Our judges commended Rolls-Royce’s talent management programme, which covers mentoring, learning, and skills development “gigs”, for cutting through traditional thinking at what some would see as a ‘traditional’ company.
WINNER
Rolls-Royce
The loss of its civil aerospace business during the lockdowns of 2020 triggered a brand new direction for engineering company Rolls-Royce. This required it to redefine its talent management strategy – no longer would employees be confined to one area of the business; it needed people with the right skills in the right roles, wherever they may be.
To meet this aim, it needed to tackle progression barriers and change ways of working. It also needed to consider its talent pipeline, including apprentices and graduates; ‘feeder’ roles whereby future leaders are given opportunities that will help them move up the career ladder; business-critical roles; and diversity.
First, it standardised reward packages and removed movement barriers. ‘Time in role’ guidelines were introduced and outdated expectations, such as the requirement for an employee to be in a role for 18 months before they could apply for a new position, were removed.
It then launched ‘Pioneering your Potential’, a LinkedIn-style recruitment hub where internal opportunities could be advertised. Anybody can post an opportunity and run a skills-match to find potential talent from anywhere in the organisation. The pilot in 2021 saw 65% of employees tag their skills.
The company plans to expand the platform to 50% of the group this year. It now has more than 1,000 gig hosts, more than 200 gig opportunities available and more than 6,000 skill interests tagged on the portal. A tenth of all new gigs are related to strategic growth skills.
RUNNERS-UP
Coca-Cola HBC
Coca-Cola HBC is a bottling partner for the soft drinks giant, and employs 36,000 people across 29 countries. By 2025 it wants to have talent development as its “lighthouse capability”, with an enhanced focus on diversity and inclusion. To do this, it has focused on several key areas: developing an open marketplace for talent and helping colleagues build modular careers through development and lateral moves.
The marketplace involves skill-matching employees with tasks or projects, helping the company access ‘hidden’ talent quickly and efficiently. The concept was launched with a gig work marketplace in 2020, but it has since been expanded to include a skill-based talent management marketplace in its Austrian business unit.
The marketplace has seen 79% employee adoption, rising to 92% within the commercial team. Eighty-six per cent are satisfied with the platform.
It has also helped improve interest in the creation of individual development plans (IDPs). More now complete their IDPs in the Austrian business – 85% compared with 15% across the wider organisation.
Eighty-seven per cent of employees feel excited about the different career experiences available at the company, while 84% agree they have access to learning activities they can pursue on their own.
Leaders Romans Group
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In order to develop its leaders of the future, property services firm Leaders Romans Group has launched the LRG Leadership Academy – a seven-month management development programme designed to meet the specific needs of the business.
Participants attend monthly learning sessions, helping to develop their strategic thinking capabilities, enhance their leadership style and learn techniques to improve employee engagement and productivity. At the end of the programme they must deliver a presentation to its CEO and six board directors on what they have learnt, how they have applied it, and what value it has added to the business.
Almost 140 staff completed the academy in 2021. Their attendance resulted in 28 promotions, both during and shortly after the programme. A further seven new leadership academies began in January and again in September 2022, covering around 210 employees.
CEO Peter Kavanagh said he was impressed by participants’ presentations and the commitment they had put into the course. “It is really important to me that we continue to create progression opportunities in all parts of our business and there is no doubt that this is a really great course and that we have some fantastic future leaders progressing through our business,” he said.
N Brown Group
Online retail group N Brown, which owns brands including Jacamo and JD Williams, found that, despite having recruited many experienced leaders, many had had no formal leadership development. This changed when it introduced “The Producer”, a learning programme for all people leaders.
Themed around the film industry, movie clips are used to illustrate themes of leadership. It felt this theme would excite, engage and captivate leaders at different levels and from different backgrounds. Two sessions of the same theme are offered twice each week, over a sprint of 10 weeks, to allow people to attend when their diaries allow. Topics include enabling change, understanding performance, and unlocking potential. The programme is being rolled out to all department heads, followed by all people managers.
2022 engagement survey results show that manager metrics have improved considerably compared with 2021. Its score for “motivating managers” grew 0.4 points to 7.8 out of 10 and top scoring statements included “I have a good relationship with my manager” and “My manager encourages open, honest, two-way communication”.
NatWest Group
NatWest’s Challenge programme aims to redefine opportunities within the bank and increase exposure for talented individuals. Assigned with a real-world problem statement, teams are encouraged to come up with a creative solution to transform the organisation.
Challenge teams are diverse and consist of reskilled colleagues, graduates, apprentices and those on its Code First Girls programme. Their career backgrounds range frontline branch roles to head office roles.
Participants take part in a 10-week challenge which educates them in how they can innovate, with a technical focus. This involves four weeks of learning, a platform to network with peers and senior leaders from across the globe, and mentoring from industry experts and influencers – last year, its partner was Google.
The teams are then trained to pitch their idea to over 40 senior leads. Those who make it through the first-round of judging then present their solutions to four executives in a Dragons’ Den-style environment.
Seventy-seven per cent agreed the programme allowed them to bring new skills into their current role at the bank. Eighty per cent said the learning sessions gave them the right skills to bring their ideas to life.
Student Roost
As Covid-19 pressures eased in spring 2021, student accommodation provider Student Roost realised it faced a retention challenge, especially among operational teams in properties. In particular, it needed to create a succession plan for those in customer service advisors and ‘Night Owl’ roles, in the hope of retaining them in management roles in future.
Bespoke development plans were created for each operations manager, which included in-house workshops, e-learning modules, on-the-job learning experiences, mentoring and coaching and attending conferences and events. Once managers had embarked on their journey, the programme was expanded to include assistant operations managers who had one-on-one conversations with the head of L&D about their individual ambitions and development needs. It has since been rolled out to customer service advisors and Night Owls.
A skills map reporting tool was also developed, which allowed managers and individuals to clearly identify areas of strength and specify areas for development.
Since introducing the initiatives, internal promotions have increased and management recruitment costs have reduced. Development and career conversations are now and integral part of the Student Roost culture.
Vertas Group
Realising that leaders were experiencing burnout following the Covid pandemic, facilities management firm Vertas Group has developed a leadership pathways programme that encourages lifelong learning and self-development, to reignite their passion for their roles.
A key aim for the people team was to avoid developing a generic leadership training programme; it needed to be agile and encourage collaboration, while also meeting individual needs.
After completing a remote training programme, Aspire to Inspire, participants can decide which direction to follow on the pathway, giving them control over their own career development. They also receive mentoring from senior leaders, which lasts six months and supports them to focus on a particular area or skill.
An interactive Emerging Leaders course, delivered by the senior team, covers the company brand, effective partnerships, looking after its people and operations management. Participants go out in the field to meet clients, experience its operations first-hand, and to immerse themselves in operational teams.
The company has seen managers become more comfortable asking for support when needed, an improved ownership. It has also seen an increase in managers taking part in apprenticeship courses.
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