EADA trains the General Cable professionals in leadership skills
EADA Business School has been chosen by General Cable –a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Highland Heights (Kentucky, Ohio)– to develop leadership training for the company’s middle management in Europe. This programme, called ‘The General Cable Leadership Experience’, was already implemented in the United States a few months ago. The main objective was to allow every General Cable employee to learn about his limitless ability to influence and become “An example of leadership” in individual as well as team projects.
After the success of the initiative in the United States, the company set out to expand the leadership programme across European headquarters to cultivate a high-performance culture through EADA’s unique “learning by doing” methodology. General Cable believes that EADA’s pedagogical model will give European managers a common framework, plus the tools and resources to provoke change and transformation in their departments.
The training programme –led by the EADA Corporate Department– started in May at the EADA-Collbató Residential Training Campus with a group of middle managers from General Cable in Spain. Since then, the programme has been developed for professionals in four additional countries: France, Germany, Portugal and Norway. Project leader Luisa Bonilla supported several EADA faculty members in imparting the programme including Carles Brugarolas, Olga Millán, James Haigh, Sandra Brun, Koos Vos, Marianne Slotboorn and Aline Masuda, all from the Strategy, Leadership and People Department.
Three-phases of training
So far, two of the three phases of the project have been completed. The first phase consisted of 40 hours of face-to-face training combined with 6 modules the took place primarily online:
- Pre-course: General Cable values and behaviors
- “I am the example”
- How to build inclusive teams
- How to get things done
- How to lead change in the company
- Presentations and conclusions
Head of the EADA Strategy, Leadership and People Department Carles Brugarolas describes the programme’s focus on continued improvement that ensure long-term results. “Middle managers from the European General Cable headquarters have had the chance to identify and work on specific improvement points,” he says. “This means putting the strategy into practice, talking through the results with a coach and getting personalised feedback and advice.”
The second phase consisted of analysing the particular needs of each country. Brugarolas emphasises the importance of this phase. “We have seen that while all of the General Cable professionals do have share some needs, they also have unique needs related to the idiosyncrasy of each country,” he said. “It is essential to identify both types of needs to guarantee the most effective leadership transformation to be used around the world”.
The third phase is expected to begin in the fall and will be focused on General Cable’s human resources professionals. “The idea is to make the General Cable Leadership Experience available not only to managers, but to the rest of the department directors and employees as well,” says Brugarolas. “General Cable really wants to promote a culture in which anyone sees themselves as an example of leadership, so our training programme is focused on everybody, regardless of the role in the organization”.
Active and practical methodology
The training programme has a 100% practical and active focus, based on the study and discussion of real case studies through teamwork and the analysis of problems. Participants will learn to work with determination to create concrete proposals and a long-term action plan.
The EADA methodology has helped General Cable professionals to:
This program has a 100% practical and active focus, based on study and discussion f real cases, teamwork, analysis of problems, determination and concrete proposals and an action plan.
The EADA methodology has helped General Cable professionals to:
• Stimulate participation, action, and pragmatism.
• Foment exchange of ideas, increase self-confidence, encourage discovery and develop the skils for self-evaluation.
• Develop skills to manage the company’s resources, lead teams and analyse and solve problems effectively.
• Stimulate essential business competencies, especially the ability to learn and take decisions for leadership, change and innovation.
