Results

Costa Coffee – Building a Cohesive Leadership Team

Breakthrough Opportunity:

Now located in 45 countries, with over 2800 UK stores, 1100 international stores, and with over 22,000 employees globally, Costa Coffee is the largest British coffeehouse chain and second in the world. After multiple acquisitions, the company’s leadership has changed many hands. In 2019, after Coca-Cola purchased Costa, the company was projected to see substantial growth. However shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and impacted Costa and the industry greatly. The organisation entered a period of stagnation and whilst the employees had a can-do attitude, and a passion for the product, they were tired. The culture was described by many as fluid and informal. With so much uncertainty, improper prioritisation became a real sticking point that contributed to dissatisfaction and lack of forward movement in reaching organisational goals. With such misalignment, Breakthrough Global was brought in to facilitate this transformation.

Breakthrough approach:

Leveraging our Breakthrough Tools, Phillipe Schailee, CEO, and the Costa Coffee leadership team were able to clarify and align on the shared ambition and strategic direction of the organisation. The next crucial step involved building a comprehensive roadmap and cultivating the right mindset to achieve this.

Our Wave 1 Programme is highly bespoke and tailored for the most senior global leaders from various regions, geographies and functions. Our Leaders Intensive Programme outcomes and agenda were co-designed by Costa’s top leadership team, ensuring that it aligns with the organisation’s strategic priorities. This initiative focused on fostering an environment where they can co-create, provide productive feedback and work effectively as a global and diverse team towards implementation. Building a team of leaders that own its vision, feeling empowered to follow through on the strategy until the end requires cultivating a strong and vibrant culture within Costa.

The Programme builds upon the fundamentals of the Breakthrough Tools, empowering leaders to become more effective communicators and influential advocates for transformation. The key objectives included:

Building a Cohesive Leadership Team: Leaders co-create and own the vision and future of Costa Coffee, feeling fully empowered to deliver the strategy.

Sharpening Focus and Prioritisation: Enhancing awareness and creating new standards for ways of working, including time management, language, energy, and mindset.
Reigniting Passion: Injecting the organisation to reignite the leader’s passion for their work and cascading that sustained energy throughout the organisation.

Our Navigation Check-In Programmes are designed to ensure sustainable and successful business transformation. These sessions aim to build and maintain momentum. Targeting and addressing real-time business challenges and ensuring that the strategic vision remains dynamic and adaptive, enabled Costa Coffee to check in, course correct and stay intentional in sustaining its growth trajectory.Supporting Comex and senior leaders to stay on the ‘New Future’ trajectory and break the patterns of Business-as-Usual.

Breakthrough Result:

With Costa Coffee’s ambitious growth target, they are focused on evolving its existing culture into a larger, more dynamic organisation.

LAUNCHING A REFRESHED PURPOSE AND VALUE

Costa Coffee focused on strengthening its organisational culture and talent pool. The goal was to generate the energy, engagement, and motivation needed to realise the company’s growth ambitions. By refreshing its values and behaviours, Costa sought to cultivate an engaged, energised, and ambitious culture aligned with its strategic objectives.

HELPING THEIR BUSINESS TO GROW

A critical component of this transformation was achieving total clarity of vision among the leadership team. This clear vision was then cascaded throughout the organisation, ensuring every employee was focused on Costa’s ambitious goals. By aligning leadership and maintaining consistent communication, Costa ensured that its ambitious targets were understood and embraced at all levels.

The ultimate aim is to create a transformative movement built for long-term sustainability. Costa hopes to achieve this by deeply embedding new values and behaviours within the organisation. This will ensure that the cultural shift is supporting ongoing success and adaptability in the dynamic coffee market. As we continue to work with Costa Coffee, we will assist in positioning the organisation for sustained growth and continued success in its quest to become a leading player in the global coffee industry.

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