As part of a series of interviews with decision-makers about the strategic priorities of companies and their transformation challenges in an uncertain context, Anne-Claire Moyer, Human Resources and Transformation Director at Mr.Bricolage, gives testimony the agile culture at work in its stores.
Mr. Bricolage is a French chain of large-scale retail specializing in DIY, gardening, decoration, renovation and home and garden design. This group of independent business owners, founded 50 years ago, now has more than 1,000 stores, including its own brands Mr. Bricolage and The Briconauts, mainly in France but also in 11 other countries.
How do you identify the major challenges that Mr. Bricolage must face in the current context?
A-C.M. The context is complex. In the short term, we are continuing the transformation of our organization, which was initiated in 2018 to serve the Group's performance.
We have one Unstable and complex context to be understood, but we consider that they are opportunities to go faster, to gain in relevance in our strategic actions and in effectiveness in operational implementation, since today the competitive world in which we navigate is moving very quickly.
We therefore have several issues related to this context and our transformation:
- The first challenge is The attractiveness, That is, how we accelerate our development and how we retain our network and our employees in a «harsh» environment among the actors. What makes the difference? What is our brand promise? How do we embody this promise on a daily basis and how do we best support our entrepreneurs?
- The second issue is the Relevance of the model, That is, how to propose a good product/price positioning in line with the needs of our customers, who today demand more durability, reparability, and with the right level of service associated. So for a group like Mr.Bricolage, which is made up entirely of member stores, this translates into: Support issues for stores and training for teams in order to develop this service.
- We also have a major challenge in this context of permacrise: it is to’optimizing the structure of our organization to make it as agile as possible, For the benefit of performance and efficiency.
- At Mr.Bricolage, we still have one the issue of authenticity towards our members and our employees, that is, «we say what we do and we do what we say», and we do not commit to promises that we will not be able to keep.
These are our short-term challenges today, in a context of increased concentration of actors, shrinking markets, and a sustained decline in consumption, etc. So we focus on what we are capable of doing internally while studying all the opportunities.
But it is difficult to predict what will happen in the long term, which is why We must be prepared, flexible, and able to change direction quickly. Today, our organization is truly structured in this way; it is solid in its fundamentals to cope with uncertainty.
In short, The whole point is to figure out how to adapt as quickly as possible and with the greatest agility to remain effective in this context. !
Which exogenous factors of change most impact the retail sector and your company?
A-C.M. We are impacted by many factors, since distribution is at the heart of citizens’ lives today, and any change in the context has quite significant repercussions. That is why it is important to Equip yourself with the right tools and the right organization to adapt and integrate these dimensions of uncertainty.
Several exogenous factors affect us:
- climate change, Because our business is linked to the changing seasons. This seasonality has direct effects on store activity. A rainy spring obviously leads to a decline in sales of outdoor products such as barbecues, garden sheds, etc., which are flagship products during this season;
- the economic context also has direct repercussions on the number of people visiting our stores;
- the political context which, in a very concrete way, slows down consumption during election periods, since we know that French people postpone their plans during those times;
- There is also a geopolitical dimension because the international context has important consequences for the logistics chain, such as the events in New Caledonia.
We must therefore work to concentrate our offering locally in France and Europe to mitigate these risks, which are costly for the company.
Another influencing factor is Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotization This is a project that we have embarked on at the heart of our logistics to improve our productivity. This has business and organizational impacts that require in-depth reflection to determine How to get involved in this AI revolution, using the DNA of Mr. Bricolage.
In the face of uncertainty, would you prioritize innovation and transformation or a return to fundamentals?
A-C.M. It’s a bit of both. In the short term, right now, We are strongly strengthening our fundamentals, and we are also developing the maturity of our organization. to gain in solidity.
At Mr.Bricolage, we have a habit of being ingenious, of being resourceful, we Let us study the developments and transformations that we carry out from within, relying on a social body and solid fundamentals.
And then, in the medium term, we obviously study all the developments that could be made to our business model based on the sector, the underlying trends, etc. But all of this is possible only through our foundation in our fundamentals.
How do you ensure that your company remains agile and capable of adapting quickly while preserving its DNA?
A-C.M. In our various strategic plans, we have relied on our employees, on collective intelligence To regularly question the organization, to help it mature so that it remains always «focused» on the effectiveness and performance of the group and our stores.
More specifically, we start with working together the different departments. We also work a lot in communities. We have communities of managers, communities of collaborators, communities on the ground who represent all the forces on the ground (trainers, recruiters, regional managers, developers…) and who work together to achieve performance, loyalty, and the development of our network.
We are also refocusing the directions on them core business, on Efficiency in everyday life, while allowing them to have cross-cutting projects in which our employees can get involved.
We have also empowered each hierarchical level to carry out its mission by being competent, autonomous and responsible. This is a HR standard within our organization.
This is, in short, what allows us to constantly stay agile: we question the organization, we rely on our values and our DNA, which are truly embodied in the employee experience.
It’s extremely strong and we have a lot of feedback from employees, especially as part of the onboarding process, who express this to us: this agility combined with this anchoring on our strengths.
Our approach to deploying agile work modes in the workplace
Could you give us a concrete example of a major transformation underway at Mr.Bricolage?
A-C.M. One can cite, for example, a transformation that relates to Development of the Culture Network.
We experienced a rapid transformation at the headquarters of Mr.Bricolage, but at the level of our store network (for the most part independent entrepreneurs), it was more complex.’to standardize HR and management practices and to integrate CSR dimensions into daily operations.
We have therefore undertaken solid and serious work with our network in order to engage them and align them with their management practices and team dynamics and thus be able to carry a strong employer brand, both nationally and locally.
These transformations are permanent and lasting at Mr. Bricolage. We are used to saying « Retail is all about the details »If it works, we keep it; if the results are not up to expectations, we change, we adapt, we transform, we evolve… We do nothing that is carved in stone.
We are in agility, transformation, and constant construction.
Did you use a particular method to maintain this culture of agility and to move from vision to execution?
A-C.M. It’s quite intuitive for us. At the very beginning, when the CEO entrusted me with the task of transforming the group, I hadn’t yet grasped all the details of the project and I turned to a consulting firm. But the shelf solutions offered were completely out of keeping with Mr. Bricolage’s DNA.
So we decided, after 6 months, to internalize everything and I formed a steering committee with various company functions, including HR functions.
At first, we had Management onboarded which was quite traditional at the time. We proceeded to an accelerated transformation underway to arrive today with new working methods, the management of projects and the evolution of attitudes among all our employees, and Easier transition from vision to execution.
Thus, The vision is translated into actions by the management teams through roadmaps whose duration varies depending on the execution challenges.
For example, the N-1s of Codir will be on roadmaps at 18 months, while their teams will be on roadmaps of 6 to 12 months to be able to close the projects, to mark the trajectories within a strategic plan that, in turn, is carried out over 3 years at Mr.Bricolage.
In the face of change, have you put in place specific support for your teams?
A-C.M. I have put in place the Strategy of pedagogy. At first, we practiced a lot of the « test and learn », with some drawbacks. I recommended that the teams in the transformation steering committee and the HR teams be extremely pedagogical in their approach. to help each of our employees better understand the strategy, especially through examples and real-life situations. That’s also how we managed to get them to get involved in their profession.
We don't make grand speeches, but we provide orientations that are very closely aligned with reality. We hold employees accountable for their daily tasks and they are involved in the structuring projects.
We want to be a store that is not out of touch with the real-world conditions of the teams in the store:
- at the level of the management committee, we are in direct contact with the teams within the framework of working groups and for reflection purposes, and we also have direct contact with our network of members, as they too participate in working groups;
- at the manager level, we have a level of Management training sufficiently high to achieve the right level of strategic thinking and operational implementation to ensure the winning double: strategy and operationalization.
The Codir today is not the only one to carry the Group strategy. We really rely on the The ability of our managers to lead and animate it.
What are the key skills, attitudes, and actions of managers that you prioritize? Have they evolved in the context of transformations?
A-C.M. For a few years now, we have based our HR policy on what is known as the « CAR »: Competence, Autonomy, Responsibility.
Skills are therefore the key to entry To work at Mr.Bricolage, and we expect good levels of skills from our employees as well as our managers. We subsequently develop autonomy and responsibility in order to set the right level of accountability for each mission.
We have a lot of it, in fact. Worked with the managers since 2018 on how they They bring their teams to autonomy and responsibility, Regardless of the status or the scope of the mission within the company.
We have one Itinerary Manager over a year, which develops a number of skills. Among them, we have selected a foundation of 4 or 5 soft skills which we consider essential, but which do not replace the basic skills that remain indispensable.
We have also designed a program focusing on personal development, which can be followed on a voluntary basis.
We have therefore created a working and support environment that promotes success and performance.
In your opinion, what are the essential keys to a successful transformation of the organization?
A-C.M. At Mr.Bricolage, we don't talk about successful transformation because we are in the phase of transformation, permanent evolution and continuous improvement.
When we stop transforming, we miss the train – and there are many trains that are currently passing by – and so if we want to stay in the race, we have to be in a constant state of transformation.
We created a business mindset at Mr.Bricolage, and the integration journey of each employee prepares them to adopt this entrepreneurial mindset, which is a strong component of our entrepreneurial DNA. This translates into a authentic behavior, true speech, good maturity.
At Mr.Bricolage, we are true challengers… and we have a taste for successful projects and challenges to overcome!
Interviews conducted in July 2024 by Cyrille Chaudoit, Co-founder of talenco, on the occasion of a White paper on the levers for transforming companies in uncertainty. A big thank you to Anne-Claire for her testimony!
10 testimonies from leaders
