learning & development
SHARING INFORMATION OPENLY AND
TRANSPARENTLY BEGINS AT THE TOP
Hilti’s Canadian general manager Martina McIsaac sets the tone
by ensuring company information is shared accurately and trans-parently.
Messages are cascaded from leadership to their respective
teams through intense training sessions, using a “meeting in a box”
format, which include presentations, demonstration materials,
talking points, training documents and videos. This helps establish
a culture of information sharing, and ensures that all employees,
from coast to coast, receive the same message.
DEVELOPING TEAM MEMBERS IS EMBEDDED
IN CULTURE
At Hilti, managers know that their main role is to coach and moti-vate
their teams. In fact, it is built into their performance targets;
managers receive a bonus when they develop a team member who
gets promoted. This is enabled by technical and product train-ing,
which is second to none. New hires receive two months of
training, and all employees are constantly updating their skills and
knowledge with 40 hours of training annually. Hilti also subsi-dizes
team members who wish to further develop their skills at
post-secondary institutions.
EVERY EMPLOYEE HAS A CAREER PLAN
Having a formal process for career advancement allows trans-parency
and across-the-board understanding of each person’s
development plan and career path. Each team member’s career
options are reviewed with their direct manager so they can pro-vide
their insight into development discussions and better support
their individual career goals. The process also provides HR with
a holistic view of each team’s skills, areas for development, goals
and dynamics.
COMMITTING TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
AND PROMOTING FROM WITHIN
Hilti has a strong commitment to fill the majority of positions,
especially management roles, from within the organization. Using
their Global Talent Management Process, they assess the potential
and goals of each employee, and then put a development plan into
place to fill any gaps and assess progress. As a worldwide company,
the opportunities are diverse and all over the world. About 79 per
cent of the Canadian management team has been promoted inter-nally.
As an example, they have an emerging leader program that
helps high potential team members develop their skills and leader-ship
abilities at a fast-tracked pace and gives them exposure to the
entire Canadian executive management team. Each year, partici-pants
of this program are promoted within a year, based on their
performance in the program, mobility, personal interest and busi-ness
needs.
A commitment to sharing information transparently, develop-ing
employees and promoting them ensures that Hilti’s vast body
of institutional knowledge is retained. n
Alison Grenier is head of research and culture at Great Place to
Work Canada.
turgaygundogdu / 123RF Stock Photo
HAVING A FORMAL
PROCESS FOR CAREER
ADVANCEMENT ALLOWS
TRANSPARENCY AND
ACROSS-THE-BOARD
UNDERSTANDING
OF EACH PERSON’S
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
AND CAREER PATH.
38 ❚ JUNE 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
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