As part of HBM’s commitment to add value to our portfolio companies, we continually seek ways to invest in leadership development. Last year, we created a two-day training program called Leadership in Action that helped hone the skills of leaders from across our family of companies. This year, we built on that success by hosting leaders from our enterprise for our inaugural Talent Summit, held in St. Louis on May 23rd.
At HBM, our support for portfolio companies includes providing the necessary tools for executing long-term strategic plans — and we view talent development as a vital component. To underscore that, we designed the Talent Summit around several key objectives:
- Connect current and future leaders across the enterprise
- Help them gain awareness of HBM businesses and shared challenges across the enterprise
- Enhance their problem-solving skills while working with others across the enterprise
- Provide attendees with increased awareness of their own leadership styles— and leave them with new skills to deploy as leaders
With opening remarks from CEO Mike DeCola, the action-packed day immersed participants in HBM’s philosophy of talent development. It also helped attendees become more familiar with the inner workings of other companies within our family. That was the case with the CEO panel, where leaders from each portfolio company provided overviews of their businesses and then shared leadership insights during a facilitated discussion.
The day also included hands-on activities to help develop effective management strategies. The “Traders Activity” explored what works — and what doesn’t — when integrating people with different backgrounds into teams. It prompted insightful discussions around ways people behave in project teams and when working with others.
In addition, a Business Simulation activity gave participants the opportunity to exercise their skills in leadership, problem-solving, and networking. Each team was given a case study with a problem and then tasked with finding a solution to present to CEOs and HR Leadership.
The Talent Summit also featured the Ongoing Consultancy Project Launch. This entails teams acting as internal consultants —those teams use a structured process to explore and build viable solutions for real business problems at current portfolio companies. In August, the solutions will be presented to the senior panel for review and feedback.
The day concluded with an evening interactive presentation focused on VUCA, examining the importance of awareness around volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
Participants at the Talent Summit left with an array of tools and insights to help them become even more effective leaders — and were reminded that at HBM, talent development is a strategic priority.
