A star is Björn. Björn Gulden, the CEO of Adidas, made headlines last week when he announced that he had given his personal telephone number to all of his 60,000 employees. He sought their feedback, opinions and recommendations on improvements to be made in the management of the company. According to him, this discovery partly allowed Adidas to return to the upward trend in 2024. So, a genius idea to apply in all the companies or just a publicity stunt?
Cultural differences making it unrealistic
On a cultural level, it is not certain that the graft will take hold on the French job market. Björn Gulden’s managerial philosophy is part of a very Anglo-Saxon vision of hierarchy: “In France, we have a perception of the manager that is quite old school and vertical. You just have to see the reversal on teleworking since the end of the Covid crisis,” indicates Arnaud Robert, founder of RGPD-Experts, company specializing in data protection support and training. This idea of cultural difference is shared by Jean-Christophe Villette, general director of the consulting firm Ekilibre : “We still come from a more cautious tradition when it comes to mixing private and professional contact details. »
This mobilization of staff’s personal data can lead to numerous abuses that Jean-Christophe Villette points out: “The employee’s comments must not be boomeranged back to penalize him or he must be subjected to an obligation to collaborate” . But beyond these cultural considerations, this announcement is less innovative than it seems.
Behind this supposedly revolutionary management, a nice communication stunt
Because yes, this management and its flashy side remain above all a communication operation: “It is certain that it is a move to create a buzz. Behind these words from the general director of Adidas, we must question the concrete methods of implementing this measure and the way in which employees were informed of it,” explains Arnaud Robert. This statement is making noise because it is unprecedented for firms of this scale. But according to Jean-Christophe Villette, the fact is much more common than this announcement suggests: “In large companies, this is very new. In fact, it exists in almost all small and medium-sized businesses. It is an initiative that can be positive if it is done as “The great dialogue” that La Poste undertook between its managers and all postal workers so that they can share their complaints and suggestions.
This accessibility is symbolic. But through this announcement, Adidas wants to activate a rapid lever for transforming its organization: “It’s an opportunity to relieve people’s inhibitions so that they can identify problems. But we need a guarantee that they are heard,” explains Jean-Christophe Villette. For the moment, this method therefore seems difficult to apply within our borders: the 06 of the CEO of 20 minutes for all its employees, that is not for tomorrow.