Introduction

AB Vista is a global feed additive business pioneering products and technology in animal nutrition. Since its inception in 2004, AB Vista has become one of the largest suppliers in animal feed. Core values of integrity, collaboration, creativity, passion, and pace are integral to their growing success and impact in the industry. For this fundamental crossover to continue, AB Vista believe that the people behind the product must reflect these ideals to achieve a positive, inclusive, and high-performing business climate. AB Vista wanted this ethos of openness and inclusion to be reflected in the training and development of their leaders, which requires equipping them with aligned skills and knowledge through coaching and training. By having effective and people-centred leaders at the helm, teams will be guided by values-based behaviours that are exampled by their bosses. Through a bespoke Values Based Leadership programme, tailored for AB Vista and held across three months in 2020, TCM’s facilitators instilled that developing a culture driven by positive behaviours calls for integration at multiple levels in the organisation, and starts with leadership.

Targeting Issues

To implement a transformational leadership culture that reflects certain affirmative values, TCM provided strategic direction, a culture blueprint and leadership development through a three-month programme. A nine-question survey amongst employees was first conducted to analyse behaviour, language, and perception within the team, and consequently unearth any underlying issues that were impacting team dynamics and alignment with AB Vista values. From these findings, a three-month training schedule was implemented to track progress and changes in behaviours, attitudes, and concerns. It provided an insight into core competency needs at both individual and team level. The survey discovered that:

• Some employees had a personal experience of exclusion and unconscious bias.
• Two managers lacked awareness surrounding their leadership’s impacts on the team’s interactions and the workplace culture.
• One team member felt that their voice was not being heard and that they were unequipped in tools needed for daily working life.

The challenge was to take existing misaligned behaviours and use organisational mechanisms and professional development to develop leadership, and transition to a transformational culture with high levels of engagement. Focusing on an inclusive mindset would in turn boost performance and wellbeing by promoting mutual support and accountability within team culture. In addition to this, the individual managers and team members undertook one to one coaching to address needs, developing awareness and support.

Making Resolutions

A three-month tailored Values Based Leadership programme was implemented to align team effectiveness and behaviour with inclusive principles of collaboration, integrity, and passion. Five modules were delivered across team and leader levels, conceptualising: These modules worked on driving personal accountability, individual awareness, and a cohesive team brand. The programme goals strove to: Create a positive, respectful, and engaged team culture that enabled a mutually supportive and collaborative approach to teamwork.

• Achieve enhanced levels of wellbeing, inclusion, and diversity, in line with
• AB Vista policy and other parts of the AB Vista organisation.
• Develop leadership capability and accountability for team culture.

This worked in conjunction with AB Vista’s HR strategy: to upskill managers and create an inclusive workplace where employees are encouraged to be their authentic selves.

Impacting Culture

Evaluations were made following each stage of the three-month transformational process. The success of this programme was twofold: impacting the organisation and its people and impacting leadership. Team members reported:

• A greater understanding of diversity and inclusion and their own roles and responsibility in creating a culture where everyone could work to their own strengths.
• They had developed the capability to have confident conversations around performance issues and team conflict, to nip problems in the bud and to manage more entrenched issues.
• They had developed an understanding of their own personality type and how they reacted and interpreted situations differently to others, resulting in them being able to work more comfortably with each other.
• Together, the team created a brand that emphasised the values they stood for as a team. They committed to living the values through the way they behaved and understood they would appreciate each other for doing this.

Leaders reported:

• They developed clarity on their own leadership style and how they could flex different styles to engage team members.
• They could use a more transformational style of leadership to improve team engagement and sustain a positive, high performance culture.
• Enhanced appreciation for the coaching style of leadership, and how they could use this to develop accountability in their team members for problem solving and decision making.
• The importance of being owners of team climate and culture and for being visible champions of change.

Diagnostics were also used to exemplify the real positive change on employee mindset and wellbeing. Employees were given statements at the beginning and end of the programme to track any behaviour changes.

Looking Forward

AB Vista aim to continue this record of sustainable improvement and optimised leadership into the future and further instil a positive team brand and culture into its organisation. Concerns and issues will be dealt with proactively, at early stages, and through a fair and inclusive approach. Company values, particularly of integrity and collaboration, will be continually instilled and upheld across teams and leaders to set the tone for the organisation through a reframed mindset and approach to the workplace environment