The second this year Leadership Week was held in Moscow in July. The company managers, experts and SMReservists were busy identifying their entrepreneurial potential in a business game and working in groups on the company business plans.

It is to be recalled that Strategic Management Reserve (SMR) training is the task set by the company president. The training is conducted by the Corporate University within the strategic project “100 new generation leaders to implement the strategy” and is based on professional schools, knowledge management system and mentorship.

The Leadership Week started with a business game meant to identify the participants’ entrepreneurial potential, and to try on different professional roles, such as engineers, entrepreneurs and organizers of the labor specialization system.

“I enjoyed playing this business game!” shared George Shklyanik, SMR-2 participant, sales department deputy head, VDA. “It was very close to reality: constant lack of information, regular drastic market changes, scraps of inaccurate information, lack of clear rules and objectives. But this is the most common business environment! The funny thing is that most of the game participants were puzzled by this state of things. I am happy to have had an opportunity to be in a businessman shoes without a risk.”

“The game format was not quite standard, but it helped us to look at sales and purchases from the other perspective – though the eyes of a venture investor,” adds Yulia Celetaria, SMR-2 participant, Global Pharma Director, ABC. “We considered the key issues in the technique of building and selling companies, tried role-playing to apply gained knowledge. In the game we were forced to rely more on ourselves, prioritizing and making (sometimes) risky decisions, drawing conclusions from our own experience, rather than waiting for the guidance of moderators.”

The second day of the Leadership Week was devoted to presentations of external and internal speakers. Videos of all presentations are available in the Unified Informational Knowledge System km.volga-dnepr.com – click to view! (available for the company employees):

• Denis Kovalevich, shareholder and CEO of Technopark group – “Entrepreneurship in the venture capital industry and in corporations”;
• Petr Schedrovitsky, an expert and consultant on spatial development, regional and industrial policy, innovation and staff training – “Entrepreneurship and management”;
• Lyubov Ponomareva, Director, Strategic Management Department, VDM – “Business Plan”;
• Tatyana Arslanova, the Group Vice president on strategic management – Executive director, VDM, – “VDG Budget and business plan”.
  

“I think everyone had a lot of emotions after the first day of the business game, at least in our team, and they were different – from complete unconsciousness to a slight shock”, said Oleg Omelyanenko, Head of Flight Safety Inspection, VDA. “However, the second day put everything in its place. The lecturers clearly linked our actions in the business game with real life and real business. The knowledge we gained gave us certain limits to act so as we won’t rush about real life like blind kittens. We got a clear understanding of the difference between an entrepreneur and a manager. It turns out that there are not so many entrepreneurs in real life.”

Group work on the company business plans was the most important part of the Leadership Week. As a result, the participants presented to the top managers elaborated scenarios for the further development of the company.

Stay tuned!