Discover the heart of performance optimization with Nicolas, our CIS Group Performance Manager. Explore the mechanisms of performance management in his captivating journey and discover his thoughts on the strategic importance of performance optimization in our organization.

How long have you worked for CIS? Can you tell us about your career path and your development within the Group?

I started in December 2009 as HSE Manager on site, then moved to head office in January 2011 as Deputy HSE Manager and in January 2014 to Internal Control
I became Performance Manager in October 2021. It’s a rather atypical career path, given that I started my training with a vocational training certificate (BEP CAP Hôtellerie).

What are your responsibilities as Performance Manager?

The main idea is to help local teams find ways of improving, monitoring and optimising results and their activities using our in-house tools. One of the main tasks is to deploy these tools on the operating sites, and to monitor and suggest areas for improvement based on the data collected.

The main idea is to help local teams find ways of improving, monitoring and optimising results and their activities using our in-house tools.

The Group has developed an Operational Quality project. Can you give us an overview?

The quality of our services is at the heart of our commitments. As such, it is important to continue and optimise our procedures for evaluating our services.
To do this, we have set up a working group made up of operational staff from different parts of the world and we have been working on 3 areas:

• Culinary production
• Image and presentation rules
• Quality of service

With regard to the first point, we are finalising the production of an internal CIS recipe book containing around 200 recipes. This book will provide us with a common base for our core catering business.

In terms of image and presentation rules, we have defined a minimum standard in terms of signage to be deployed at our operational sites.

As far as quality of service is concerned, this is not a tangible concept, based on personal feelings. That’s why it was important for us to create a common rule (the 4As), which I hope we can all agree on, whatever our frame of reference.

The quality of our services is at the heart of our commitments

How will the 4A rule be applied in practice at our operating sites?

For its implementation, we are relying on an application booklet with sheets detailing what we expect in terms of service quality by business line and self-checklists, accessible via QR code.

What are the major performance projects for 2024?

For the coming year, we will be focusing on the dissemination and application of the Operational Quality project, but we also want to expand our performance network, both at country and regional level, so that we can better master the use of our internal tools and optimise the day-to-day monitoring of our management.

Of course, we won’t lose sight of the Group’s priority, which is to optimise/secure stock levels in major operations/countries.

The Group’s priority, which is to optimise/secure stock levels in major operations/countries.

Do you have a motivational quote that you like and that you try to apply on a daily basis?

On a day-to-day basis, I like to use the Kiss principle, which stands for «Keep it Simple, Stupid». It’s a principle that means avoiding unnecessary complexity.