From Left: Janine Pesci, Flemming Karstens Søeborg, Monika Vikander-Hegarty, Trish McCarty
Gold
Janine Pesci
Principal and Director of Global Talent, Gensler
Global design firm Gensler discovered that education would be a crucial element in to create international success. Janine Pesci, director of global talent, helped create its Gensler University Global Leaders program. Now active-learning opportunities aid participants working within four emerging markets: Sao Paulo; Calgary, Canada; Birmingham, England; and Bangalore, India.
Washington, D.C.-based Gensler’s six-month program widens midcareer employees’ understanding of a new culture, city, values and social structure. In the midst of the half-year program, the true test comes with a weeklong in-country immersion. Gensler selected 24 employees with a minimum of 12 years’ professional experience and had been with the firm at least three years.
While the program’s effect on Gensler’s international business has been deemed a success, there was a noticeable effect on participants, too. For example, the Bangalore team hosted the first-ever workplace roundtable in India. And the Calgary team combined individuals with five different cultural backgrounds, none being Canadian.
Emerging offices felt connected to the firm as a whole, and the program ignited a renewed energy in mid-career professionals. In short, the firm grew a little smaller and borders were no longer high walls.
Silver
Flemming Karstens Søeborg
Head of People Development, Novozymes
Danish industrial enzymes maker Novozymes prides itself on its ability to constantly innovate — or as its leaders like to say, “rethink tomorrow.” Problem was, longtime workers at the biotech company clung to “silent knowledge,” which hindered opportunities to share information freely throughout the company.
Flemming Karstens Søeborg, head of people development, initiated several programs, including its People Development Powerhouse program, to strengthen managers and their employees’ team-building practices.
The human resources department teamed with LoB to work not only across departments but also across worldwide offices for five- to eight-month stints, assessing leadership behavior, learning culture, systems and processes.
Because Novozymes is global with international, diverse and dispersed leadership teams, it was important that HR be able to run this initiative in global functions. In each People Development Powerhouse, HR mobilizes its global reach by conducting local workshops and learning loops with local and regional HR resources.
The program’s success is measured via formal feedback from managers as well as employees; validation of knowledge, behavior and attitude; validated impact measurement software through vendor Peopleway; and via significant growth of employees with updated development plans.
Bronze (tie)
Trish McCarty
CEO and Founder, StarShine Academy International Schools
Frustrated with K-12 education learning methods, Trish McCarty started an interactive training environment to teach education systems administration courses internationally through her organization, StarShine Quintessential Institute. The environment allows educators to participate in the class from virtually any location. Thousands of learning leaders have been trained in 11 countries. Pope Francis at the Vatican has requested the training and certification be used inside the Pope’s Boys and Girls Towns.
Bronze (tie)
Monika Vikander-Hegarty
Vice President of International Human Resources and Global Talent Development, Teleflex Inc.
Teleflex Inc.’s Monika Vikander-Hegarty designed the Teleflex Advantage program to develop key competencies at its most senior levels. This allowed potential successors to demonstrate their business acumen through financially related measures and by self-reporting their sense of personal fulfillment. A key aspect of the initiative is The Strategic Leadership program. One of the initiative’s unique goals is to create the organization’s most enthusiastic senior leaders of tomorrow.
