No two employees are the same - depending on an individual's performance and aspirations, they may benefit from one of the following development approaches.
Regardless of the approach, all employees drive their own development and should have access to opportunities as well as a meaningful development plan in order to continue to learn and grow.
As a way to enable our Explorers to thrive, Syensqo prepares for the future and differentially invests in our top talent (i.e. those identified and nominated for talent pools).
Managers play an important role in identifying, developing, and supporting top talent to take on leadership roles in the future.
Leadership Talent Criteria
As a Manager, you play a direct role in identifying top talent and accelerating the development of Syensqo's next generation of Leaders. Individuals must meet the following criteria in order to be considered top talent.
Performance | Performance is the passport to opportunity. It is an indication of leadership potential. An individual should have a track record of sustained high performance prior to their nomination for a talent pool.
Potential | Potential translates to the individual’s ability to perform across fundamentally different challenges (rather than in one role alone). This ability provides insight into an individual’s agility, resilience, and drive.
Aspiration | Aspiration is a persistent drive to gain experience and develop professionally, (versus ambition displayed as a desire to achieve a specific grade or title).
Commitment | Commitment reflects an individual’s ownership of their development and career journey and a willingness to take on new opportunities outside of their comfort zone.
The Talent Deal
When an individual is confirmed for a Leadership Talent Pool, they can expect to receive differentiated access to programs that support their accelerated leadership evolution, skill-building practices, networking, and opportunities to connect with Senior Leadership.
In return, Syensqo expects that individuals will commit to their development, maintain a growth mindset, actively participate in skill-building practices that enhance their experience and skill set, and take ownership of their career journey.
Line Managers play a vital role in the development of talent and can benefit from support with resources and learning opportunities related to Coaching and Development from their HR teams.
Future Leaders
A Future Leader is a high-performing individual, typically grades S20 -S22 , who has the potential and aspiration to take on an Executive or Senior level leadership role in the future and who is committed to their development.
The Future Leaders assessment and confirmation processes require a significant time and resource investment. As such, the employee’s Manager should first review the Future Leader Journey guidelines and criteria and engage with their Strategic HR Business Partner to understand more about the process and program.
Early Emerging and Emerging Leaders
An Emerging Leader is a high-performing individual between grades S15-S20 with a minimum of 2 years of career experience who has the potential and aspiration to take on a Regional or Global leadership role in the future, and who is committed to their development.
Participation in the Emerging Leader experience is at the nomination of Managers, supported by their Site HR, with final validation at the discretion of Leadership and HR Strategic Business Partners. Read more about the Emerging Leader Journey guidelines and criteria.
Foundation for the Future (FFF)
The Foundations for the Future program is an accelerated rotational graduate program designed to invest in the growth and development of talent to feed Industrial and Marketing & Sales leadership pipelines.
When an individual joins the Foundations for the Future talent pool, they can expect to receive access to programs that support their accelerated leadership evolution such as mentoring, coaching, networking and opportunities to participate in transversal projects and connect with leadership teams across the Group.
In return, Syensqo expects that FFF Talents will commit to their development, maintain a growth mindset, actively participate in engagement events and development opportunities that enhance their experience and skillset, and take ownership of their career journey.
At Syensqo, Managers are expected to support their team members’ development, whatever their potential. Managers play a critical role in identifying and supporting top talent, as they are often the closest and best positioned to influence their development.
- Use your check-in conversations to explore and discuss your team members’ aspirations and their development plan.
- Not sure what questions to ask to stimulate this discussion? Consult this development discussion guide.
- Review and understand the criteria and nomination process for the various top talent pools in order to determine whether your employee may be eligible to be nominated for a top talent pool.
Refer to the following guide to learn how you as a Manager can develop and support Top Talent:
Traditional Succession Planning relies on identifying one successor for one position, whereas a Talent Discussion provides a dedicated forum to take a wider view of Talent: what are the current and future critical skills and how do we take deliberate, proactive measures to develop a pool of qualified, motivated candidates to take on future roles?
What to do as a leader
Regular talent discussions (at least twice a year), are an opportunity to anticipate and highlight critical needs and skills for the future, recognize early talent, and identify opportunities and risks that can be addressed locally or raised to the BSA / GBU.
- Start by reviewing the Succession & Development Best Practices
- Review the Key Talent Concepts.
- Use the Talent Discussion Toolkit to guide your discussions and plan for the future.
→Learn more about Succession & Development Planning Best Practices and Key Talent Concepts in the Career Page
No two employees are the same - depending on an individual's performance and aspirations, they may benefit from one of the following development approaches.
Regardless of the approach, all employees drive their own development and should have access to opportunities as well as a meaningful development plan in order to continue to learn and grow.
As a way to enable our Explorers to thrive, Syensqo prepares for the future and differentially invests in our top talent (i.e. those identified and nominated for talent pools).
The Talent Growth Platform plays a critical role identifying, developing, and supporting Leadership talent.
Leadership Talent Criteria
Managers play a direct role in identifying top talent and accelerating the development of Syensqo's next generation of Leaders. As HR, you can support managers to identify individuals who meet the following criteria in order to be considered top leadership talent and ensure the quality of the top talent pools.
Performance | Performance is the passport to opportunity. It is an indication of leadership potential. An individual should have a track record of sustained high performance prior to their nomination for a talent pool.
Potential | Potential translates to the individual’s ability to perform across fundamentally different challenges (rather than in one role alone). This ability provides insight into an individual’s agility, resilience, and drive.
Aspiration | Aspiration is a persistent drive to gain experience and develop professionally, (versus ambition displayed as a desire to achieve a specific grade or title).
Commitment | Commitment reflects an individual’s ownership of their development and career journey and a willingness to take on new opportunities outside of their comfort zone.
The Talent Deal
When an individual is confirmed for a Leadership Talent Pool, they can expect to receive differentiated access to programs that support their accelerated leadership evolution, skill-building practices, networking, and opportunities to connect with Senior Leadership.
In return, Syensqo expects that individuals will commit to their development, maintain a growth mindset, actively participate in skill-building practices that enhance their experience and skill set, and take ownership of their career journey.
Line Managers play a vital role in the development of talent and can benefit from support with resources and learning opportunities related to Coaching and Development from their HR teams.
Future Leaders
A Future Leader is a high-performing individual, typically grades S20 -S22 , who has the potential and aspiration to take on an Executive or Senior level leadership role in the future and who is committed to their development.
The Future Leaders assessment and confirmation processes require a significant time and resource investment. As such, the employee’s Manager should first review the Future Leader Journey guidelines and criteria and engage with their Strategic HR Business Partner to understand more about the process and program.
Early Emerging and Emerging Leaders
An Emerging Leader is a high-performing individual between grades S15-S20 with a minimum of 2 years of career experience who has the potential and aspiration to take on a Regional or Global leadership role in the future, and who is committed to their development.
Participation in the Emerging Leader experience is at the nomination of Managers, supported by their Site HR, with final validation at the discretion of Leadership and HR Strategic Business Partners. Read more about the Emerging Leader Journey guidelines and criteria.
Foundations for the Future (FFF)
The Foundations for the Future program is an accelerated rotational graduate program designed to invest in the growth and development of talent to feed Industrial and Marketing & Sales leadership pipelines.
When an individual joins the Foundations for the Future talent pool, they can expect to receive access to programs that support their accelerated leadership evolution such as mentoring, coaching, networking and opportunities to participate in transversal projects and connect with leadership teams across the Group.
In return, Syensqo expects that FFF Talents will commit to their development, maintain a growth mindset, actively participate in engagement events and development opportunities that enhance their experience and skillset, and take ownership of their career journey.
At Syensqo, Managers are expected to support their team members’ development, whatever their potential.
HR supports Managers by challenging and advising them on talent-related topics.
Additionally, HR has a responsibility to educate employees on Syensqo’s approach to development and support top talent in their scope.
Strategic HR Business Partners (SBPs) and Site HR Partners have important and distinct roles to play in Top Talent identification and development.
Where SBPs typically have greater visibility and are closer to those in the Future Leader talent pools (S20-S22), Site HR Partners typically know and are closer to Early Emerging and Emerging Leader (S15-S20) talent. Therefore, the activities described below may be adjusted and carried out by SBPs or Site HR Partners in their respective scope.
- Review and understand Syensqo’s approach to talent management, in order to help employees understand where they fit in.
- Review and understand the Top Talent criteria to support and challenge Managers on an employee’s eligibility for these programs.
- Act as a conduit between employees and the Site, GBU, or Function leadership. Employees often feel more comfortable sharing their professional development and challenges with HR.
- Share your observations with leaders to support talent discussions where others may lack visibility.
- Ask questions, challenge, advise, and help leadership test their thinking when it comes to talent. For example:
- Why do you want to nominate this person? How did you make the decision?
- Have you and the individual discussed their aspirations?
- How have they demonstrated their commitment to development?
- What practical steps have they already taken toward their development?
- Share development planning resources with Managers and employees.
- Development Discussion Guide for Managers | How can I support my employee’s development?
- Development Planning Guide for Employees | How can I create a meaningful development plan?
Traditional Succession Planning relies on identifying one successor for one position, whereas a Talent Discussion provides a dedicated forum to take a wider view of Talent: what are the current and future critical skills and how do we take deliberate, proactive measures to develop a pool of qualified, motivated candidates to take on future roles?
What to do as an HR?
Regular talent discussions (at least twice a year), present an opportunity to anticipate and highlight critical needs and skills for the future, recognize early talent, and identify opportunities and risks that can be addressed locally or raised to the GBU/Function.
Start by reviewing and understanding the Key Talent Concepts. It is your role as HR to introduce Key Talent Concepts to your Leadership Teams, share templates and tools, and engage as an active participant in Talent Discussions.
While this toolkit was developed with the needs of Industrial and R&I sites in mind, Campus and Administrative sites can use the concepts and best practices, and adapt the toolkit for use within an intact team.
→Learn more about Succession & Development Planning Best Practices and Key Talent Concepts in the Career Page
As a Strategic Business Partner or Site HR Partner, you play a key role in supporting Managers in developing Syensqo’s leadership talent.
There are two main tools available for HR in order to view and use our talent and succession data.
- You have direct access to view members of our talent pools within your SuccessFactors scope.
- You have the ability to run self-service pre-built reports that give you further insight into our talent populations, critical positions, and succession.
In My HR Services, you will find clearly labeled leadership talent pools, which are managed and maintained by the Talent Growth Platform.
You may see other pools related to Functional Expertise (such as EKAMs, Fellow Scientists, etc.) and pipelines that are managed by the Function/BSA.
Instructions for accessing the talent pools can be found in this user guide (slide 10).
How can you use this information?
You can tap into these lists of leadership talent pool members in a variety of ways. For example:
- Do you have a Senior Leader visit your site? Use this as an opportunity to provide exposure to your talent by organizing a breakfast/lunch/coffee Q&A or meet and greet.
- Does your site have a project or opening coming up? Benefit from cross-functional perspectives by reviewing the talent pool lists when project opportunities, mentoring experiences, or developmental/stretch roles or assignments arise locally at your site or in your GBU/Function.
Accessible in My HR Services under the Reporting tab, two main reports are available relating to our leadership talent & succession:
- Top Talent Dashboard Syensqo | allows you to view details and filter data by various dimensions for our leadership talent pool population.
- Succession & Critical Position Dashboard | displays all positions that have identified successors, along with their successor details; provides a view of critical positions across the organization, with the ability to filter on the type of critical position to display further details; ability to view performance details of incumbents occupying critical positions within the organization.
How can you use this information?
Access to these reports and dashboards allows you to:
- Have a graphical view of Top Talent in your scope and the related demographics of the various leadership talent pools.
- Filter by your site or GBU/Function to view critical positions and/or successors for your scope.
