The second module of the Future Leaders training program for the VD management reserve was held in Moscow from May 30 to June 02. The second intake reservists – 39 Volga-Dnepr employees from all over the world – were studying the company strategy, getting closer to the company customers and strategic partners.

In his welcoming speech the Group president Alexey Isaykin emphasized the importance of sharing the classroom with the customers which could serve as foundation for successful long-term relationships: “The customer is ready to teach us, and we are ready to share with them our precious knowledge. This is a very critical stage for our success. If we manage to make it part-and-parcel of our culture it will be the basis for the company long-term prosperity”.

Everybody remembers a creative group task aimed at drawing and presenting to the company top executives the cargo supermarket advertisement poster and slogan meant for external customers.

On the first training day Sergey Vorobjev, Ward Howell president, focused on the importance of teamwork and on the development of leadership competitive skills. At the end of the day all the participants presented to the company top executives their reports on the class projects.

“The program gathered brave and strong guys!” – shares Antonina Muralova, VDA HR director. – “Teamwork, inspiration, and willingness to turn the task into contribution to business are remarkable”.

“You impressed me, it was great!” – Sergey Shklyanik, the Group senior vice president, said to the participants. – “I really appreciate that many of you managed to apply new methods and tools in practice. It’s important to continue mastering the main executive’s instrument – word. You must be able to convince, to bring message home to people, to feel their feedback”.

The second training day was devoted to speakers’ presentations and practical tasks. Alexey Isaykin and Sergey Shklyanik presented the company strategy in its connection with corporate values. The president defined value as something that people were ready to sacrifice their interests for.

Tatyana Arslanova, the group vice president on strategic management, continued speaking about the company strategy and the way TOP-Marketing could be used as a tool for its realization.

She was also speaking about the cargo supermarket and strategic partnerships.

Robert van de Weg, the Group counselor, spoke about our partners’ development strategy up to 2020.

Markus Muecke, global executive on procurement management from Panalpina, the Group key customer, carried on the tradition of learning with and from a customer. He suggested considering the Volga-Dnepr and Panalpina strategies in terms of common steps. He explained that the Strategy-2020 was based on three pillars: business growth, increase in production rate and quality initiatives, which would be beneficial for both parties.

After presentations the participants got down to practical task – they had to work out action-oriented proposals on strategic partnerships.

The third day was devoted to project management taught by Galina Isaykina, head of VD Corporate University, and Vladimir Polkovnikov, PM consultant from “Project Practice”

– We played a dynamic game, spoke about project management in terms of deductive method, going from specific to general, – said Vladimir Polkovnikov. – The participants tried different tasks, and then we analyzed their efficiency. The teams are fantastic, overwhelming! You could feel that incredible team energy! The game results were successful. I am sure they enjoyed it. We summarized the results and lessons learnt. I was happy to hear that they were leaving the classroom with understanding of the key project management tools – such as project passport, schedule, risk management. These are fundamentals

of successful project management!

The last training day covered the topics of leadership and cargo supermarket customers. Tatyana Arslanova presented her leadership lessons. “If you want to be a leader you must leave all your doubts and stereotypes, no shyness or uncertainty”, – emphasized Tatyana Arslanova. She said that it was necessary to fight one’s weaknesses and be ready to take responsibility for current events and people.

Then Nikolay Glushnev, ABC operations director, presented his report on brains activation. He shared wonderful facts about brain operation, recommended some concentration techniques which he’d learned doing the training course in GE.

George Shklyanik, the second intake program participant, head of transportation support group, VDA, shared the results of his training course in GE Crotonville. He spoke about the difference between couching and other traditional development tools.

At the end Oleg Makushkin, ABC sales director, and Alexander Krajnov, VD UK sales director, told the participants about the VD cargo supermarket customers.

Here’s what the participants shared:

Dmitry Malkov, head of the procurement management department, VDM:
– Listening to the company top executives was really valuable. Their knowledge and experience is worth more than lots of textbooks. I enjoyed positive and friendly atmosphere of the training and its intensity. It was also useful to listen to the invited trainers, including our customer who was speaking about knowledge sharing and common approaches to business. Information about body resource management was really interesting. I once again made sure that such events could really contribute to efficient relationships between colleagues in further work interactions.

Jane Sun, Regional Financial&ADM Manager-APAC, ABC:
– I have achieved a lot in module 2:
I. Know classmates in details from their personality, experience, life attitude and work status. All of them are talented and have points to be learned from.

II. As a foreigner in team, no matter project team, activity team during 4 days training, colleagues listened to me and share the opinion with me. I felt comfortable even though sometimes language is diff.
III. Deep impressed by the speeches of top management on sharing their experience and comprehension on strategy, leadership, etc.
IV. Have got latest info about company development as new project, new service, new destination. Such info is inspired and useful for us to understand our current status and think deeply what we can contribute ourselves for company.
V. Have a valuable opportunity to communicate with top management of our key account. Win-Win model between key customer and us is very important for our sustainable development to realize company strategy.

Dmitry Andreev, head of the maintenance shop, AMTES:
– Those were very intensive and fruitful four days. I learned a lot of new and interesting things from the company executives, colleagues, trainers and, of course, the customer. Tatiana Arslanova’s presentation on top-marketing was really useful. Alexander Krainov and Oleg Makushkin gave detailed information about our key customers. We witnessed the generation change in VDTM management. It was important to get to know “Vision, Mission and Values by Markus Muecke” from Panalpina, our partner and customer. Thank you to Vladimir Polkovnikov from “Project Practice” for sharing valuable information on project management. We didn’t notice the time. It was fun, with the focus on serious things, complicated tasks and knowledge sharing.

Nailya Shigabutdinova, the leading specialist on financial and management reporting, VDA:
– I was positively impressed with the second training module. I really liked practical tasks on project management conducted by Vladimir Polkovnikov. We gained some skills and were able to apply them on building a playing race track. Tatiana Arslanova’s presentation on leadership and recommendations to future leaders were also very informative and valuable. It was the first session where our communication both with colleagues and partners was aimed at practical questions, which was really beneficial. Thank you trainers and participants for our joint effort!

Igor Gordeev, leading lawyer, VDTM:
– The second module went at much higher pace than the first one, which contributed much to information “digesting”, as we had to apply the gained knowledge doing mini projects included into the training program.
During breaks we kept disputing and creating, which added much to our learning enthusiasm. It was great that the projects were aimed at real problems with real customers. Listening to Markus Muecke, the Panalpina’s representative, we were surprised to learn that values and goals of both companies – Volga-Dnepr and Panalpina – have a lot in common. So, it is obvious why both companies are so interested in fruitful and successful co-operation.
I also enjoyed the project management session based on the example F1race track. The reality of the events, key moments, facts of F1 race track construction in Sochi helped to understand the importance of project preparation and realization stages. It also helped to carefully analyze some minor project moments which expedited the process and contributed to project realization, and I’m sure to projects we would participate in the future. I also would like to mention N.Glushnev’s brief and lively journey into the mind mysteries, as at times it is very important to know where your ‘master switch’ is. I’m thankful to Corporate University for the opportunity to gain this knowledge!

Denis Selesnev, economics and finance director, VDA:
– The account day was very exciting, vibrant and memorable. It was interesting to listen to the presentations of our colleagues, the program second round participants. I was also impressed with the S.Borobjev lecture on teaming – very clear and emotional. Other days were also valuable – Markus Muecke appeared to be the first ‘live’ customer for many participants. Tatiana Arslanova lectured on Top-marketing. The day with Vladimir Polkovnikov who was teaching the fundamentals of project management was really entertaining.

Pavel Kuznetsov, sales director, VD UAC:
– This module was vibrant and impressive! The program was very intensive and required entire intellectual and emotional involvement. There was a lot of useful information which expanded the horizons much. S.Vorobjev’s presentation is really memorable as he was speaking about current trends in organization management and increasing role of teaming. I listened to him with great pleasure. The other two days allowed us to practise teaming doing different tasks in different teams. I’m happy that all the participant of the program second round are getting close and united, which is very beneficial for further co-operation at work places and project teams.

Andrey Rassadkin, deputy sales director, VDA:
– It’s really important that such events allow the participants to network, re-consider the company values, compare notes, this is much more useful than any theory and beneficial for the job. As for the applicability I’d mention project management on the example of F1 race track construction. I agree with the trainer on the point that management system is just the means, the approach, but not the purpose, not the blind intention to work out documents that wouldn’t work as it is often the case (including our company). For many this event is also a good training on public speaking.

Konstantin Turkin, head of public relations department, VDA:
– As before, face-to-face interaction with the company top executives was the most impressive and valuable thing. It’s wonderful communication experience which positively charges and motivates for new achievements. Besides, I’d like to mention the presentation of our customer, Markus Meucke. The training was arranged as teamwork. Thank you experts for valuable recommendations. The strategy evolution was brilliantly presented by S.Shklyanik. Nikolai Glushnev’s presentation based on the results of his visit to GE was also memorable. Thank you Corporate University for the event organization!

Vladimir Ostroumov, head of corporate reporting department, VDM:
– It’s worth mentioning presentations of the company top executives who spoke about strategy, values and top-marketing. Mostly I liked the way S.Shklyanik was presenting evolution of the company strategic goals, about possible mistakes in the strategic plan, and also about the necessity to inspire people with the strategy. I also learned more about the company customers. It was interesting to participate in modeling the partnership between VD and DHL. It was useful to practice and get the feeling of all the project stages. I was impressed with the level our sales managers A.Kraynov and O.Makushkin knew the customers, with outstanding presentations of A.Isaykin, S,Shklyanik, T.Arslaniova based on their experience. It was interesting that every VD participant presented his/her motto which showed them slightly the other way. Markus Meucke presented the Panalpina strategy. It was worth learning that innovations were not possible without changes, and changes could be manageable for those who initiated them.

Julia Minnibaeva, the leading specialist on financial and management reporting, VDA:
– The second module was really eventful. In four days we managed to learn more about the company history, mission, strategic goals. Vladimir Polkovnikov’s session on project management was very entertaining and useful. He presented the project fundamentals and project life stages in the form of case study. T.Arslanova’s lecture and mini projects allowed us to learn about key customers and communication strategies. Very motivating! Thank you Corporate University!

George Shklyanik, head of transportation support group, VDA:
– Four days of communication with colleagues and the company top executives left a distinct feeling of responsibility for the future of the company, which is for the future leaders. In my opinion, all the participants came to realize that it was time to stop thinking in the context of our fleet and to start thinking in the context of our customers’ needs.

Lubov Kamalova, ABC deputy director on economics:
– I am impressed with Sergey Shklyanik’s presentation on the company mission and strategy development. Very informative and patriotic! Thank you. I found most useful to hear about the history of the company mission and strategy development, leaders’ recommendations, information about customers, other participants’ projects. I also saw Nikolay Glushnev in a different role – vivid presentation, great sense of humor!

Oleg Novikov, marketing and business development director, ABC subsidiary in Shanghai:
– I’d mention the history of the company strategy development – that it’s not static, it’s rather a process which matches the current stage of the company development and business environment. It was also important to study project management. It’s useful and applicable not only for projects but also as a common approach to complex tasks at work. I am positively impressed by Nikolay Glushnev who turned out to be a perfect speaker capable of lecturing on psychology.