Turning strategic challenges into solutions that move the business forward.

Eight years of partnering with TotalEnergies to accelerate strategic projects, challenge established ways of working, and bring agile thinking into executive leadership.

Corporate AcceleratorCase story3 minute read

What happens when senior executives step away from their daily responsibilities to tackle real strategic challenges set by their CEO?

Since 2018, BIA has partnered with TotalEnergies to run the Senior Management Group Project Accelerator, helping executive teams turn complex business challenges into actionable solutions.

The program combines agile methodologies, design thinking, startup practices, and dedicated project coaching. From initial research and problem definition to prototyping and executive pitches, participants work on real strategic initiatives while developing new ways of thinking, collaborating, and making decisions.

Over eight years, the partnership has supported more than 280 senior leaders and accelerated over 45 strategic projects.

8 years

Partnership since 2018

280+

Senior leaders supported

45+

Strategic projects accelerated

Real challenges. Real decisions. Real stakes.

The starting point isn’t a hypothetical business case. It’s a strategic challenge coming directly from the organization.

Working in cross-functional teams, senior executives tackle projects with direct relevance to the organization’s priorities. The journey starts before participants arrive in Berlin. Through research, project scoping, and dedicated coaching, teams challenge initial assumptions, explore stakeholder needs, and define the problems they need to solve. This preparation ensures that the intensive Berlin accelerator builds on a clear understanding of each challenge rather than starting from scratch.

From problem to prototype

The Berlin Project Accelerator brings teams together for an intensive, hands-on experience built around three stages:

Define the problem. Challenge assumptions, understand stakeholders, and identify the real problem behind the initial brief.

Develop the solution. Generate ideas, test hypotheses, and turn promising concepts into actionable solutions.

Build and pitch. Develop an initial prototype, sharpen the business case, and present the solution in a final Shark Tank.

Throughout the accelerator, expert coaches work alongside teams, while daily progress pitches and feedback loops push participants to make decisions, iterate quickly, and move beyond familiar approaches.

But the program doesn’t end in Berlin. Follow-up project coaching helps teams refine their solutions, address implementation challenges, and continue moving their initiatives forward.

Berlin as a catalyst for new thinking

Alongside intensive project work, the accelerator connects TotalEnergies executives with Berlin’s startup and innovation ecosystem through Learning Expeditions, expert sessions, and exchanges with founders and technology companies.

From the Lufthansa Innovation Hub to the Merantix AI Campus, these experiences expose participants to different approaches to experimentation, leadership, and execution.

The objective isn’t to turn executives into startup founders. It’s to bring fresh perspectives into how strategic projects are approached inside a global organization.

This program gives our leaders a practical innovation method to approach daily business challenges and strategic projects differently, opening up new ways of thinking and working.

Benoit Dhers, Head of Leadership Transformation Programs, TotalEnergies

Eight years of turning strategy into action

Over eight years, the Senior Management Group Project Accelerator has evolved alongside TotalEnergies’ strategic priorities.

More than 280 senior leaders have worked with agile methodologies, innovation frameworks, and new approaches to collaboration. Over 45 strategic projects have moved through structured problem-solving, experimentation, and executive feedback.

Beyond individual projects, the program helps leaders bring new decision-making practices, an experimentation mindset, and more agile ways of working back into the organization.

The projects move forward. And the way leaders approach the next challenge changes with them.

Move differently.

Large organizations rarely run short of ideas. What they run short of is the ability to keep one moving once the excitement wears off.

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