The first stage of The Future Leaders Training Program has been successfully completed. By the end of the first year of training a group of almost complete strangers has become the team of thirty three like-minded people, some of them are ready to be the company leaders today. And this is just the beginning for the first program graduates! A lot is still ahead.  

The program on the managerial pool training is being realized by the Corporate University within the company strategic initiative “100 new generation executives to lead the strategy realization”. The training is based on the CU professional schools, knowledge management and mentoring system. The program key feature is in the participants’ involvement in real company projects, which they have chosen after the “project fair”.

“Creating future today!”

The final training session held in Moscow on February 1st gathered not only the program graduates, but also the company top management, mentors and project managers.

The first part of the session was devoted to the program results. “The future leaders” along with the project managers presented their achievements, their personal contribution to the project realization, shared their plans on further development.

During the second part the teams of participants were working on the corporate business cases based on the management functions. The jury of experts and mentors were thoughtfully observing the way the participants applied the knowledge gained during the four training modules and filling in special forms.

This final assessment will help to promote successful graduates: the HR Committee will consider ”the future leaders” profiles and will make decisions on their further development, for example, to appoint to a higher position or make them project managers. The program graduates will have priority to apply for any open vacancy in the company.

The Corporate Education Department director Galina Isaykina was encouraging the participants and inspiring creative ideas.

One of the memorable moments of the session was “The Knowledge Tree”: all the participants – experts, mentors and “future leaders” themselves scribed their personal take-home message on the symbolic “acorns”.
In the end all the graduates got exclusive badges and certificates, and left their wishes and farewell messages in the special book for future program applicants.

The session was crowned with another memorable moment – cooking teambuilding activity where “the future leaders” were trying to master Italian cuisine. The result was delicious, which proved again how great “the future leaders” were as a team.
The best first-year graduates will enter the second stage of the training program, which includes rotation and mentoring programs, also personal training to qualify to a higher position.

Here’s what present day leaders shared:

Alexey Isaykin, Volga-Dnepr Group president:
– The future is being created today by gaining knowledge patiently during training  and applying it for own and customers’ benefit. I’m glad to notice some positive changes in “students” who become more and more confident. I hope the graduates will be able to demonstrate their best – both inherent and gained during the training program. I wish them patience. And I think their results will improve. Thank you for their dedication which I hope will soon turn into labour!

15 minutes for a business case? Together we’ll manage everything!

Sergey Shklyanik, senior vice president:
– Communication and knowledge sharing is the guarantee of success. That’s what I’ve been observing today during the session. So, the more we communicate and contribute to knowledge circulation inside the company, the more efficient our work will be. This is why the communication skills are so important.

Tatiana Arslanova, vice president on strategic management and charter transportation:
– I was impressed by the participants’ excitement, their positive attitude and business mindset. If we preserve this foundation, the knowledge seeds will fall into fertile soil and in the end will give the fruit. We need time to get used to knowledge sharing and working in teams. First, the case study took the participants half an hour, then 10-15 minutes were enough. This proves that training communication skills is very important, and this is exactly what is being worked on here.

Alexander Bashkov, executive president, Volga-Dnepr Airlines:
– The progress is well observed. Every task intensified communication between team members. We really need such events to get to know each other better. My wish is for the company executives – don’t be afraid to use the potential of “the future leaders”, making them “present day leaders”. Most of them are ready, in my opinion. We shouldn’t doubt giving them challenging tasks; this will let them learn more about their own abilities.

The jury was carefully observing the process.

Sergey Lazarev, general director, ABC:
– This is what teaches us communication. The new generation grown up on computers and tablets really lack communication skills. The knowledge gained at school and during such corporate events is important for both – the company and its customers. What comes in the form of knowledge should eventually turn into real work, real benefit and real responsibility. This is the most important thing.

Dmitry Obsharov, vice president on organizational development:
– One of the most important knowledge areas is knowledge of people. Today’s event has proved that the company future, its strategy is in the hands of those who are truly ready to become its leaders. The symbolic “junior team” has been formed, and it is already ”in play”. Later they will become “regular players”. This is what I wish all them to be as soon as possible!  

A solemn moment

Here’s what “future leaders” shared:

Ekaterina Chuychenko, head of the fleet development, VDM:
– I was really inspired by the event – it was great to break away from my job routines and see the company in its wise decisions, interesting and challenging tasks, and people who enjoy realizing them! I was happy to see the results of my colleagues’ work during the graduate project defense. Also, when we were working on business cases I could see that most of the experts were more concerned with sharing their vision and experience than assessing us. I really hope we’ll have another chance to learn more about our company and learn from each other. All necessary knowledge is nearby. One should wish to gain it.

Dmitry Levushkin, head of flight dispatch department, VDA:
– I’m really thankful to Corporate University and its director for their big heart totally put into The Future Leaders Training program. I am sure that all that participants will remember the year 2015 as one of the most vivid pages in their lives.

Completing “The Knowledge Tree”!

Alexander Kartashov, specialist of key customer service department, VDM:
– The value of knowledge gained from the leading Russian and foreign experts is unique. It was great to get so much attention from the company top management, who shared their experience and supported us throughout the program. I really appreciate the training on project management, change management, communication skills. No doubt this unique knowledge will help me manage my every day job tasks for the benefit of our customers!

Galina Vekshinskaya, head of sales analytics department, AFL:
– I am more than positively impressed. Hopefully, the program won’t finish now. I really benefited from the lectures of external experts – professionals in the field of growing leaders. Apart from valuable knowledge, ideas, reflections I would like to mention that special friendly atmosphere which was created by almost complete strangers – it is much easier to work in the team of like-minded people than separately, even if you are an expert. Case studies showed how good we were as a team when focusing on common not personal goals! 

The final cooking chord!

Alexey Zimin, director on business development, VDTM:
– We didn’t expect it at the beginning of the program. It was intensive, meaningful, substantial, useful. Really appreciate the coaches!  Case studies during this last session ware very beneficial. I once again came to a very important conclusion – to revise and apply knowledge is critical to keep it “fresh”.