Driving Growth with a Scalable Leadership Program
The Challenge
Cheil Germany, a leading professional services and marketing agency, is navigating a fundamental challenge while the marketing world is rapidly transforming. As the industry shifts from traditional media toward digital and social platforms, the company needs its leaders to not only adapt but also guide their teams through uncertainty.
As the company is growing fast the organization sees leadership development as the most important topic to grow sustainably and to drive ongoing innovation and transformation. By sharpening time management, improving communication with employees, and reinforcing key skills, leaders can move from being highly capable operators to empowering coaches. With a challenging business environment and ambitious goals to grow beyond the existing customer base, Cheil views aligning and elevating leadership across the company as essential to unlocking its full potential.
The Solution
Cheil implemented a leadership development program that combined structure, credibility, and practical impact. The program was designed to move beyond theory and equip leaders with immediately applicable tools, while also cascading learning through the organization.
Starting with the Top: Directors Lead the Way
The program launched with Cheil’s most senior leaders, its directors, to set an example for the rest of the organization. Over 12months, they participated in a blended learning format with monthly training sessions: one-third of sessions were held on-site in Frankfurt, while the remainder took place virtually. This hybrid approach balanced intensity with accessibility.
Extending the Impact to All Leaders
After witnessing the positive transformation among directors, Cheil decided the program should not stop there. Starting in 2025, the rollout began step by step to include every leader across the company.
As CEO Volker Selle explained
“After seeing the effect this program had on our directors, we knew it couldn’t stop there. Extending it across all leadership levels is how we strengthen performance and create clarity and consistency in how we work at Cheil.”
Tools, Habits, and Accountability
The program introduced practical leadership models that quickly became part of daily routines. Leaders used the SBI model to deliver clear and candid feedback, applied the “Flip hierarchy” approach to empower teams, and even used playful yet powerful tools like Coaching Bingo to shift habits toward asking questions first. Buddy groups formed after sessions provided accountability and peer support, ensuring that learning translated into action.
Credible Trainers with Real Experience
A key to the program’s success was the credibility of the trainers. With long years of experience in first-class professional services firms, they understood the realities of leading in high-pressure, client-driven environments. This grounded the content in real-world challenges, making the training not just relevant, but trusted.
The Impact
The results that the Cheil leadership teams created speak for themselves
- 9 out of 10 leaders would recommend the program to a colleague (NPS)
- Leaders rated the relevancy of the content for their daily lives at 4.7 out of 5
- Leaders rated how much they learned at 4.6 out of 5.
These scores show that the program was not just well received, but directly applicable to the challenges leaders face in their day-to-day work.
Equally important were the qualitative outcomes how the teams impacted the lives of their direct reports:
- Leaders reported using models like Yes-No-Yes in sensitive conversations such as promotions and salary discussions.
- One director reflected: “Whenever I give feedback, I challenge myself with two thoughts: Is it radically candid and do I deliver it in SBI?”
- Another shared that using the “Flip Hierarchy” model was a game changer in putting their team in the driver’s seat during discussions.
Eduard Schöll, Director
For me as a director at Cheil, the program helped me to structure my leadership habits significantly.
Especially our sessions around giving actionable feedback and taking better decisions were my personal highlights.
Challenges Along the Way
While large-scale leadership programs often face hurdles, Cheil’s rollout encountered relatively few obstacles. Scheduling across a busy agency environment required discipline, but strong buy-in from the CEO and his team ensured adoption. The buddy group structure also helped maintain momentum between sessions.
Takeaway
For Cheil, leadership development became more than a program, it became a lever for transformation. By starting at the top and cascading the learning across all levels, the company built alignment, fairness, and stronger leadership habits that directly supported its growth ambitions. The mix of credible trainers, hybrid learning, and practical accountability structures created an impact that was both measurable and felt day to day.
Company Profile
Cheil Germany is a professional services and marketing agency headquartered in Frankfurt with over 300 employees. With its unique positioning in the market as agency for connected commerce with brand at its heart, passion for creativity, and a Challenger Mindset, Cheil drives sustainable growth for its clients through principles it lives every day: Creatively Hacking, Relentlessly Curious, Seriously Playful.
Its leadership development program blends live on-site sessions with virtual workshops and peer accountability groups, equipping leaders at every level to lead with structure, fairness, and empowerment.
Cheil’s work supports some of the world’s most recognized brands, including Samsung, Hankook, and DZ Bank, cementing its reputation as a trusted partner in marketing transformation.
