The challenge
The successful growth of the business worldwide and the industry’s increasing demands around sustainability present De Heus with two challenges: how to successfully bring its growing intercultural leadership along; and how to make sustainability an integral part of the way they do business.
The group: 20 executives of 12 nationalities and at least as many assumptions and cultural codes. Two organizations – De Heus and PT IAS – with shared interests and sometimes opposing views – and a business case with enormous potential for positive impact on people and animals.
Our approach
After a few online meetings, an unforgettable journey starts the moment we meet in-person in Jakarta coming from all parts of the world. Away from their everyday environment, meetings and colleagues. In the green interior of Indonesia, we immerse ourselves in a world of personal leadership and sustainable fish farming.
It’s immediately exciting: by expressing prejudices towards each other and sharing personal life stories, we create more understanding and bridge cultural differences. Leadership workshops, personal coaching, knowledge-gathering field visits and working on the business challenge alternate in rapid succession. Tirelessly it seems, because there is something at stake for both De Heus and PT IAS: a successful joint venture for hormone-free fish farming means not only better business, but also healthier food for people and animals.
Under time pressure, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place: on the last day of our 5-day immersive journey, a gripping vision and action plan are presented to stakeholders. Not only is the result solid, but this group of leaders also stand for their shared vision and for each other.
The outcome
A transformed team of strong leaders who know how to bring out the best in each other and navigate between cultural differences. They have played their part in realizing De Heus’ sustainability agenda and contributed to a tangible product.
Wichard Bieze
De Heus
We were looking for a partner that could help us to break out of the mold of doing “more of the same” type of leadership journeys. In Better Future we met a partner that “disrupts” in a positive and meaningful way. During the designing process with Better Future we discovered that we could move the needle on multiple fronts: create lasting impact on our (future) leaders, strengthening (commercial) relations with partners in our value chain, and together building impactful business cases that help us drive our sustainability goals.
What’s the bigger impact?
Connect leadership development to corporate sustainability agenda and show that it can be business successful.
