Leadership McSkills: Developing a Leadership Culture

Develop leadership skills and team management to foster intra and interdepartmental synergies.

THE CUSTOMER: McDonald’s Portugal

THE CHALLENGE

Empower McDonald’s Portugal department managers with know-how and tools for Excellence in Leadership, aligned with the company’s strategic vision for HR development.

THE OUTCOME

Greater leadership capacity, better flow in work processes and improved intra and inter departmental communication.

The fast food service has revolutionized the catering industry. The prepared meals and served in a short time concept has increasingly and rapidly evolved due to the widespread acceptance of the consumer. Several brands integrate this sector and every day they work towards differentiating and increasing the quality of products offered to the consumer.

Present in 119 countries with more than 33.000 restaurants, McDonald’s employs more than one million people worldwide. The brand arrived in Portugal in 1991, had a successful implementation and became the icon of this sector. It currently employs around 7,000 people and has 160 restaurants spread across the country. McDonald’s Portugal assumes as one of its core values the pursuit of continuous improvement having already been considered one of the best companies to develop leaders and, on several occasions, one of the best companies to work for in Portugal.

In 2015, with almost 25 years in the Portuguese market, McDonald’s had a team of experienced managers with high technical competence. In order to strengthen their performance and to guarantee the alignment of their practices with the vision of the company, there was a need to develop their leadership and team management skills. Consulting House, with its proprietary methodologies for effective leadership development, validated by the success of previous implementations with this client, was the partner of choice of McDonald’s Portugal.

“It is a program that accompanies each manager’s daily life and in a very practical way reinforces what the leader of the future should be. The results were very visible, and the managers were able to reinforce their credibility with their teams. ”

SOFIA MENDOÇA, DRH, MCDONALD’S PORTUGAL

Leading teams is a complex, demanding and meticulous task that requires the integration of different competencies. Consulting House proposed to McDonald’s the implementation of a leadership program – Leadership McSkills – that comprised several interventions in key-areas of Leadership Excellence.

Being close to McDonald’s strategic vision was essential for understanding the needs and adjusting the solution. The research and design consulting work allowed this goal to be achieved in an aligned way with the Human Resources Department and the targeted audience.

At Consulting House we understand that team management and leadership processes are closely related, although they require different approaches and cognitive resources. That is why Leadership McSkills has integrated not only the competencies needed for effective team management, but also those that allow for an inspiring and influential leadership fostering synergies between people and departments. In a first instance, topics such as communication, situational leadership, motivation, team development were worked on and, in a second phase, participants implemented the leadership processes based on Consulting House’s proprietary Strategic Leadership Development model.

Time and training are crucial factors in establishing behaviour change. That is why we stood by each leader not only supporting them in the implementation of the acquired competences but also participating in the evaluation of their effectiveness and promoting, whenever necessary, adjustments that allow to exploit the maximum potential of each one.

The intervention had an immediate impact; not only with the participants, but also with those who collaborate and interact with them. Evidence of that has been reported: increased interaction between managers of the different departments, more open and assertive communication, greater satisfaction and greater competence and self-assurance in leadership.

In Sofia Mendoça´s words, Director of Human Resources at McDonald’s Portugal, Leadership McSkills “marked a defining moment in the evolution of the leadership skills of our management team. With an objective and simple approach, it has provided our leaders the growth they needed to apply innovative solutions to the new situations they face on a daily basis. It is a program that accompanies each manager’s daily life and in a very practical way reinforces what the leader of the future should be. The results were very visible, and the managers were able to reinforce their credibility with their teams. ”

Since leadership and team management are transversal competences to all functions, the success of the intervention led to its extension to other teams of McDonald’s Portugal.