Excellence in Practice Awards 2013: Highly Commended Cases]

Article Type: Excellence in Practice Awards 2013: Highly Commended CasesFrom: Strategic Direction, Volume 29, Issue 11

Airbus Military and IESE Business School: “Empowering internal talent to innovate”

Vivero is a comprehensive corporate development program co-developed by Airbus Military and IESE Business School. The program was originally envisioned by the CEO of Airbus Military to identify and empower the firm’s top talent and lead strategic business growth from within. Vivero aims to provide these employees with the required business expertise and internal awareness to become “intrapreneurs” in alignment with the global strategy of the company. Vivero’s outcomes have topped expectations and the program has since become a major pillar for the organization’s internal development strategy.

DB Schenker Logistics and Ashridge Business School: “Transforming individual lives and organizational culture for a sustainable future”

DB Schenker Logistics’ partnership with Ashridge began in 1999 with the development of the International Leadership Program (ILP). The program was designed to nurture senior leaders with the ability to inspire and motivate people across a complex global network. An independent evaluation conducted in 2012 reported that ILP delivered “an impressive and unusual level of impact”, achieving 100 percent of its learning objectives. Its success has kept it central to the organization’s business strategy and the program continues today.

Lancaster University Management School and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce: “Lancaster LEAD: transforming leadership and management in UK SMEs”

The Lancaster LEAD program (LEAD) is a ten-month leadership development initiative for owner-managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The program recruits highly-motivated participants onto a transformational process that leads to direct strategic, management and employment benefits for their businesses. LEAD contributes to the unleashing of latent growth potential in a vital part of the UK economy, namely SMEs. There are already over 1,600 alumni who have improved their confidence in their role as leaders, developed a more strategic approach to their businesses, and improved their people management skills. Survey data indicates that the program has contributed to the employment of up to 2,200 people annually across participating SMEs.

IBM and Northeastern University: “X-SELLerate, a professional development program for IBM client-facing professionals”

Since 2006, IBM and Northeastern have collaborated on the design and implementation of an innovative, integrated learning program for IBM’s client-facing professionals worldwide. The program, known as X-SELLerate, is designed to enable IBM professionals to respond to shifts in IT decision-making and the changing needs of their clients. It is based on the premise that significant new business opportunities exist for IBM employees who understand how to think strategically about enterprise growth on behalf of their clients. The program is continuously updated and refined to enhance participant learning and organizational impact.

Repsol and BTS: “Health, safety and environment leadership”

In 2010, Repsol acknowledged that some work was necessary to bring its health, safety and environmental protection (HSE) ratings in line with industry standards. Despite improvements in technology and management systems, the accident frequency rate (FR) remained above the industry average, and was at odds with the company’s strategic HSE goals. In partnership with cultural change consultants, BTS, Repsol introduced PRISMA – a learning program intended to embed a corporate HSE vision across the organization. Following implementation of the program, FR fell by 18 percent, and the company is on course to achieve its aim of being situated in the lower industry quartile in terms of accident frequency.

DSM and Wharton: “Royal DSM Executive Leadership Program”

Since 2008, Royal DSM and Wharton have collaborated on the design and implementation of Executive Leadership Program 3 (ELP3), an innovative, multi-modular development initiative for DSM’s top executives. ELP3 was created in order to advance DSM’s business goals and to address the dramatic cultural shift needed to support the company’s transformation from a Dutch-centric chemical firm to a global life sciences and materials sciences company. The ELP3 program has achieved substantial success. All the program goals are being met and continue to be achieved. In assessing the program’s impact, DSM noted that the development initiative has helped to advance over 50 percent of ELP3 incumbent leaders into new executive positions.