Leveraging the voice of the employees can improve your leadership: A Nexans case study

For a company with over 500 employees, it can sometimes be challenging to get an overall picture of how people feel about their work environment and job responsibilities. The cable supplier Nexans is, therefore, actively working with Winningtemp to improve its leadership, employees’ working conditions and job satisfaction.

“By collecting questions and feedback from the group and talking about them, I’ve been able to grow as a leader,” says Christer Snäll, production supervisor at Nexans.

Nexans is Sweden’s largest supplier of cables and accessories. The main office, manufacturing and logistics centres for the entire Nordic and Baltic countries are at Grimsås in the Swedish province of Västra Götland. With more than 500 employees sitting together in the same location, it becomes vital for both the employees and the management team to feel happy and co-exist with the belief that they can actually influence the condition of the workplace.

Christer Snäll is the production manager for fibre production at Nexans, and his department was the first in the company to test Winningtemp. They have now been working for over a year and a half with the data provided by Winningtemp and are very satisfied with the results.

“We’ve been able to increase employee satisfaction after discussing the issues that have been identified with Winningtemp. I feel it makes me a better leader when I get feedback from my group.“

Importance of open discussions

By diving deep into the questions related to leadership, Christer Snäll notices significant opportunities for development. He feels that as leaders, you should not be afraid to ask open questions to the group if the results haven’t been as good as you might have expected.

“It’s a matter of daring to address all issues, even those that are directly negative to one’s leadership,” he says. “It’s only by talking about problems that you can come up with solutions and make improvements. I strongly believe in open leadership and open discussions. “

Answering the four weekly questions has become as natural for the employees as punching in and out. The anonymous answers are subsequently compiled into a report that is sent out to the entire company, which all the relevant production managers can go ahead and read.

Christer’s top tips for other managers working with Winningtemp is to take advantage of this process and talk about the responses with the group each week.

“We’ve worked up a response rate of 93% by actively presenting the results each week. I feel that these discussions and allowing employees to participate and influence make me a better leader. The entire organisation gets a boost from increased job satisfaction, and that employee opinions are valued. ”

Opportunities to influence

Previously, Nexans conducted employee surveys every two years. After starting with Winningtemp, these surveys were scaled up to twice a year, complementing the automated weekly questions that employees responded to directly on the digital platform. Frequent feedback from employees allows management the opportunity to develop corrective measures faster, and it makes employees feel more involved.

“We realised that when employees answer the questions, they are expressing how they feel at the moment. When we surveyed once every two years, we didn’t get a good picture of how they felt over time. With detailed reports every week, we in the management team now get a much better picture of job satisfaction in general, and we have the opportunity to take corrective actions promptly.”