How CfL has advised Dagrofa
By freelance journalist Henrik Nordskilde, updated March 2020
Do you have your head in the game, or is there too much heart in your behavior? And how are your feet doing? These are questions that leaders and employees at Dagrofa should ask themselves – as part of an increased focus on which behavior both drives growth and supports a healthy culture.
The grocery group Dagrofa sought help from CfL to clarify what constitutes good leadership – and, not least, what defines good behavior at Dagrofa.
Dagrofa wanted to be better at talking about leadership and behavior with its managers – and in general, to talk more about behavior with all employees, says Mogens Fog, Director of Consulting at CfL (Mogens Fog left CfL at the end of 2019, editor’s note).
He stresses that the right behavior is crucial to creating a culture that, in turn, can generate growth.
Everyone can create a strategy, but that does not provide a competitive advantage these days. It is competencies and the way you lead your business that matter.
Dagrofa employs approximately 3,600 full‐time staff and generates a turnover of 17 billion DKK across its three business areas – retail, logistics, and foodservice. The top management had three requirements for how their performance management model should function in the future:
The first step was for top management to discuss what good leadership at Dagrofa means.
It was also about what you do not do if you are a good leader at dagrofa. It is also important to talk about what to eliminate – otherwise you might as well throw every statement about good leadership into a bucket and just write “dagrofa” on it, explains Mogens Fog.
CfL and DDagrofa employs approximately 3,600 full‐time staff and generates a turnover of 17 billion DKK across its three business areas – retail, logistics, and foodservice. The top management had three requirements for how their performance management model should function in the future:
The first step was for top management to discuss what good leadership at Dagrofa means.
It was also about what you do not do if you are a good leader at dagrofa. It is also important to talk about what to eliminate – otherwise you might as well throw every statement about good leadership into a bucket and just write “dagrofa” on it, explains Mogens Fog.agrofa then arranged workshops for top management and other leaders within the company. The result was a model for both leaders and employees, in which behavior is divided into three parts: head, heart, and feet. The three must be in the right balance to achieve the desired behavior. The model was developed by the HR and consulting firm Garuda.
For leaders, the “head” relates to developing the business, making plans, and being curious about new opportunities. The “heart” is about engaging one’s team, developing oneself and others, and giving feedback, while the “feet” focus on delivering results, setting goals, and maintaining momentum.
This means that a leader might be told, for example: “Your leadership profile shows that you have a strong head, a slightly weaker heart, and very small feet – so perhaps you need to work on engaging your team more, and you must also execute by putting your feet into it using some of the initiatives described under that part of the model.”
It provided an intuitive language that everyone can remember – “head, heart, and feet.” And because leaders are also measured on behavior, it is easier to point out if a leader, for example, achieves good results but scores low on behavior. Perhaps a leader delivers good outcomes but should reach them in a different way because the employees are being worn out,” explains Mogens Fog.
Desirée Breel, HR Business Manager at Dagrofa, explains the collaboration with CfL:
“There was no proper coherence in our performance management because we saw that many in the organization displayed good growth behavior, but we did not have the same growth on the bottom line. Dagrofa needed some inspiration from outside, so we reached out to CfL.
“The collaboration was beneficial for several reasons. We had the opportunity to review what had worked before, and we looked ahead to define what we want. We were challenged on several points: What is good leadership? How should we measure it? Should we even have performance management? In that way, management was well shaken up, and we quickly set a direction for what we should do.”
The feedback received from the organization is that it makes very good sense to talk about head, heart, and feet. Often it can be difficult to talk about growth – for example, for employees in an IT support department or in administration – but now everyone can understand it because it is concrete. It might mean that you need to give feedback, understand the customer, be a good colleague, and execute.
It has also been used when hiring a leader at a high level. We had difficulty choosing, but ultimately made a decision based on whether we needed more head, heart, or feet.
Specifically, the bonus for leaders is now dependent on how they score on behavior – not just on results – as feedback is given four times a year to both leaders and employees about the balance between the three “body parts.” And it should resonate in daily behavior, so that the culture is characterized by increased dialogue and feedback.
"Now leaders at Dagrofa have a conversation about their leadership behavior, and employees about their own behavior. This gives a competitive advantage in the market because it is about attracting, retaining, and developing competencies – and that is done by having the right behavior. If you only praise results and the bottom line, it may work in the short term, but not in the long term," says Mogens Fog.
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