Survey names GE as the best company for leadership development globally

The survey examines the link between leadership practices and financial results. Over 50,000 companies were invited to participate in the global survey which was judged by a panel of authors, academics, and journalists from around the world. Selection criteria included survey and interview data, company reputation, leadership culture and values, and business performance over a five-year period.

In addition, GE was recently ranked as number two in the Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership survey. During the nine years that the Hay Group has been conducting this survey, GE has consistently been placed among the top four companies for leadership development. The Hay Group contacts more than 17,000 individuals at 2100 organisations across 115 countries for the survey.

GE is widely known for its leadership programmes around the world, which target new and emerging talent and develop future leaders. GE invests more than $1 billion each year in training and development for its more than 350,000 employees worldwide.

"Training and skills development are key priorities to address unemployment and grow the economy of South Africa and the continent at large," said Tim Schweikert, President & CEO of GE South Africa. "At GE South Africa we seek to provide our staff, as well as our SME partners and suppliers, with the opportunity to become first-class leaders on a global level through an array of training and development programmes. This is not only core to our business, but also part of our commitment to build the nation of South Africa."

Sustainable local solutions

GE Africa has over 1800 employees in 35 countries who are working to build sustainable local solutions to improve health, develop infrastructure and power the future. The company is investing in bringing the best people together in Africa to help create a better future for the continent. As part of its commitment to developing the next generation of business leaders, the company has committed up to $5 million to the African Leadership Academy to enable students from across Africa to attend the academy.

GE has been in South Africa for over 100 years. Today the company has over 450 employees who focus on sustainable development in a number of sectors, including rail transportation, health care and energy management.

In June, GE South Africa committed R700 million to enable the development of critical skills and the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Of that sum, R500 million will be allocated to the creation of a GE customer innovation centre, which will be GE's local centre of excellence for innovation and technology transfer. R200 million will be invested in supplier development.

Transform and empower leaders

"At GE, one of our strategic objectives is working to transform and empower leaders. The company has an exceptionally long and enduring culture of developing its employees to ensure that their skills are kept relevant throughout their career," added Lwazi Sikwebu, Director of Commercial Development for GE South Africa and a GE Experienced Commercial Leadership Programme alumnus. "From recruitment and orientation to the senior management phase, there is virtually no stage of career that an employee is not being trained and developed."

For employees, GE has a variety of internship and on-the-job training programmes, such as: the Financial Management Programme, the Operations Management Leadership Programme, the Human Resources Leadership Programme, the Experienced Commercial Leadership Programme , the Commercial Leadership Programme, the Communications Leadership Development Programme, the Edison Engineering Development Programme, the Information Technology Leadership Programme and the Early Career Development Programme (ECDP).

The ECDP identifies high-potential entry-level candidates across Africa and provides essential skills training and leadership training to prepare participants for successful careers in their chosen disciplines. The programme combines hands-on experience with formal training to empower participants to become leaders at GE. Since the programme's inception in 2011 to the end of 2013, more than 80 graduates of the programme have taken on various full-time roles.

At a senior level, GE managers are given access to intensive leadership training at the GE global leadership institute headquartered in New York, US. In this programme, executives focus on driving Six Sigma Quality and an evolutionary culture - a culture in which learning shapes strategy and leaders are equipped and inspired to succeed now and in the future. By bringing together thought leaders from around the world, GE creates a learning environment to transfer best practices across the globe and allow ideas to spread.

In addition to the diverse range of employee training programmes offered by the company, GE also invests in developing the skills of its partners and suppliers. GE South Africa has worked with Transnet Engineering to upskill its employees through 150,000 hours of skills development training worth more than R480 million to date. In addition, the company has invested R1.7 billion over the last three years in preferential procurement as part of a competitive supplier development programme.