EHL
Summary
CAPRESE designed and delivered a strategy retreat for the management team of world’s oldest hotel school, helping them to establish a culture of confidence for the future.
Client Context
When a new president arrived to take the helm of the prestigious Ecole Hotelière Lausanne (EHL), he found a dysfunctional management team and a hotel school that seemed to have lost its way and more worryingly lost the support of its key stakeholders in the Swiss economy. With little to lose and everything to gain, a strategy retreat was organised and CAPRESE was invited to facilitate the one-day meeting, which was to be conducted in French and English.
CAPRESE Approach
After several interviews with individual members of the management team CAPRESE designed a workshop format, mainly based on standard by LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) elements, that would explore the past to uncover the tacit corporate culture that no doubt lay dormant in the collective consciousness of the participants. This process would also provide an opportunity to revisit any particularly severe events from the past that undermined the morale of hotel school’s leadership. An interactive session on the Johari window provided additional opportunities for the team members to get to know and appreciate each other in new ways. The final session of the day was to establish simple guiding principles that would support the decision-making process in the future.
Results
The process of revisiting the past served its purpose. Secrets were disclosed; villains were now appreciated as heroes and mutual enemies became friends. By the end of a long day, a charter was drawn up, to which all participants were signatories, to serve as the basis for the future governance of the school.
Conclusion
LSP demonstrated its power to explore complex situations in depth and create an environment in which participants feel safe to disclose their deepest concerns and create mutual trust and respect.
Key words
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®; LSP; strategy; leadership; identity; team-building; hospitality