‘We Need Proactive Leaders’
The HSE Graduate School of Business (GSB), the French INSEAD, and Beeline University have developed and delivered a corporate succession and talent development programme for 40 of Beeline's senior executives. ‘Leadership. Accelerator. Beeline’ (LAB) is a seven-month programme combining international best practices in management competencies, customer centricity, and digital business transformation.
LAB is the first custom corporate programme developed and delivered by the HSE GSB in partnership with a western business school. ‘Our programmes are more than training: they are tools for leadership development and business transformation. Together with our clients, we create educational solutions that live up to the company's goals and expectations. Our programmes contribute to real change at the individual, company, and business-model levels,’ says Prof. Natalya Shumkova, Deputy Dean for Corporate Education at the HSE GSB and Head of the LAB programme.
Natalya Shumkova
Natalya Shumkova and Beeline University’s professors and experts interviewed Beeline's top managers to determine the focus and vectors of training. It was agreed that the programme should be aimed primarily at building the company's strategic human resources assets with a focus on digital transformation and increasing the speed and efficiency of interaction between the management team.
KEY AREAS OF THE LAB PROGRAMME:
new rules in the digital world
technological trends and an architectural approach to managing digital transformation
increasing company value
digital transformation in the telecom, cable and content industries
'uberisation’, innovations, and change management: the role of a senior executive
critical thinking and managerial decision making
machine learning and data-driven decision making
non-directive leadership
design thinking
‘One of the major elements of this educational journey was the individual coaching track and mastering the tools of non-directive leadership,’ said Olga Filatova, Executive Vice President for HR, Organisational Development and Support at VimpelCom.
Olga Filatova
Another key area of the programme was the project track. It relies on a design thinking methodology that involves direct communication between managers and their clients, searching for hidden user needs, and developing and testing hypotheses on how to make the company's products and services more convenient.
Pavel Voloshchuk
‘Once you’re promoted to middle or upper management, you stop seeing and hearing the client. You lose the opportunity to have regular contact with users. As part of the project track, LAB participants applied the acquired knowledge to create client-centric products and services,’ explained Pavel Voloshchuk, head of the ‘Design Thinking’ project track and Head of the HSE Laboratory for Design Thinking.
Managers should be able to make sensible, balanced decisions, and this ability is crucial in certain cases. Stressful conditions and rapid changes hinder clear thinking. It is important to understand when you can rely on intuitive, quick decisions and when it is worth slowing down and thinking the situation over.
Evgeny Dotsenko
‘We tell leaders what can go wrong when assessing situations and making decisions and how to recognise when our decisions are influenced by irrational mechanisms,’ says Evgeny Dotsenko, a teacher at HSE GSB, R&D Director, and Head of Systemic Thinking at Training Institute—ARB Pro. A small set of techniques is enough to improve the quality of decisions, but it is important for educated leaders to understand how this works in order to trust the techniques and methods and use them consciously.’
Evgeny Uykhazi
Trainees have praised the programme highly. ‘The LAB programme is a unique combination of the practical experience of Beeline professionals, HSE and INSEAD teachers, and invited experts,’ said Evgeny Uykhazi, Director of Talent Management and HR Development, Head of Beeline University. He noted that the balanced combination of theory, external knowledge, and internal practice enables the company to train high-profile experts capable of finding solutions to real-world challenges set by management using new ideas, methods, and tools.
‘We thank all the participants for their appreciation of the programme and their positive feedback. I hope everyone “turns on the headlights”, strengthens their companies, and moves forward in their career development at Beeline,’ says Natalya Shumkova. She notes that the format of the programme has aroused interest from other companies. GSB plans to repeat its success by developing similar custom educational products in partnership with other international business schools.
Alexander Torbakhov, CEO of VimpelCom
‘The LAB programme was primarily aimed at developing the ability to look at business through the eyes of the client. Customer centricity is something that many companies talk about, but it's hard to implement in a constantly changing world. I am pleased that we saw new ideas in the team projects presented, some of which we are going to put into practice.
The digital aspect was another, equally important focus of the programme. At the opening ceremony, I said that I expect all employees (especially the participants of this programme) to be able to think big, keep up with what is happening in the market, and experiment. HSE University and INSEAD are recognised leaders in business education with a good global reputation and the right teaching experience.
Lastly, we need proactive leaders willing to change reality and able to work as a team to achieve ambitious goals. This programme is another opportunity to get to know your employees better. We were delighted to evaluate the projects presented to us. I would like to thank all the teachers of the programme, and I wish the participants further success.’
Valery Katkalo, HSE First Vice Rector, Dean of the Graduate School of Business
‘The LAB corporate programme was developed by the HSE Graduate School of Business in partnership with the INSEAD business school. The programme is built on modern educational technologies. Consistency is always important in partner activities. The trainees' feedback shows that we have managed to saturate all four modules with relevant knowledge and useful practice, including the online part of the programme. I would like to thank Beeline for the opportunity to implement this comprehensive project. It is our intellectual contribution to the company's business development.’