Bühler celebrates industry honours for key learning and development initiative
The Swiss-headquartered Bühler Group, in collaboration with the IMD International Institute for Management Development, has gained a Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal Excellence Award in Learning and Development, category Best Team Development Programme.
As the company explained, the accolade was gained for the company’s high performance teams programme, which is part of its broader strategic goals that symbolise its values of Trust, Ownership and Passion within its leadership and employee base.
Developed in partnership with IMD, the renowned Swiss academic institute, the program was implemented between 2020 and 2023 to empower Bühler’s top 140 executives and cascade high-performance team practices to over 1,000 leaders throughout the organisation.
The programme developed at Bühler featured a multi-phase learning experience for the top managers, which included pre-work, a four-day residential program in Lausanne, individualised coaching, and follow-up seminars. It was structured around a research-based four-step model to enhance team effectiveness. Building on this foundation, Bühler and IMD designed a cascading process that trained selected individuals who then facilitated High-Performing Team (HPT) workshops, enabling the rollout of these workshops across Bühler’s global teams.
“Together with IMD, we created a learning journey that not only strengthened team effectiveness but also accelerated our cultural evolution,” says Irene Mark-Eisenring, Chief Human Resources Officer at Bühler. “This award is a testament to our commitment to building a values-driven, high-performing culture.”
Survey results from participants of the four-day residential TOP Leadership Programme at IMD underscored the program’s powerful impact: 98% reported gaining practical tools and fresh knowledge relevant to their roles, while an equal 98% felt well-prepared to apply their learnings in the workplace.
Later surveys measuring the impact of the High-Performing Team workshops also confirmed the effectiveness of the learning journey. Every single respondent reported that they observed an “increase” or a “significant increase” in the trust level within their teams. “These metrics drive real impact as they are also tied to psychological safety, employee satisfaction, shared identity, and employee retention,” says Elke Thamm, Head of People Development & Talent at Bühler.
“Most companies struggle to apply the learnings and frameworks despite their positive intentions. Bühler not only delivered on its ambition to apply the learning, but proactively drove the process, and succeeded in scaling the application,” says IMD’s Professor Ina Toegel.
The program has shaped Bühler’s high performance team culture in multiple ways – from strengthening leadership alignment to enhancing team collaboration – and continues to support teams in navigating uncertainty and driving performance in today’s dynamic market environment.
