The goals

For the business

• To ensure that they had strong leadership capability in each of the breweries in Europe to give them confidence that the business could achieve its strategic goals
• To enable the business to leverage the opportunities created by functionalising the manufacturing side of the business
• To create a shared understanding of excellence in manufacturing management and how to achieve it
• To build a network where people could learn from each other and share successful ways of working

For the participants

• To analyse and understand their leadership strengths and ‘signature’
• To become part of a European manufacturing community sharing best practice and working collaboratively on shared challenges
• To leave the programme with a high quality, specific development plan for themselves as leaders and their area of operation
• To receive focused challenge and support from an external coach to implement their change plans

The client wanted a fresh and interesting approach not the ‘same old type of leadership programme’. They wanted to bring a group of senior leaders together to share experiences, work together and make a genuine impact. They challenged us to bring some ‘flair and difference’ to the programme which brought together this group of senior manufacturing leaders from 12 different countries for the first time.

What we did

We worked collaboratively with the European Head of Manufacturing, the European Head of Learning and Development and the European HR Manager to co-create the programme.

Participants were surveyed prior to the programme and completed individual profiles so that we could tailor the programme to their needs and preferences. The programme itself was a mix of individual reflection, leadership exercises, group work, expert input, coaching, open space working, practical discussion and action planning.

We ran the programme at an old Monastery in Ghent, home to the craft beer St. Stefanus, brewed and marketed in the town for over 300 years. The programme built in opportunities for dinner and trade visits to the ancient monastery brewery nearby and allowed the production managers to experience the beer culture of Belgium.

Each participant was matched with one of our coaches and continued to work with them remotely for the three months following the programme. This provided welcome support and challenge as they implemented their individual and organisation change plans back in their real world.

The difference we made

The feedback from the programme was as follows:

All of the participants reported that the programme gave them a good understanding of their leadership approach, their strengths and their impact, that they know what is expected of them and that they felt able to take responsibility for their own development.

The programme resulted in a set of action plans at individual, country/region and pan-European levels. These were agreed at a high level and have been implemented with the European Manufacturing Director sponsoring and supporting progress through regular reviews.

The programme was evaluated immediately following the event and following the three month coaching period.

In a survey 100% of participants said that that agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “As a result of the programme I feel I will achieve more as a leader”.

We continued our strengths-based leadership development work with SABMiller and in August 2014 we received this testimonial:

“Engaging Minds has been a valued partner in leadership development in SABMiller for more than five years. During that time, they have continued to impress with their focus on unwavering quality and commitment both in terms of learning design and delivery. Their strengths-based approach to leadership development is aligned to the philosophy of SABMiller where each employee working to their strengths and potential is core to our ambition. Engaging Minds’ learning design focuses on the sweet spot between academic rigour and practical application – the end-to-end design is always robust and focuses precisely on the required skills and behaviour needed to operate as a leader in the 21st century. Their delivery is equally impressive – experienced facilitators and coaches ensure that learning transfer takes place effectively. Most recently, Engaging Minds has partnered with the business to deliver cutting edge virtual classroom experiences for our graduate trainees focusing on the interface between digital learning and facilitated learning. Engaging Minds is an example of a truly customer focused partner able to provide bespoke solutions in a cluttered market.”
Samantha Rockey — Group Leadership Development Executive, SABMiller