The client
Who Coface is and what its Mediterranean & Africa region covers, from Italy to South Africa
Coface is a multinational in credit insurance and business information services, with around 5,000 employees worldwide. Its headquarters is in Paris, with US ownership, and the organisation is structured in geographic regions.
One of those regions is Mediterranean & Africa, which covers Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, the Middle East (the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman), Egypt, Israel, Turkey and South Africa. Coface describes it as a wide, culturally varied area where daily operations call for international coordination.
Davide Saini, International HR Business Partner at Coface, and Agathe Vinter, HR Generalist in Mediterranean & Africa Region at Coface, spoke about the programme with Wibo.
The challenge
Why working together across countries, cultures and seniority levels was never a given at Coface
Coface had to make sure that communication and cross-cultural collaboration worked across a Mediterranean & Africa population that spanned several countries and several levels, from junior roles to very senior figures. Differences in responsibility, age and geography meant collaboration was far from automatic.
With cultures, languages and levels of responsibility so different, the risk for Coface was fragmentation and weaker collaboration between teams in different regions.
Le differenze culturali e di seniority erano un ostacolo: ora sono un’opportunità per crescere insieme
[Cultural and seniority differences used to be an obstacle: now they are an opportunity to grow together]
CofaceThe programme
How Wibo put Coface bosses and direct reports in one intercultural leadership programme
Coface chose Wibo for a programme that would bring people from different countries and levels into one safe space for discussion, focused on cross-cultural communication and collaboration, with a trainer’s support. The group worked on the concepts behind multicultural collaboration and discovered tools and strategies for handling these dynamics.
Wibo’s format for Coface used continuous interaction, Q&A and exercises, which kept attention high. The presence of top executives brought concrete, comparable examples, and that made the programme easier to explain inside the company.
At Coface, bosses and their direct reports took the programme in the same class, and it worked. Senior leaders openly shared their own difficulties, and that built mutual trust and peer learning.
The impact
What changed at Coface after the intercultural leadership programme, with an NPS of 82
Coface participants rated the programme with Wibo 9.1 out of 10 for expectations met and 9.0 out of 10 for usefulness, with an NPS of 82 on a scale from -100 to +100. The first effect was greater awareness of multicultural dynamics, and more ease in discussing real problems.
At Coface the idea that difficulties exist at every level lowered psychological barriers and led to a more practical approach to collaboration. The outside experts’ suggestions stuck, and became tools participants still use in their daily work.
The programme gave Coface a structured space for discussion, something companies often lack. Sharing common challenges, even between people at different levels, strengthened the sense of community and belonging to the team, and the feeling of having a place to reflect together lasted over time.
Le differenze culturali e di seniority erano un ostacolo: ora sono un’opportunità per crescere insieme
[Cultural and seniority differences used to be an obstacle: now they are an opportunity to grow together]
L’intervento dell’executive è stato ricco di spunti e di esperienze interessanti. Anche ascoltare le sfide degli altri colleghi è stato molto stimolante.
[The executive’s talk was full of ideas and interesting experiences. Listening to the challenges of other colleagues was also very stimulating.]
La comunicazione è la chiave per superare le difficoltà in contesti multilingue.
[Communication is the key to overcoming difficulties in multilingual settings.]
