What was your biggest challenge with this Feedback training?

One of our major topics in Talent Development is the monitoring and support of individual performance. First of all, at the level of the team member, but also at the level of the entire organization. Our objective is to be able, within Decathlon Digital, to support all our teammates in their individual development, while taking into account the global evolution of the company.

Our challenge with the NUMA training was to train 300 employees in feedback, firstly in the context of the major events of the year (annual and mid-year interviews), but also to move towards the practice of continuous feedback. We're not starting from scratch with feedback, but since we've been experiencing a hyper-growth phase in our workforce for several years, we needed everyone to have a sufficient level of information and training. Our vision of success is to see the practice of continuous feedback develop within all our teams.

What specific needs of your company did it address?

Our challenge was twofold: 

1/ Train 300 people in a short period of time (one month), so that our teammates can follow this training before the launch of the annual interviews.

2/ In general: to enable and professionalize the practice of feedback within our branch.

What are the particularities of your company's culture, and how has NUMA managed to adapt to it?

There are a lot of cross-functional projects at Decathlon, and the "classic" feedback between manager and employee is no longer enough to fully support an employee's overall performance. We have individual development meetings every month at Decathlon. At these times in particular, it is interesting to be able to feed the discussion with feedback from peers. We needed to set up a training program and a method that could be used on a daily basis. With the right method and our HRIS, we are increasingly able to do this on an ongoing basis!

At Decathlon, feedback is not new. We have internal trainers on the subject and tools that allow us to ask for and give feedback. The challenge was to : 

• Ensure that all our teammates are comfortable with feedback 
• Ensure they all have the same level of maturity on the subject 
• Reinforce the practice of feedback
• Link feedback to individual development issues, so that it is useful and meaningful.

What made the difference in choosing NUMA as a partner? 

We trained 300 people in one month. Without outsourcing our training, we wouldn't have had this agility and strike force. Even though we have in-house resources, on this particular subject and in a limited time, we did not have the capacity to train everyone. Being accompanied by professionals was also a guarantee of the quality of the content and the harmonization of the learning process. 

We immediately had a very good contact with the NUMA teams. We felt a real interest in our needs, our expectations, a lot of questioning and discovery. It was great to feel curiosity rather than a desire to sell at all costs. Even though we had an important objective and an ambitious schedule, we were still demanding about the chosen solution. 

What did you enjoy most about working with the NUMA team? 

First of all, we really liked the workshop format (2 hours online with 12 participants) because it was for us the right balance between a simple format and the ability to make it evolve to adapt to our specificities. And this even during the course of the workshop, thanks in particular to the real-time follow-up of the participants' satisfaction.

In terms of educational content, we wanted something actionable, with an emphasis on method and practice. With NUMA it's simple, practice is at the heart of the approach!

What population was involved in the training?

As part of our test on the first 300 team members, we chose 2 business units to have a representative range of professions, levels of experience and seniority etc. 

Within the cohorts, we chose to mix the groups. In retrospect, I think that this mix allowed us to enrich the learning experience, keeping in mind that on a subject such as feedback, knowledge sometimes varies greatly from one person to another; and it is perhaps this reading grid that we must have if we wish to create groups of levels.

What was the most important aspect of the program for your employees? 

Participants first appreciated the pace of these 2-hour sessions: balance between method and cases, quality speakers, interactive and engaging sessions. The very concrete aspect gives them the feeling of being ready and comfortable to give and ask for feedback because they are equipped with the right tools when they leave the workshop.

Did you achieve your goals with this training?

It's a little early to say for sure, at least in terms of the objective of installing feedback over time. In view of the annual interviews that took place between December and January, I am very confident that the training will be effective. Our feedback tool, which is activated for those who have taken the training, has been running very well since then, with more than 1,100 feedbacks already given!

What are your priorities in terms of talent development and how do you plan to address them?

As is often the case at the beginning of the year, we have many training topics identified, which we are in the process of prioritizing: diversity and inclusion, English, leadership, but also business topics... As far as feedback is concerned, the objective is of course to deploy this training to our 1500 employees at Decathlon Digital.