OWP liVe REPORT

38

a natural development of OCP’s business, rather than some grafted on initiative. “We built it because it was good business too.” That now includes financing and services for farmers, training for OCP staff and others, and environmental and community activities. The group even incubated its own university – UM6P – with support from, among others, IMD, to develop future talent. “We saw this too as a competitive advantage,” said Terrab. Decisive to the transformation was Le Mouvement (the movement), an initiative to give greater responsibility to blue collar workers and lower level management. “All these activities, you may think, came out of enlightenment by top level management,” Terrab said. “But often the toughest levels to convince were the top layers. Actually, the greatest enthusiasm came from blue collars and lower management. They understood ahead of us.” “People kept telling us: don’t overmanage us. So we let them free, and often, amazing things happened.” IMD President Jean-François Manzoni praised the initiative as a case study in listening to the workforce, rather than imposing ideas from above. Speaking of Empowerment is essential

the energy and vitality of Africa, Manzoni depicted OCP as a shining light in harnessing a company’s human capital, but he wondered whether OCP had not been concerned about devolving so much power to its workers. “It was initially scary for those involved,” acknowledged Terrab. “But in fact, our people did not see it as a free for all. They themselves demanded more organization, more processes.” Workers’ sense that top management trusted them was crucial, he said. That also involved intense and ongoing coaching to overcome resistance – to the extent of creating a coaching school within UM6P university. Manzoni also queried whether OCP had not feared short term financial damage because of the longer run investment in broader social, educational and other goals. “It is indeed accepting the benefit will only be in the long run,” he observed. “We would never have been able to do this if our shareholder hadn’t been the state,” Terrab acknowledged. “It is accepting short term trade-offs. Fortunately, some, at least, such as the push into renewable energy rather than relying on much more expensive grid power, paid off remarkably quickly.” Looking to the longer term