Reversing a Talent Drought While Generating Millions

Client Profile & Challenge

Mars has grown rapidly through acquisitions and organic growth. But its success threatened to outstrip the company’s ability to supply the senior leaders needed to manage the multi-billion-dollar enterprise. General managers across the organization had also noticed that their middle managers weren’t ready to take on senior positions.

As the company grew, Mars needed mission-ready leaders who understood the firm’s culture and values. It needed to double its senior leader pipeline, from 400 to 800, to keep up with the growth.

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The company’s hiring strategy brought in a steady supply of high-potentials, but the talent management pipeline encouraged leaders to stay in their roles for 3 years. To maintain an 80% internal promotion rate, Mars needed to prepare mid-level leaders faster for senior roles.

Our collaboration with Mars was awarded a gold-level Excellence in Practice Award from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).

Solution & Results

To meet the demand for ready-to-go leaders, the Mars University Leadership College collaborated with us to create the Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP). The program is highly selective, with just 4% of high-potential, mid-level leaders selected to attend.

Each cohort of ALP participants goes through a 9-month experience that encompasses 4 stages:

• Classify: Leaders map their change ecosystem by doing ethnographic research and conducting experiments;
• Cultivate: Participants prepare to impact their environment by learning their strengths and weaknesses in leading change;
• Convert: Participants multiply their impact by implementing a change initiative in their business units and influencing key stakeholders across the organization; and
• Cascade: Participants use storytelling to spread their changes system-wide and accomplish a significant goal.

The Transformational Change Plan is at the heart of the ALP experience. The plan is a vehicle for participants to learn through the experience of leading an organizational change initiative over a 9-month period.

Program Impact

During the creation of the ALP, we conducted research that shed light on how Mars drives change in its business. That work informed specific elements of the program, including:

• Emphasis on the 70-20-10 rule. 70% of knowledge is from job-related experiences, 20% from interactions with others, and 10% from formal educational events;
• Tapping the power of a transformational change initiative. This solves a significant problem in the business while preparing participants to move to the next level; and
• Aligning all players involved. The ALP is structured so that interacting with everyone involved — Mars mentors, CCL trainers, and coaches — is seamless for the participants.

The initial training engagement not only produced 348 mission-ready senior leaders for Mars’ growing businesses, but it also produced a tangible, short-term return on investment. The Transformational Change Plans participants developed and implemented resulted in $300,000 in incremental earnings per participant.

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