Investing in Our People: Management Skills

The hard work that has gone into devising a suite of learning and development schemes for our managers is starting to pay dividends. The Integrated Management Development Programme was set up to develop key skills needed by managers, and its four levels each build on the previous stage.

The Foundation, Experienced Managers, Senior Managers and Executive stages become progressively more challenging and require a significant time commitment on top of the participants' day-to-day responsibilities.

A comprehensive leadership framework, available on the intranet, outlines the behaviours and attitudes expected of leaders in EDF Energy. The Management Development Programme’s underlying purpose is about serving our customers better, increasing shareholder return and making the company a good place to work.

Coaching for Performance, introduced in 2003, evaluates managers’ performance, and the wider Performance and Career Planning Review process now has a '360 degrees' facility, which means that managers receive feedback from direct reports as well as from peers and their own manager.

Sue Chew, Director of Learning and Development, says that a long-term investment in developing our managers is one of the keys to achieving our ambitions.

'By improving that depth of resource, we are equipping our managers to have an effect on the ambitions that are more directly within their control. For instance, I can assist in achieving our ambition to increase the value of the business by 15% by equipping managers with the necessary skills to improve the way their business area is working. The other ambition I can directly influence is our desire to be recognised as a leading point of reference. We are proud of our learning and development achievements.'