Transforming managers into confident team leaders

Leadership doesn’t happen overnight; it’s something you grow into. As an employer, we’re here to provide the right kind of support and tools that will set managers up for success from day one. At Criteo, we believe in rippling effects: if empowered the right way, managers will lead more confident and, therefore, performant teams. The remaining question is: how do we ensure you have everything you need to get started and grow into the best leader you can be? In this interview, our L&D Partner, Giovanna Paglioli, explains how we can turn managers into confident and capable leaders. 

Welcome, Giovanna! You’ve been accompanying managers since your first day at Criteo. What has your journey been like? 

Since my first day at Criteo, I’ve striven to create a clear pathway to leadership for all managers to lead their teams with confidence and success. I believe that empowered managers lead to more confident teams and, ultimately, to business growth. The more I investigated, the more I figured that many new managers didn't have a clear understanding of what was expected of them. From the beginning, it was essential to partner closely with People Business Partners (PBPs) and the business itself to uncover these insights. The journey wasn’t about L&D designing a program in isolation — it was a co-created process, built through ongoing dialogue with PBPs, experienced managers, and leaders across regions to ensure the outcomes truly reflected business priorities and real managerial challenges. 

And what is expected from a manager at Criteo exactly? 

It’s about putting leadership into action! Managers must be able to provide the right guidance and support for the team to achieve their goals on time. Though when I say goals, I’m not thinking about hitting targets only; I’m talking about growth — for them, for their teams, and for the business. True managers know how to be relevant and tailor their approach so that everyone can develop their individual skills while supporting the team’s performance. 

It’s also about the behaviors we expect — and the Success Makers program we developed aims to set the frame for those. In addition to Success Makers, we’ve built a whole library of resources within the Manager Experience ecosystem to support leaders throughout their journey. As L&D, we approach this from a skill-development standpoint, ensuring that Success Makers specifically focuses on building the foundational capabilities and mindsets needed to lead effectively. 

What did you find when digging into managers' needs and expectations? 

I’d say there was a knowledge gap between technical expertise and the need for social skills. Being a successful manager at Criteo isn’t just measured in numbers; it’s about knowing where you want your team to go and how to take them there. Leading is finding the right balance between the need for individual recognition and collective success. You want to take all team members to the next level, and that’s why all leaders should have a clear vision of which skill sets and personalities will make their team stronger. 

To identify these needs, we didn’t rely on assumptions — we took a data-driven and consultative approach. We ran pilot programs, gathered feedback from participants, held consultations with PBPs and business leaders, and analyzed insights from manager effectiveness surveys and performance data. This holistic approach helped us pinpoint not only what managers needed most, but also how to design a development journey that truly resonated with them and the business context. 

And how do we help managers do that exactly? 

Among other things, I created Success Makers, as mentioned earlier, which is a six-month training program designed to help newly promoted managers transition from their individual contributor role. For many of them, the core challenges revolve around delivering constructive and clear feedback, understanding key management processes, delegating, addressing potential conflicts, managing performance, and maintaining consistent follow-up through time. So, we decided to create a clear and sustainable pathway for all managers — partnering with PBPs across APAC, Americas, and EMEA, but also with experienced and recently promoted managers, and, of course, with the People Leadership Team — to ensure we matched business priorities and cultural nuances. 

What was the main thing you learned about managers’ expectations after launching the program? 

I saw the real power of peer connection and support! Beyond knowledge sharing and specific training, the most impactful element for managers was social learning — participants sharing best practices, challenges, and ideas with peers, mentors, and facilitators. 

And what did you learn about your own job in the process? 

Never forget that you are working with people, so nothing is set in marble. Just like them, their needs and perspectives evolve, so you need to be agile. It’s key to staying connected to the business, so you can ensure the content you deliver is truly relevant to them. To me, this initiative is more than a training program; it reflects our promise as an employer to transform all managers into connected, capable leaders who can help anyone grow and thrive at Criteo.