Since the beginning of November, La Mie Câline has been gradually opening up its corporate social network to all employees in its network. Launched in 2013, Calinosphere is currently used by over 500 employees within the group, mainly at head office and at the Saint-Jean-de-Monts production site, as well as by managers of franchised stores and subsidiaries throughout France. The collaborative platform has now been made accessible to the company's store employees. Eventually, almost 2,000 employees will be able to benefit from this participative tool.
Foster collective intelligence by involving employees
Closely linked to the digitalization of the company, collaborative management encourages the sharing of information and teamwork, and represents a real lever for involving and motivating employees within the company. Since the creation of La Mie Câline in 1985, people have always been at the heart of the concerns of its founder, André Barreteau, descendant of a line of artisan bakers established in the Vendée region since 1920. Thanks to a strategy combining collaboration and innovation, the Vendée-based company with the famous cookie has been able to take the digital turn, while perpetuating its human values.
We wanted to develop and maintain our employees' sense of solidarity and belonging, and make them proud of the company they work for," explains Anne Duval, head of Human Resources at La Mie Câline.
" Very early on, we set up a system enabling franchisees to play an active role in the development of their own business, through sector meetings and project groups," she continues. James Foucault, who has been in charge of the Bonchamps-les-Laval store for six years, explains: " I've been lucky enough to take part in working groups to define new store offers. Bringing together people from head office and volunteer franchisees, these discussions are an opportunity for us to feed back our customers' comments and expectations, and to give our opinion as 'field' professionals. For example, for last summer's salad menus, we had the opportunity to define the ingredients we wanted to offer ourselves, by meeting suppliers and testing their products.
Family business 3.0
The Calinosphere is part of this collaborative approach. It also responds to the need to make communication more fluid within an ever-expanding network, and to encourage horizontal exchanges within the company.
We wanted to create links between employees, make information accessible to all and, above all, promote the employee within the company," explains Anne Duval.
Network news, new arrivals, an ideas laboratory, work groups, reports on product manufacturing, promotion of the different trades, a career area and even a "bon coin" area, the Calinosphere is a real mine of information andexchanges for employees and franchisees. " We wanted to offer our employees a tool that encouraged interaction, enabled the exchange of best practices and developed horizontal relations between head office, employees and franchisees," explains Astrid Renet, Web Communications Manager at La Mie Câline. Indeed, on the platform, each user is clearly identified, and an employee's vote carries the same weight as that of the group's director. Another direct benefit of setting up the Calinosphere is the rapid circulation of information. "Today,when a franchisee encounters a problem in store, he or she can communicate the information in real time to head office, and save the hassle of going back and forth by e-mail," adds Astrid Renet. Similarly, production site employees will be able to find out how successful the products they have manufactured are in store.
All La Mie Câline employees received initial training, and continue to be trained as the platform evolves, with a "tailor-made" formula for those less at ease with IT tools. Those who were reluctant from the outset have come to appreciate the usefulness of La Calinosphère, which enables them to get to grips with the entire work chain, and acquire a comprehensive understanding of it. Cyril Pipaud, who has been packaging raw Viennese pastries at the Saint-Jean de Monts head office for the past ten years, explains: " La Calinosphère enables us to keep abreast of what's going on in the company, such as the arrival of new franchisees, which used to be difficult given the size of the network. We can also communicate much more easily, and exchange best practices. As a computer expert, for example, I regularly have the opportunity to offer my help to colleagues via the groups you can create on the platform. All in all, it encourages links and exchanges within La Mie Câline.
Calinosphere won La Mie Câline the Grand Prix RH Edition Grand Ouest at the end of 2013, and represents the first step in the group's digitalization drive, one of the company's key strategic priorities for 2016.
Article published Tuesday, December 8, 2015 by Franchise Magazine
