Tomorrow starts today

I am delighted to write about the 5 targets of the new Decathlon Vision V21.1 : Health, TranSPORT, Local Living, Regeneration and Inclusivity.

What will be the world in the future? What do you want for your family and friends? And what role do YOU want Decathlon to play in the world that you want?”

These were the questions that we asked as part of a massive exercise of global collective intelligence, which we called Decathlon Vision. The idea for this process, open to everyone around the world, was to engage the voices of all our stakeholders in the co-construction of our company’s future. What began a year ago as Vision 2030 was then re-baptised as Vision 2021, and is simply known now as Decathlon Vision V21.1. This means Version 2021.1, so yes, it’s quite likely that there will be V21.2 not before too long.

For a quick reminder of the journey, our Vision process happened in stages : Co-Inspiration, Co-Exploration, and Co-Writing. From October 2019 to April 2020, thousands of messages, ideas and dreams were posted on our platform of collective intelligence, built by bluenove. As a starting point, we began by studying three themes during the Co-Inspiration phase : the Future of People, the Future of Sportspeople, the Future of Living. We then analysed the data from this period, and created 4 Co-Exploration territories in order to dive deeper into the subjects that were the most important to people. In total, we received over 40,000 inputs, and 1115 stories of the future were written, leading our Vision Core Team to co-write our five Vision targets.

Five Vision Targets for Decathlon United

• Target #1 : Health. Decathlonains are you partners for health, for a better quality of life. We promote a mindful way of living through sports.
• Target #2 : TranSPORT. Decathlonians enable clean and healthy tranSPORT.
• Target #3 : Local Living. Decathlonians are 100% local living Orientated, and globally connected.
• Target #4 : Regenerative. Decathlonians strive for responsible growth that benefits both people and the planet, acting with a regenerative economy.
• Target #5 : Inclusive. Decathlonians are fully inclusive and open to all, we reflect the society that we want to be a part of.

This 5th axis, 'Inclusivity', is the key to everything. I personally don’t believe we will be able to achieve targets 1 to 4 by ourselves; we will have to be open to others and collectively tackle our common problems together. You may also notice that each axis begins with the word ‘Decathlonians’. Decathlon is merely a collective of people, and it's the people that create the change. We actually propose a twist on this, and that anyone who shares our values, mission, purpose and vision can become, in effect, a Decathlonian.

In my mind, these targets are very humanist, more generous, less greedy. It's not really surprising when you get ‘external’ people to jump onto the approach. The paradigm shift in the methodology was blatant. Once upon a time, these type of exercises were about what we want for you. By looking at the Vision exercise from another point of view, we have ended up with a 'what people expect from us' Vision. As a consequence, I believe this will accelerate transformation and change.

(By the way, if you are reading this as a Decathlon employee, check out the info on the 'Be The Change' website. For 'externals', we are throwing together a website as I type, won't be long).

An 'anti-Vision' film

Through the Decathlon Vision film, we have attempted to show the 5 targets by explaining 5 stories. These 5 stories were selected from over 1000 pieces of creative writing, which were penned during the Vision process, where participants were invited to write ‘stories of the future’. We wanted to bring some of them to life to better explain each target. Each story is represented by a hero, three of whom are not Decathlon employees. In these stories, Decathlon becomes the enabler, everything and everyone is linked, technology is a pre-requirement, and creating environmental and social value becomes the norm.

(English version available here VO EN)

But, where are the ‘Minority Report’ style images, where's the ‘Neuralink’ telepathy, why aren't there any flying golf clubs? I don't know about you, but I've seen so many Vision videos about an amazing hi-tech experience of the future. But it doesn't seem to occur in our real lives. Neither is this a classical ‘institutional Vision’ type of film, as we have preferred to concentrate on bringing the Vision targets to life through the illustration of concrete, local actions. The key messages that we want to highlight are that of a company that is open, conscious, contributing, responsible and based upon the quality of human exchange. The Visionary part of the film is in the mind-set that we will need to have to achieve these targets.

Big-up to IYE, our partner for the production for this film. They knew how to work in an agile, network way over the summer, in Covid period, shooting in France, Ukraine, Morocco and India. Good job :)

From Vision to Action with 'Co-Evolve' : pivot, persevere or stop

"'The proof of the pudding is in the eating, not the cooking'. My wise grandmother from London’s East End said that once. I must have been 8 or so, but it stayed with me".

Now that the recipe for the Vision targets have been written, it is up to us to make them taste good. The final and most important stage of the Vision process is ‘Co-Evolve’, enabling us to transform Vision targets to local concrete actions. This will help generate future projects in alignment with the Decathlon Vision, and to our purpose: to be useful to people and the planet.

By bringing forward a ten year vision exercise to a ten month vision exercise, we know that this may cause some issues with teams who are already in the middle of current projects. No worries. The 5 targets aren't a to do list, more like a filter through which team leaders can measure the relevance of current actions to see whether they'll need to pivot, persevere or stop certain projects.

On a personal level, as Vision Leader, I’m at the half way stage of my engagement. Along with the Vision Core team, a group of 23 headstrong and driven people from around the world all dedicated to making positive change, we know that delivering 5 targets is not the end game, it simply marks the first whistle of the 'Co-Evolve' kick-off, which will be the subject of my next article this autumn.

Towards a Version 21.2, and beyond...

During these VUCA times in which we live, change comes fast, change is unpredictable, and change is exponential. If we are to remain up to date, if we want to be agile and more prepared for external trends, we can no longer wait a year or two to update the Vision. From now on we intend to enter into a mode of 'Permanent Vision'. That is why this Vision is called V21.1. We'll surely update the Vision later this year or at the beginning of next year, which would be V22.1. The goal is to have our ears open to future trends, and to react and change tack whenever possible, in order to remain relevant in the hearts and minds of our future customers.

Because tomorrow starts today.

Charlie