SUPERVALU, Inc.
Analysis of Professional Development Program
There were only a few strengths in SUPERVALU’s Professional Development Program (PDP). The mere fact that they recognized they needed a program to develop leaders was one positive. As Paul Cimmerer indicated in the article, “SUPERVALU was not doing a good enough job of bringing new people on board or grooming them for growth and effectiveness.” That was the genesis behind the PDP program - to attract and prepare high-potential college graduates for successful management careers. In addition, it did provide rotational experience for the new hires, as they would spend one year in their work area of choice and then next year would spend six months in the two other areas before
Despite the drawbacks of the program, college recruits would likely view it as an attractive option for employment. It would indicate the company is interested in developing them to be future leaders within the company, which would indicate career growth opportunities. It also provides the rotation experience, which could include different geographic experiences as well. Lastly, there was a significant amount of training provided. Compared to other companies hiring college graduates, these benefits would help attract potential hires.
Cimmerer’s futures challenges will be around how to truly develop a leadership brand and leaders that meet that leadership brand. My recommendation would be to essentially follow the five principles outlined in the “Building a Leadership Brand” article. They first need to create a training program to build the core of the necessary leadership skills; strategy, execution, talent management, talent development, personal proficiency. Their current PDP scratches the surface of training in the execution, talent management, and personal proficiency areas, but needs to go further. They need to create formal training for strategy and talent development. To assist with educating their leaders on the business, they need to provide focused rotations into the areas they envision being key to the company growing, like the mergers