ALPLA: Bridging the leadership gap in China
A 14-day management development programme for ALPLA's middle managers in China, delivered in English and Mandarin.
The client
ALPLA is an Austrian packaging manufacturer headquartered in Hard. It specialises in blow-moulded bottles and caps, injection-moulded parts, preforms and tubes, and is one of the largest packaging producers in Europe.
ALPLA opened its first plant in China in 2007 and its Competence Centre in Shanghai in March 2016. The company wanted to grow its China business by developing local leadership talent.
The challenge
ALPLA's HR team in China ran an internal analysis of the development needs of middle managers across the country. The Austrian headquarters already had a leadership programme, but the China team felt it did not focus on local needs.
Most of the managers had never had management training, so the programme had to give them basic tools for daily business. It also had to be practical, so that people got involved and used the learning straight away at work.
- Cover general leadership topics, operational excellence and strategy
- Run in both English and Mandarin, with materials in Simplified Chinese
- Suit managers attending management training for the first time
What we designed
After meeting four of ClarkMorgan's team, ALPLA's Head of HR and CEO of Greater China chose ClarkMorgan to design and deliver the ALPLA Management Development Program (AMDP).
The AMDP was built around ALPLA's values. Every participant completed the Hogan Assessment before the training, and team building activities ran throughout the 14 days. Four sessions were scheduled, one in each quarter of the year:
- Leadership Fundamentals (4 days)
- Communication is Key (4 days)
- Operational Excellence (3 days)
- Developing Strategy (3 days)
Participants from ALPLA's offices and factories were split into three groups. Group A brought together expatriates and local Chinese managers with strong English. Groups B and C ran entirely in Mandarin, with materials translated into Simplified Chinese. Six ClarkMorgan consultants and trainers developed and delivered the programme between 2015 and 2017.
Session 1: Leadership Fundamentals
- Benchmarking yourself against global leaders
- Improving fast with structured feedback
- How to be assertive
- Creating deeper self-awareness
- Motivating your staff
- Creating a well balanced team with Belbin Team Roles
Session 2: Communication is Key
- The NLP Communication Model
- Choosing the right form of communication
- Structuring business writing with PDA
- Direct and indirect language
- Presenting information persuasively
- Advanced listening
Session 3: Operational Excellence
- Project origination, initiation and planning
- Project execution and closeout
- Analysing a problematic process
- Redesigning the process
- Implementing the redesigned process
Session 4: Developing Strategy
- SWOT and PESTLE analysis
- Competitor analysis and Five Forces
- Ansoff Matrix
- Aligning your team's skills to change
- The Change Curve and five resistors to change
The result
Group A ran throughout 2015 and was a clear success, so Group B began in 2016.
“The content was extremely practical and I am teaching it to my team now.”
“The communication skills that were taught were very clear.”
“The conflict solution was the best part of the training.”
“Communication skills were great.”
Facing a similar challenge?
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