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Mazda managers embark on leadership development programme

Mazda Motors UK is running a leadership development programme for 30 of its senior executives.

Designed by Roffey Park, the six-day programme aims to help the managers enhance their personal effectiveness and improve the capability of their teams.

"This is the first development initiative we have run for our managers," said Jemma MacLean, HR Manager at Mazda Motors UK. "We believe that we can enhance our sales volumes and improve our corporate performance by ensuring our team focus their energies in the right place.

"The programme helps each person to develop their own leadership style and to use strategic tools to improve their performance and that of others. It encourages them to apply their thinking to their work and commit to an action plan to further their development."

Two groups of 15 managers are working through the programme, which features three modules: strategic leadership, developing individual performance and leading through personal effectiveness. Each module lasts two days and is delivered at Roffey Park’s learning centre in Horsham, West Sussex.

"We chose Roffey Park because we liked their approach," said MacLean. "Their consultants are experts in personal and leadership development and they helped to shape the content of the programme around the key themes we wanted to address."

The first module ran in July 2005, the second runs in October and the third will run in January 2006.

"The feedback so far has been excellent," said MacLean. "The learning has opened people’s eyes to new ways that they can benefit the business, through strategic rather than operational thinking.

"It is not often that our entire management team gets to spend time together outside of work. Getting them away from the office has helped them to improve their working relationships and to focus on their learning."

MacLean says leadership development is seen as a strategic investment at Mazda - and that it should be for any organisation that is serious about innovation and growth.

"Organisations think nothing about upgrading their computers to stay up-to-date with the latest developments," she said. "You have to do the same with your people. We’re investing time and money into making our leaders feel valued and in turn this is helping us to get maximum value out of them."

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