Client Stories
Developing talented people fuels global manufacturing success
Kelvion is a global manufacturer of industrial heat exchangers headquartered in Europe. Established in 1920, Kelvion have a long, distinguished history of R&D, manufacturing and market growth.
The challenge
Every successful company adapts and changes in a global market. Kelvion is no exception. Operational leaders and managers are essential for company success, so it is no surprise that Kelvion focuses on developing talent, to drive current and future business growth.
Management development needs to reflect the company’s experience of change. L&D manager Christa Haupt decided on a new approach and discussed this with Georgia Shaw, CLS’ European account director. Georgia was delighted to introduce CLS’ Tim Cox to Christa to develop a new talent programme. Christa says, “In L&D you understand the value of developing managers but it is not always easy to point to specific outcomes. When you invest in training, it helps to say, as a result of this programme, we achieved these things. That gives senior managers concrete evidence of the benefits of management development.”
The Programme
The Talent Network Programme is designed specifically to address Kelvion’s future challenges. Every company has a unique culture and set of challenges. CLS design focuses on helping talented leaders develop their skills and deliver clear results. With strong input from L&D, the programme was co-designed to help Kelvion address the challenges and outcomes needed for future business growth.
High potential experts and future leaders are responsible for day to day management and running of the business. Some manage people, some don’t. Some work globally with different locations and cultures, others have multiple responsibilities and reporting lines. All of them work to maintain and develop a successful, highly reputable, global business.
In L&D you understand the value of developing managers but it is not always easy to point to specific outcomes. When you invest in training, it helps to say, as a result of this programme, we achieved these things. That gives senior managers concrete evidence of the benefits of management development.
The solution
You need good skills to succeed, so this programme is designed to take talented people up level. A practical approach, based on tried and tested theory, provides concrete, measurable outcomes. Every participant and each cohort is different; the design is flexible to adapt to the people in the room. Kelvion wants talented people to have excellent skills in core competencies. Design and delivery focused on these topics :
- Project based learning: Skills upgrade taking individuals from good to great in project management. Working with peers to create, design and run a company improvement project
- Communication skills: Understanding their own and other people’s communication styles. Psychometrics for deeper skill development. Inter-cultural communication for effective working across cultural and countries
- Change management: Practical models to help everyone approach change positively. Moving from change management to agile management
- Mentoring & coaching: Experiencng coaching and mentoring by senior leaders. Working with L&D to set up an internal mentoring programme
You need good skills to be promoted to mid-management, so this programme is designed to take managers up level. A practical approach, based on tried and tested theory, provides concrete, measurable outcomes. Every manager and each cohort is different; the design is flexible to adapt to the people in the room. No one wants to waste time learning what they already know.
All delegates were provided with 1:1 coaching to help them implement their learning and address their specific talent management objectives.
Outcomes
This is the best year I've had. I have achieved so much and feel I can work with others to deliver even more.
“The Management Board were truly delighted at the final presentations of the company innovation project” said CLS’ Tim Cox. “The quality and impact of the projects showed how much talent, creativity, innovation and team work exists at middle management level. We had teams working in French, German, Polish and then doing all the final presentations in English. Every single team focused on helping Kelvion achieve more for the future.”
Individual participants can point to specific outcomes like meeting or exceeding their KPIs, building relationships across sites to enable more effective global working, promotions, successful team coaching to improve team performance and a clearer understanding of how to make a measurable difference in the way they and their colleagues work every day. They are positive about managing change, dealing with challenges and delivering on a bright future.
Another positive outcome is the decision to open the programme to a further cohort, so more high potentials can increase their capabilities and be even better at what they do and how they do it.
We all know that one of the best ways to improve employee engagement is to develop skills and then give people the opportunity to apply those skills. Kelvion has invested in an important group of high potential people and we benefit from that. We are so impressed by the talent in this group. They are even more dedicated to helping the business grow and we are keen to encourage them.
Click here to find out more about Kelvion
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