At SThree, we see the value of investing in our employees and their continual learning. Having a solid training and development programme across all levels of the business has provided our people with a clear career trajectory. We believe in rewarding our long-term employees for their loyalty and hard work by promoting from within and enabling them to explore all leadership opportunities we offer.
Awarded Best Training and Development Initiative by Recruitment International last year, our extensive training and development programme supports our people’s careers from an entry level through to executive coaching at the director level. This has in turn enabled us to retain top talent in the business.
What is our Building Leadership Potential (BLP) Programme about?
Together with our global team of Learning and Development partners, we have created a leadership development programme called ‘Building Leadership Potential’ that focuses on engaging our leadership team to further unlock SThree’s potential for our employees, customers and shareholders. Great leadership cannot be prescribed – it requires a high degree of sustained emotional energy along with impeccable ethics and a strong set of core skills. It requires our leaders to inspire their teams while delivering against strategic objectives and at the same time, understand SThree’s risk appetite. This is why we have built the BLP programme to help achieve this balance.
Our programme is designed to equip our leaders with the fundamental skills to thrive as a leader whilst supporting their career development. This global initiative has launched in the USA, the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France and we are set to launch the first part of the programme to Australia, Japan, Singapore & UAE in March.
How will our leaders benefit from the BLP Programme?
We believe that the success of an organisation depends primarily on its people. We recognise that one of the greatest challenges for leaders within our organisation is knowing how to harness the power, knowledge, expertise and creativity of individuals to help them to work together effectively as a high performing team that is capable of achieving the goals of the organisation.
The programme will provide our leaders with a series of learning tools including experiential learning where they can explore strategies on developing a more results-based leadership culture to realign management’s focus on long-term goals whilst remaining authentic.
The programme has been uniquely designed to connect the challenges that our leaders face every day with the essential skills needed to be successful. To build leadership potential and support the shift from a manager to a leader, we have split the programme into 4 building blocks as illustrated here:
We have just launched Learning Block 2: Building a Performance Culture in America and Germany – Here’s a snapshot
‘Building a Performance Culture’ will help our leaders to recognise that a performance culture within the organisation is shaped by personal accountability and responsibility – both at an individual and collective level. It is only when one becomes accountable that there is room for quality improvement and positive results. Our development programme facilitates the process of ensuring that every team takes accountability for delivering the business vision and proactively takes ownership of their role in their day-to-day activities.
Leadership experts Roger Connors, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman have outlined the ‘Oz Principle’ which stipulates how managers need to rise above the line of leadership; i.e. rise above their challenges and take accountability for the results achieved – whether positive or negative. The Oz Principle uses the story of the Wizard of Oz to highlight the importance of personal accountability. The key takeaway of the Oz Principle reiterates the moral of the Wizard of Oz story, whereby Dorothy and the other characters go in search of the wizard to solve all their problems until they realise that only they can help themselves and effect change. Hence, if we are frustrated about something, we are better off asking “what can I do about that?” or “how can I cope with that?” rather than feeling like a victim of our circumstances. The aim of this exercise is to recognise when one is experiencing ‘the Oz Principle’ and proactively seek to rise above the line of leadership.
Many people consciously or unconsciously avoid accountability which subsequently affects the way the business is run. This can take the following forms:
- Ignoring or denying the problem at hand
- Avoiding to get involved as the challenge at hand is not within one’s job description
- Finger-pointing and shifting the blame on someone else as a result of poor results
- Citing confusion as a way of making oneself less accountable and therefore unable to problem solve correctly
- Crafting elaborate stories as to why they cannot be blamed if results are not favourable
- Not taking any action while problems are getting worse
In response to the above, we set out 6 tips on how to perform above the leadership line and rise above one’s own shortcomings to achieve desired outcomes:
- Welcome constructive feedback on your performance
- Empower your team to solve problems together
- Acknowledge the problem at hand that needs to be resolved
- Only spend time on issues that are within your control
- Stay committed to your work in spite of its many challenges
- Own up to the circumstances you are in and the subsequent results
Having a well-attuned team that complements the business strategy really helps to drive the organisation’s performance towards the desired outcome. This is why it is very important for everyone in the organisation to be aware of their role and the need to take ownership for their role.
What is in store over the next few months?
Throughout the coming months we will continue to work closely with our leadership team and our Learning and Development Partners to increase the awareness and engagement of our programme across all regions we operate in. We will be rolling out Learning Block 3 and 4 of our leadership programme in April and June respectively, focusing on ‘Building Business Relationships’ and ‘Building Financial and Business Acumen’.
Are you interested to find out more about a career that invests in you?
At SThree, we nurture and develop talent through all levels of the organisation and we strive to optimise our employment practices and develop our employees. Our aim is to provide clear career progression structures to all our employees and empower them to develop a career with no limits. We are currently growing our teams in Singapore, Japan and Australia across all business levels. If you are interested in pursuing a career in recruitment, please don’t hesitate to contact us at +61 02 9285 1064 for a confidential discussion about our current opportunities.
