Week 1 as CEO For One Month
During these weekly blog posts, instead of talking about the great things I have done every day, I will focus on the biggest experiences, challenges and learnings of the week and what are my goals for the following week.
Biggest Experience
This first week has been full of experiences and I could write a blog post about each individual day! On the first two days I had the pleasure of being invited to join a design thinking workshop. I recently wrote a separate LinkedIn article introducing the importance of design thinking and how it has the ability to change people’s lives, so I won’t spend too much time talking about the methodology. The workshop was set up as a collaborative problem-solving exercise, between Adecco and a large financial organisation – facilitated by John Kembel (member of the d.school at Standford University).
This was an incredible experience because we discussed the latest technologies and how they can be integrated into the future workforce. Studying a Masters Degree in the Management of Information Systems, this was an opportunity to apply the knowledge I gained during my degree (it’s a sign the masters was worth the investment!). The reason this experience belongs right at the top, is because during the collaboration process, it showed that many large institutions face very similar challenges, especially in regards to the future workforce. Therefore the message is; collaboration is key! It was fascinating to realize how serious Adecco as a group take the topic ‘future of work’ and that they understand they are part of a much a broader society, who have to act collectively to move forward.
Biggest Learning/ Realization
Adecco is a very large organization, pushing new innovative ideas of what the future work will look like – hence the workshop. However, it is the current branches that are the engine driving this company. One of the most humbling experiences was visiting Adecco Switzerland branches. In my first week, I was able to visit offices in Basel, Porrentruy and Bulle. I realized that each location had a very different clientele and therefore, each branch operates slightly differently. One of the toughest parts of Nicole’s job is to understand this and help each branch operate to the best of its abilities. Some believe the CEO of a firm makes only high-level decision, however, I’ve quickly learned that Nicole herself gets very involved in micro-decisions and this requires a huge amount of dedication to understand every small aspect that is involved.
I must give a shout out to Maryna Mytrofanova, who works in the Bulle branch. Maryna moved to Switzerland five years ago without speaking a word of French, and has self-taught herself the language. She took me through each steps that are involved when someone is looking for a job through Adecco. This company is where it is today, because of the passion and desire of people like Maryna – I’m very excited to meet more of the Adecco team in the next three weeks!
Biggest Challenge
Before I started my first day, I of course gathered all the possible information that was online of how Adecco Switzerland operates. However, in reality things are much more complex. Understanding the differences between the clientele from Spring Professional, Adia, Badenock & Clark and Adecco Switzerland has been a greater challenge than I originally thought. The best things about challenges, is that they can be overcome. Hence why my main goal next week is to clean up my understanding by visiting Spring, Adia and Badenock & Clark branches next week!
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Luca Feser, Adecco CEO For One Month Switzerland
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