Leadership Development for the Long-term

Musgrave is an Irish food wholesale and retail organisation, with a broad reach including Spanish retail and international digital ventures. Operating in a highly dynamic, competitive and changing retail environment, Musgrave know they need to continually evolve and develop to be the place customers choose to shop, the organisation that retailers and suppliers want to partner with, and the employer people want to join and stay with.

Musgrave has long recognised that their leadership culture and capability are key factors in shaping the business and sustaining their success.  And none more so than the Musgrave Leadership Development (MLD) Programme. 

We have helped them to develop and deliver a highly practical and engaging programme, for both participants and the business, comprising an integrated sequence of two face-to-face modules and a variety of other learning methodologies around it, to enable deeper and more sustained application to the business. There are some fundamental pillars to the programme that make it a success. 

Active involvement and engagement with the business, such as:

• Line manager involvement in setting and reviewing goals and development and agreeing a ‘stretch’ business challenge to which participants apply their learning
• Actively engaging participants in key strategic questions, such as ‘What is the leadership required in the future?’

Developing a feedback culture:

• 360 feedback exercise: a behavioural questionnaire that gathers feedback on coaching, leading teams, and building effective relationships across all stakeholders
• A live 360° conversation involving close colleagues or stakeholders, exploring how the participant has integrated and applied their learning from the programme to their day-to-day role

Peer support and coaching - with participants working in small groups back in the workplace to help apply their learning and to build the cross-divisional colleague networks.  Many of these groups continue to meet informally for years beyond the programme.

Skilled and adaptive facilitation - our faculty are ‘hands on’ and work with participants to develop individuals’ self-awareness, skills and impact with a clear focus on business needs and outcomes.

Throughout its history, the Musgrave Leadership Development programme has generated considerable enthusiasm and very positive feedback from participants and the business. For many participants it represents an important milestone in their personal development.

For individuals, the benefits are clear:

• Significant improvement in capability to manage/coach people and lead change
• Participants have matured from manager to leader. For many of the participants, they have progressed to more senior roles in the organisation
• Increased self-awareness, confidence and identity

For the organisation, the growth in leadership capability and culture has a direct business impact:

• Deepened and strengthened feedback culture across Musgrave through the live 360
• Created a community of leaders enabling cross-functional working
• Created ownership to own/progress a stretching business challenge
• Equipped managers with skills to optimise investment in their culture change programmes

The strength of the relationship between Musgrave and Sheppard Moscow is such that we continue to enjoy a strong partnership, working together to adjust each iteration of the programme to meet the needs of the organisation as it evolves. 

We are proud to work with organisations like Musgrave over a long period, to deliver significant results.  If you’d like to hear more about our work with organisations nationally and internationally, please do get in touch and have a chat with us. In true Sheppard Moscow fashion, we believe conversations can really ignite change.