As head of the RWB engineering firm, which employs over 200 people in French-speaking Switzerland, Samuel Beuchat has decided to organize workshops dedicated to the development of sustainable teams.
Text by Francesca Sacco
What did you learn about sustainable teams through this project?
I was impressed to note the plurality of the participants' thought systems, in a cohort that was nonetheless very homogeneous. From this point of view, we have an undeniable diversity that I wouldn't have suspected. Some people are very focused on control and mastery, others are more sensitive to human factors, while still others are particularly interested in processes and methods. What's more, the methodology we chose to use sometimes forced us to lay ourselves bare, and in my opinion, this is precisely what enables us to co-construct a managerial approach that attracts strong support. As always in the field of management skills development, the theory is relatively straightforward at first glance. The considerable difficulty lies in being able to mobilize the skills acquired in all circumstances, and particularly in situations where teams need them most, i.e. in the event of conflict, major technical or economic pressures, or simply when they're tired.
What are you doing differently today as a result of these workshops?
After just one session, we were able to set up a pair of internal coaching sessions between managers. It's an approach we hadn't tried before. I'm delighted to discover the results of this coaching model, which requires both humility and trust. The aim is to develop our teams' ability to mobilize knowledge from the field.
What was the project?
Originally, we wanted to provide our managers, who are basically engineers, with practical tools. They are attracted by technology and have a natural aptitude for the "hard" sciences, but have little knowledge of management, apart from an empirical background. Working on our understanding of the human sciences is essential, all the more so as we're facing a severe shortage of resources across our industry.
The project in figures
1 burn-out awareness
4 workshops initiated in early October 2022
20 managers trained
2nd cycle of workshops organized between October and December
3rd cycle to be planned in 2023
The Group at a glance
The RWB Group employs over 200 people. Its history dates back to 1938, with the creation of a civil engineering firm in Porrentruy. Over the years, the office evolved and expanded under the impetus of Serge Beuchat (Samuel's father), with the opening of several companies in the French-speaking cantons and the acquisition of new entities. The Group was certified SN EN ISO 9001 in the late 1990s and ISO 14001 in the following decade. It continues to open branches and is reorganized by region and area of expertise, now covering the whole of French-speaking Switzerland.
The CEO's philosophy
After an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) and an early career in social work, Samuel Beuchat joined the RWB Group as CEO and Secretary to the Board of Directors. He is driven by one conviction: "A manager's ability to mobilize - some call it commitment - is decisive. Our role is to accompany and support our employees on a daily basis, and to establish a climate of trust in a stimulating and humane environment. The manager must be humanly attractive. This is absolutely essential. In fact, I have the feeling that the burden of proof has shifted. For example, it used to be that an employee had to wait a year before being allowed to telework one day a week; today, it's up to the employer to demonstrate his or her ability to build trust, to give meaning, and so on. It is the manager's responsibility to communicate clear objectives to the teams, and to give them the freedom to achieve them as they wish, within a defined framework.
