Bringing Leadership Strategy to Life through Authentic Communication at FrieslandCampina

Client

FrieslandCampina is a global dairy cooperative operating across multiple regions and cultures. Its leaders play a key role in creating a clear direction across teams and geographies.

Client Challenge

Eight years ago, FrieslandCampina was aiming to launch a new strategy following a major reorganization. Business leaders asked “How can we ensure our new leaders understand our new strategy?
And, more importantly, how can these new leaders make sure this strategy lands well across the organization?

Henk van der Lei, Global Director of People & Growth, wanted to develop these senior leaders into inspiring leaders that people wanted to follow.

His thought process was:

“To be an inspirational leader, you need to tell the story of who you are, what you want to do, and the strategy or vision you have. [This] helps people to get behind the strategy, to get enthusiastic, to get energy from it.”

Why Ariel

The organization was looking for the right partner and Ariel stood out for a specific reason, the quality of the facilitators. They were “grounded, and at the same time able to engage and create impact with people at the senior levels of Friesland Campina.”

The range of facilitator styles also mattered. For larger sessions, Van der Lei could choose a facilitator with a lot of energy and presence. For deeper, one-to-one coaching work, leaders could work with a different style of coach. This flexibility allowed the work to adapt across different formats and leadership levels.

Ariel Solution

The work began with a focused program designed to address the immediate need – developing inspirational leaders.

Ariel delivered a storytelling module for 100 leaders in Friesland Campina. Sessions ran in small groups, across regions, and were fully online. The goal was to help leaders communicate strategy in a way people could understand and follow. That initial program led to continued engagement; leaders began working with Ariel through one-on-one coaching and communication support.

The partnership moved beyond storytelling techniques: sessions explored how leaders show up, what holds them back, and how they communicate in a way that feels natural to them.

More recently, Ariel returned to facilitate sessions with senior leaders, again focusing on storytelling and helping leaders define and communicate a clear direction.

Outcome

The impact of Ariel’s programs shows up in how leaders communicate. Leaders speak with greater clarity, they connect their message to their own experience, they show up in a way that feels real.

Henk van der Lei described it this way:

“In the end, you want to create engagement with your people and get people engaged to work in a company that creates clarity on where it is going. That fantastic strategy on paper will never land with people if you cannot tell the story in an engaging way. I think the impact potentially is really big because having a great strategy doesn’t mean people understand it and get enthusiastic about it. You need to be able to translate it and make it personal or practical.”