Increasing ROI and embedding critical leadership skills with Chivas Brothers and Hive Learning

“Hive Learning elevated our learning solutions with bitesize material which was relevant, varied and interesting to people, prompting great discussion between actual training sessions. Now it’s not just learning – it’s now a way of working, giving us a platform for that group of managers to become a sounding board for the executive team to launch new initiatives in an inclusive, iterative and agile way. We’ve now got some interesting shift in leadership behaviours that we’ve noticed are very promising,  it’s a perfect blend for our convivial environment.” 

Stephane Dehlinger, HR Director, Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard)

Overview

Chivas Brothers is the Scotch whisky arm of the Pernod Ricard group – the world’s No. 2 producer in wines and spirits and owner of an award-winning portfolio of iconic brands such as Chivas Regal, Ballantine’s, The Glenlivet and Royal Salute. 

Chivas Brothers is a leading employer in Scotland working across 29 sites and 300 bonded warehouses, united through their values – be open, bold and united – which is a key driver of the company’s success.

As the world of work changes, Chivas Brothers invested in its leaders to ensure they have the skills needed to succeed in the future. Getting this right was critical for the business to minimalise the skills gap within their leadership team, whilst ensuring a continuous learning experience that is embedded in the business. 

Chivas Brothers partnered with Hive Learning to deliver a tailored learning program, combining face-to-face training with immersive features, personalised guidance and targeted nudges to engage leaders in between sessions, encouraging continuous learning, discussion and action.

Goals of the programme: 

• Embedding continuous learning habits, ensuring these become an effortless part of employees’ daily routines
• Create a programme which requires less than 20 minutes per week of learning; both effective and efficient 
• Actionable learning focus which drive accountability
• Create a learning programme accessible and relevant to a diverse and distributed workforce across offices, distilleries and factories

The impact

In October 2021, we launched together as one team, with an internal webinar for learners introducing them to ‘Managers as Leaders’. Within 1 week, almost a quarter of participants shared what they were excited about and which skills they were craving to learn the most.

Their unique approach helped them deliver learning in an effective and efficient way – overcoming the forgetting curve, with leaders engaging with critical learning every 10 days resulting in clear shifts in leadership attitudes, knowledge and action. As well as a 24% increase in being comfortable giving constructive feedback and an 18% increase in knowing what motivates their team.

With 80% of the leadership population engaged monthly, more than a third were able to share their reflections and make cross functional connections, such as a leader from marketing and product’s cross-collaboration brought shared understanding and in turn efficiencies. 

Learners were able to digest learning within their own time with the online pre and post workshop content – this enabled leaders to sustain learning as it would be reinforced across multiple touch points. 

This also increased the value of face-to-face sessions, as the discussion now centred on how to implement learning into the business and was more action-focused. 

This resulted in a more efficient learning experience, as facilitators could make the best use of session time and learners could plan into their busy schedules and they knew learners were absorbing and practising new behaviours – rather than forgetting about them the moment they left the classroom.

 Overall, the programme helped Chivas Brothers to: 

• Increase leaders’ confidence in their ability to share constructive feedback
• Improve leaders’ understanding of what motivates their team 
• Creates a community of leaders who are committed to continuous learnings 
• Enable leaders to retain knowledge and apply it to their work efficiently and effectively 

Future-Ready Leaders 

To continue embedding learning the same group of managers will be going through the second wave of the programme ‘Managers as Leaders 2.0’.

Due to the success of Managers as Leaders, we’re now looking to continue to test and learn how bespoke and blended learning is best implemented at Chivas Brothers and potentially other parts of the Pernod Ricard Group. 

The HRLT have recognised the power of having a community of managers that have built the habit of sharing reflections. The group now forms an important test layer for business strategy changes, and the roll out of a new set of priorities.