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Heineken Africa
Building strategic alignment through dialogue across Managing Directors.
About the client
Heineken Africa brought together Managing Directors from several operating companies across the continent for a three-day strategic dialogue in Rwanda, facilitated using the Kgotla method.
Business challenge
- Disconnected strategic thinking across operating companies
- Insufficient engagement between MDs and the wider organisation
- Leadership seen by many employees as expatriate management that “comes and goes”
- Weak organisational dialogue, with strategy planning that didn’t spark creative thinking
- A need for cross-country learning between OpCos facing similar challenges
The Kgotla® Intervention
- Peer-to-peer coaching between MDs, a method first practiced at the 2016 Heineken Leadership Campus at Harvard
- On-the-ground listening sessions with packaging and maintenance team leaders at Bralirwa’s Kigali soft drinks plant
- The “Power of the Boat Metaphor” exercise — each MD hand-drew how their local business was sailing
- Metaphorical thinking and drawing sessions, led by artist Klaus Elle, to surface tensions data alone couldn’t show
- A visit to a Rwandan agricultural site as a live case study in local sourcing and sustainability
Facts and Figures
- Duration:
- 3 days
- Location:
- Kigali and rural Rwanda
- Participants:
- 6 Managing Directors + Bralirwa management and team leaders
- Format:
- Strategic offsite + on-site dialogue with frontline teams
Decisions and Achievements
- MDs committed to concrete leadership behaviours: deeper team engagement, more listening, more empowerment
- The peer-coaching and Boat Metaphor methods were taken back and rolled out in local markets, including Mozambique
- Frontline team leaders reported feeling heard and mentored by senior leadership, several for the first time
- A stronger, shared understanding of how local culture shapes leadership across African operating companies
SUCCESS STORIES
“Martijn showed us the Kgotla concept, as an example of participative leadership, deeply rooted in African tribal tradition.”
“The Kgotla® process gave us clarity about the future, better understanding about our company and a calmness about the destiny of everyone involved.”
“Kgotla interventions prepared the employees for large scale change and changing the banking game. At the same time many decisions were taken based on the wisdom of the 550 employees.”
“The Kgotla is a perfect way to bridge large differences of opinion and listen to everyone’s ideas.”
“A working environment which represents who we are and where we are.”
