World with Chocolate.

Lindt UK wanted an intervention to help senior leaders within the UK business to adopt and ‘activate’ the purpose as they believed that this would enable growth, innovation, engagement and a stronger culture. A secondary driver was to uplift the individual and collective leadership capability and enable leaders to have an impact beyond their role and comfort zone.

The solution

Lindt UK and BRIDGE partnered to create a transformative experience for leaders, the Leading With Purpose programme. The programme focused on helping leaders to define their personal purpose, develop their capacity to be resourceful, lead with courage and authenticity and have the unique opportunity to practice their leadership in a new and unfamiliar context.

A 16-week programme was created covering three phases: Ignite, Develop and Sustain. The blended learning journey comprised: three modular in-person workshops, online learning modules, 360 assessments, three 1-1 coaching calls, a 3-way call involving the manager, journalling and self-led research. Leaders began their journey with deep personal introspection around ‘what I stand for’ and ‘how I resource myself to be at my best’. This continued with building capabilities to lead together in partnership, through a shared purpose and deep trust.

A signature aspect of the programme included a highly immersive ‘intervention’ which involved the leaders collaborating with a charity partner, chosen by Lindt UK, to help them solve a business challenge. At BRIDGE, we believe that leadership is a practice (not a spectator sport) and that leaders learn by doing. This element helped to disrupt individuals’ default ways of thinking and being, required them to practice their new tools, insights and experiments in an unfamiliar context and helped to deepen their sense of personal and collective purpose.

The impact

Following the inaugural programme, Leading With Purpose has been commissioned a further three times due to the impact and subsequent demand. 48 leaders within the senior leadership community have now attended the programme and it’s helped to set a new standard for leadership in the UK business.​

The programme has delivered an uplift in individual and collective leadership confidence and engagement. It has strengthened the culture around inclusion and partnership. More leaders have the courage to bring their true selves to work and also signal this permission to others. This has resulted in more authentic and therefore effective relationships.​

Participants described the programme as unlike any other leadership development they had experienced before.​

  • They described it as going deeper, beyond skill or capability building and beyond how they ‘show up’ at work.​

  • It has had a transformative impact on mindsets and self-awareness as well as personal discovery. For some participants this also resulted in meaningful shifts in their relationships outside of work.​

  • It has helped them to incorporate who they are and what they care about into their leadership, which for many resulted in unlocking their potential and making changes that they had failed to make in the past. ​

  • Altogether, it has helped them to be more courageous in their leadership and take action, rather than wait for permission or for others to take the lead.​

The success of the programme came from the belief and permission from the top leadership team, but also the design and extraordinary coaching and facilitation from the BRIDGE team and Lindt co-facilitator, which created the necessary psychological safety for participants to be honest and vulnerable.​

Average programme experience score:​ 5 out of 5

Average score for how well the programme met learning objectives:​ 4.8 out of 5​

Average rating programme coaching and facilitation:​ 4.9 out of 5​

“Leading with Purpose continues to be a core part of our business strategy. The transformative impact it has on our leaders and our culture keeps us investing in it year after year. Facilitated by a wonderful partnership with BRIDGE and made extra special and impactful by the opportunity to work with community partners to make a meaningful difference.” – Charlotte Moss, Lindt UK People and Culture Director​

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“The experience gave us the time and space to take a step back and think a bit differently. Talking to the Lindt leaders who aren’t in our world and being asked questions was a useful process. As a charity, it’s also built our confidence, given us a platform and reinforced the value of what we do. It exceeded my expectations.” – Hannah Hart, Head of Philanthropy and Partnerships, Crohn’s and Colitis UK​

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