Since 2018, Fosters has been working to develop and implement a three-tier leadership programme.
Today, with graduates from all three levels, the business is seeing multiple benefits but most especially a strong ‘one team’ culture. Fosters Chief Operating Officer Nigel Sun oversees the leadership programme. “When we started down this path, Fosters was growing fast” says Nigel. “We had a big workload and a lot of good people who had great skills and natural leadership abilities. However, given the nature of the industry, lots of our managers had worked their way up and continued to be ‘on the tools’, finding it hard to delegate. “When the pressure came on, we realised we hadn’t equipped our leaders to manage their teams well; our sites weren’t working as efficiently as they could be and we noticed our business units were working in silos. “Very quickly, we recognised the need to lead from the top and empower our teams to work better” Nigel continues. “Leadership became a company strategy and we committed to increasing leadership skills and awareness across the business.”
With the help of Wintec, Fosters have implemented a beginner, intermediate and senior leadership programme. The 8-week ‘future leaders programme’ targets young staff identified as future leaders who have minimal leadership experience. An intermediate course helps those already in management roles, further developing their skills over 12 weeks. And for middle management people with the potential to take on senior roles, there’s a 12-month senior leadership course. These courses are by invitation only, with the costs fully covered by the company.
According to Nigel, the benefits to the course participants and ultimately to Fosters are invaluable and multi-faceted. “And, by selecting people from all parts of our business, we’ve noticed an enhancement of relationships and better understanding between the different areas. We don’t have people working in silos anymore. “Of course, we are seeing people promoted internally” he adds. “There’s much bigger contribution to the business from up-and-coming leaders – our ‘future leader’ graduates are active in our people and culture, and health and safety committees. We can see them readily applying what they’ve learned and learning from those who are more experienced. “Most importantly, our people are speaking the same language, and this is what builds a positive culture. Bringing strong and positive leaders through is enabling us to both maintain and improve ‘The Fosters Way’.”
