In the category of Best Team Development Program, Bühler Group has won the Brandon Hall Group Bronze Excellence Award in collaboration with the IMD International Institute for Management Development. The award honours their creative High-Performance Teams initiative, a key component of Bühler’s strategic and cultural transformation.
Developed and executed between 2020 and 2023, the award-winning effort sought to instil Bühler‘s key values—Trust, Ownership, and Passion (TOP)- into its leadership culture. The initiative, created in partnership with IMD, empowered 140 top executives and disseminated high-performance methods to more than 1,000 leaders worldwide. Participants used a research-based four-step strategy to improve team performance through a multi-phase, structured learning journey that includes pre-work, a four-day residential program in Lausanne, individualised coaching, and follow-up seminars.
“This award is a testament to our commitment to building a values-driven, high-performing culture”, stated Bühler’s chief human resources officer, Irene Mark-Eisenring.” Together with IMD, we created a learning journey that not only strengthened team effectiveness but also accelerated our cultural evolution”.
Trained leaders were able to offer High-Performing Team workshops for Bühler’s international teams due to the program’s cascading design. The initiative’s significant impact is confirmed by survey data, which show that 98% of participants said they gained useful tools to enhance their positions and that subsequent workshops saw a 100% rise in reported team trust.
“These metrics drive real impact as they are also tied to psychological safety, employee satisfaction, shared identity, and employee retention,” said Elke Thamm, Head of People Development & Talent at Bühler. IMD’s Professor Ina Toegel commended Bühler for not only mastering the framework but also effectively implementing and expanding it around the world.
In its 32nd year, the Brandon Hall Group’s Human Capital Management Excellence Awards recognise firms for exceptional accomplishments in human capital strategy, leadership, and learning. The award highlights Bühler’s commitment to creating strong teams that boost output in a changing market environment.
Misiek Piskorski, Dean of Executive Education at IMD, summed up the achievement by stating, “This award highlights Bühler’s incredible commitment to leadership development and the privilege IMD has in partnering to help their leaders and teams achieve extraordinary results.”
With this honour, Bühler keeps raising the bar for developing effective, morally-driven leadership that results in both corporate success and cultural change.
