Developing Sony’s Regional Talent Pipeline
Measurable Results of a Leadership Academy

The business challenge

Sony’s 1st and 2nd line managers in the SCSE region were generally young, open, active, and had sufficient professional experience. Some of them had li­mited practical experience in people management, and they had diverse theoretical background. The expectation towards the middle management team at Sony has changed significantly over the past period of time while they did not have a chance to participate in any structured, comprehensive leadership skills development program before. The majority of the middle managers were not in daily work relation with each other. They work in various countries (Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece)
Sony wanted to improve and develop the basic leadership skills and competences of their young and enthusiastic first line and middle managers, while enhancing intra-business co-operation within the SCSE region. This is why Sony was seeking a partner that could handle a complex international development program with the highest quality and manage its o­perational challenges professionally.
“When we were looking for a partner three years ago to help us improve the leadership capability in our business, it was important for us to find an organization that is able:

• to deliver high-quality program across our major markets
• to work together with us in a flexible and business oriented manner so that we achieve real competency development rather than just deliver a training program
• to ensure that the content of the program and the way it is delivered provides tailored solution in line with our company culture and processes”

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Imre Vadász
Regional HR-Director,
Sony Ltd, Central-South Europe

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[one_half_last][blockquote3]“We are happy to work with Develor since they fully satisfy the above criteria, and equally or even more importantly, they proved to be an ethical business partner, seeking a long term trusted relationship with their customers.”[/blockquote3][/one_half_last]

The result

Results are – no doubt – exemplary and outstanding. The team has shown improvement in all measured competences.
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The program was closed at the highest satisfaction level of Sony’s talents, managers and HR professionals. After the first successful program a new academy was launched in 2012. “The project was extremely challenging since the participants represented different cultures, learning styles and they had different development objectives. The Insights Discovery reports helped us a lot to understand the talents’ preferences. The trainer team managed to deliver a program satisfying the highest needs with special attention to individual needs.” – said Adrienn Szerémi, Develor’s Project Manager.
The results of the program were measured in the final stage of the academy in a form of an Evaluating effectiveness event. This process made it possible to quantify the results of the development program. The event covered

• Knowledge test
• Participants presentations
• Results of 360˚ feedback reassessment

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[blockquote3]“We have been working together with Develor on Leadership Academy since 2009. Since we evaluated the first program as a success and a good investment into our business, we have started with a second group of leaders in 2012.”[/blockquote3]

facts & figures

• participants from 8 businesses
• 8 modules in 1.5 years
• 6 trainers from 4 countries

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