We are seeking an influential and experienced senior director to oversee, deliver and evolve the Mars enterprise curriculum for leaders and senior leaders and our new global Leader Expectations for leaders and managers at all levels.
This pivotal position is central to Mars’ strategic ambition to ‘Accelerate our Leadership and Culture Advantage’ by cultivating a world-class leadership population and pipeline that will contribute to our future business ambitions.
This is supported by an overarching agenda on development excellence, building capabilities that amplify great leadership at Mars through an end-to-end portfolio of global programs which are rooted in Mars’ Purpose, Five Principles and Associate Concept. (Learn more about Mars’ culture here.)
This role will be responsible for the global development of leaders across the enterprise, working in partnership with Segment talent leads, functional learning teams and other CoEs to deliver a cohesive, integrated curriculum that accelerates world class leadership at Mars.
This role will work in close partnership with peers in the Leader Development CoE to ensure coherence and quality across our shared portfolio and its renewed focus on developing Associates with purpose-driven, people-focused, principles-based leadership practices that have endured in Mars for decades.
In addition to programmatic solutions, this role will be responsible for activating new Leader Expectations and defining the supporting behaviours and competencies for all managers and leaders across Mars. Collaborative partnership with the People & Organization (P&O) function and business leaders will be essential as this work will require activation and alignment across the P&O operating model including multiple Centers of Excellence (from Talent Acquisition to Talent Management and Reward as well as Leader Development). This work requires complex stakeholder engagement over multiple years including up to the global Mars Leadership Team.
This role requires someone with a proven track record of setting a compelling multi-year vision for leadership capability across a large-scale corporate organization and who can translate this vision into a rigorous, well-sequenced portfolio of solutions.
The role holder will also need to demonstrate that they are successful when working in a highly matrixed organisation to deliver global initiatives at scale, bringing them to life through deep relationships with internal and external partners and business leaders.
Qualitative insight and measurement are critical to success to demonstrate how we are delivering on the ambition for ‘world class leadership’ as articulated in Mars’ Enterprise Strategy; our ‘future of work’ organisational capability priorities and Segment strategic priorities.
This role will be critical to further integrating Mars’ culture agenda and global Talent Management priorities with Leader Development initiatives.
Key responsibilities
Enterprise curriculum: own, evolve and measure the impact of our flagship leader development programs, Leading People at Mars and Leading Businesses at Mars, and any future global development designed for the leadership population. This will include a new pilot development programme for senior leaders and a multi-model development experience for senior enterprise leaders on an accelerated development path to the most senior roles in the organization.
Facilitate work with other CoEs whose development offerings support the ‘Accelerate Leadership and Culture Advantage’ priority from the Mars Enterprise Strategy. This includes close work with Global Inclusion and Diversity and Health and Wellbeing teams to construct more coherent, cohesive development pathways for leaders, aligned to our leader development architecture and new Leader Expectations.
Bring together shared standards and design principles across all programs (whether owned by the Leader Development CoE or other teams) so they feel like one coherent development journey for leaders at different levels of their career to simplify learning journeys.
Partner with Segment talent leads, functional learning teams and Mars University learning partners to link leader development requirements that are requested by business areas (Segments, regions, markets and functions) so that there is a more modular approach to all leader development, reducing cost, time and duplication of effort.
Leader Expectations: Mars is taking a strategic approach to the next chapter of our distinctive leadership culture. Working with a broad group of senior leaders and P&O partners we are clarifying the standards expected of leaders at all levels in Mars.
The downstream work will require multi-year activation across the P&O lifecycle. The aim is to ensure that all people processes and practices have the Expectations hard wired into them over the coming years. Additional work will take place in the Segments to activate the Expectations in everyday situations in order to take a more holistic approach to the full leadership experience, stretching beyond development and programme solutions.
The role holder will also be required to oversee work on defining the supporting behaviours and competencies underpinning the Expectations and to ensure these are embedded in all enterprise-level development experiences including the assessment portfolio. Close partnership with the Culture and Talent CoEs is critical to the success of this agenda.
Additionally the role holder will need to demonstrate that they are abreast of key research trends on leadership, including understanding how the changing external context is re-shaping leadership excellence and the supporting development required to be successful in the coming era of work.
This role will have a small team of Associates reporting into them as well as the support of some external specialists. Working across the matrix and gathering agile project groups to deliver global priorities will be essential to success.
The role holder will also need to integrate data insights from people analytics, including assessment data, to evolve the portfolio and deliver on specific talent needs as set out in the Mars annual talent cycle, to ensure deeper bench strength in our leadership pipeline.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
Please note: only those candidates with the required experiences and skills will be invited to interview.
Bachelors or Masters degree in Organizational Development, Psychology, Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
Extensive global experience in an enterprise role working with senior stakeholders up to executive team level in a highly matrixed organisation, where success relies on influencing, partnership and collaboration to deliver tangible results.
Evidence of ability to create executive-team level impactful, coherently argued and data rich proposals to senior audiences. This includes having a research backed conceptual point of view on leadership excellence and the supporting activation required to deliver the proposal/s.
Extensive track record leading a global team delivering enterprise development solutions, specifically leadership, talent and / or other key organisational capability functions such as culture and learning within large, complex, global organisations.
Evidence of deep expertise on the intersections between leader development and end-to-end global talent management strategies and processes. Additionally track record of working with global leaders on enterprise leader development solutions to strengthen a succession pipeline.
Track record defining and or activating leadership standards, principles or capabilities in a large global organization into a pragmatic framework which can translate to all P&O processes and solutions across the leadership lifecycle, as well as a coherent portfolio of development solutions.
Certification in executive coaching and / or assessment with tangible experience in a senior leadership advisory experience.
Evidence of strategic vision and a detailed approach to execution with examples of organisational impact (qualitative and quantitative where available to reference).
Significant experience designing, delivering and facilitating development programs for leaders at all levels.
Senior executive presence and credibility to represent Leader Development at senior forums.
Strong people leadership; able to set direction for and develop a small team who are direct reports, as well as indirect reports working on specific projects.
Proficiency in designing and activating a capability framework, alignment to the broader skills agenda to support strategic workforce goals on business critical manager and leader capabilities relevant for today and the future.
Key Competencies
Strategic and Systems Thinking: Ability to translate a long-term vision into a compelling and operational strategy that delivers tangible business benefits.
Executive-Level Advisory: Credibility, gravitas, and influencing skills to act as a trusted partner to the most senior leaders in the organization.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Strong analytical skills with the ability to use talent analytics to inform strategy and measure impact.
Stakeholder Management and Influence: Exceptional ability to build trusted partnerships and influence outcomes with senior business and P&O leaders and partners across a global matrix, including the P&O CoEs within the Talent, Culture and Leadership function.
Global Mindset and Cross-Cultural Fluency: Deep understanding of cross-cultural nuances and experience in a global partnership context.
Pragmatic and Results-Oriented: A practical approach to translating strategy into action and delivering measurable results.
Expertise in Curriculum Development, Executive Coaching, and Facilitation: Practitioner-level skills in curriculum development, coaching and the facilitation of high-impact leader learning experiences.
What can you expect from Mars?
Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
A strong focus on learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.
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