"I think every company has a different culture, a different structure, and every GBS looks different. If you have a company where GBS concept is really not liked by the people, they didn't adapt to change, they maybe went too aggressive in the cuts straight away without the quality. You can have different reasons why you go back to functional model."

On this episode of the SSON podcast, Kamila Grembowitz, Senior Vice President of Global Business Services at Adidas, provides a detailed insight into her experience of doubling the size of the organisation in the short span of 10-months as well as the lessons and successes that she faced along the way. Press play and listen to discover more about:

·         The importance of creating a GBS journey that is customised for a business’ unique culture.

·         Why refining the on-boarding process should be a top priority when planning for exponential growth: With a trend of hiring around 30 new employees a week, Kamila admits that, if she could go back in time, she would focus on staffing the recruiting team to ensure they were adequately prepared for the intake.

·         Why automation is a great tool to assist with the recruiting processes but should not replace with humans: Kamila reveals why she believes that AI is great for the screening process but can’t completely replace a recruiter’s human intuition.

·         How Adidas’s GBS is managing their transformation by measuring the use of standard processes and procedures and comparing them to their goals in the future.

·         What it will take bring Adidas’ GBS to its next level of maturity by the end of 2020

·         How Adidas is working with IT and analytics to identify other functions to bring into the GBS

·         How the brand’s CIO is taking the brand into the future, and how the GBS contributes a forward thinking approach that includes virtual reality experiences and collaborations with institutions like MIT to develop advanced technologies such as 4D printing.

·         The value of communicating the importance of the GBS - not only its role in back-end operations but also in making things work for the final customer. Kamila explains how, Finance and IT departments contribute to everything from ecommerce payments to warehouse operations – without their work, the company could not perform.

·         How those working in businesses that don’t offer immediate visibility of shared services contribution can create a culture of inclusion by ensuring their people are always invited to the table to join the decision making process.

·         Why it’s important for shared service leaders to set time aside to set goals and organise your priorities for the week in order to keep up with rapid pace of change and why applying a just do it approach isn’t effective in the long term.

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