Founded in 1870, Brown-Forman is one of the world’s leading spirits companies, known for its iconic brands, including Jack Daniel’s, Gin Mare, Diplomático rum, Herradura tequila as well as Irish and Scottish whiskies such as Slane and The GlenDronach. Brown-Forman’s portfolio of brands is supported by its 5600 employees working across six continents, with products sold in over 170 countries.
Background
Brown-Forman had previously conducted some one-to-one coaching for their senior leaders across Europe. However, the approach was country-specific, so it wasn’t easy to track, measure, and evaluate what training had taken place.
Recognising the need for a more consistent, cohesive, and effective offering for the business, the company wanted to implement a robust end-to-end coaching process that would provide high-quality coaching across Europe that was both consistent and measurable.
They needed an approach that would allow them to evaluate the status and success of the coaching and gain organisational intelligence that could be used within the wider organisation.
Brown-Forman engaged with TLC to provide this end-to-end pan-European coaching offering.
Solution
TLC and Brown-Forman co-developed a coaching offer for their European senior leaders.
The coaching is designed to help leaders develop the skills, competencies, behaviours, and mindset they need to be effective in their roles.
Results
The coaching has been very successful and has delivered a cultural impact and exceptional commercial benefits to the business. Leaders have been able to place a financial value on the impact of their coaching. Of these, they calculated a combined and positive commercial ROI of 179%, based on the total investment for all coachees.
The feedback received from their leaders has been overwhelmingly positive, with many reporting that it has helped them develop their relationships, improve their performance, and achieve their goals.
The robust evaluation process looked at the impact of the coaching on their relationships with their direct reports, peers, line manager and other key stakeholders, all of which reported a significant improvement (average score 8.5 out of 10). They also reported similar scores for the impact the coaching had on productivity, teamwork, job satisfaction, and engagement.
Andy Constable, VP of Global L&D Brown-Forman says,
“The coaching from TLC has had an incredible impact on our business. Our two organisations share the same values, and TLC takes time to learn about our organisation, people, culture, strategy, and business priorities. They offer a personal touch and an ability to connect and collaborate in a way other organisations don’t. This time spent investing in understanding our organisation has served our relationship well.
The organisational intelligence reports have been a game changer for us and have helped us learn how we are doing as an organisation and where our strengths and opportunities lie. Sharing these insights with key stakeholders has been fantastic because they demonstrate the value the coaching brings to individuals and the organisation and reinforces the importance of our investment.”