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Graduate development at BAE Systems

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Green and white leaves
Industry
Manufacturing
Solution
Graduate Development
Participants
600

About

The aim of the programme was to develop a pipeline of future talent who are committed, inspired and ready to take on BAE Systems roles. This aligns with the business objective “to inspire and develop our people to drive success”, which is key to achieving their vision to be the premier international defence, aerospace and security company.

Impact has worked with BAE Systems since 2001, and from 2014 have collaborated on a graduate programme to develop a pipeline of future talent who are committed, inspired and ready to take on roles within the company.

BAE Systems is committed to developing new generations of leaders

through the revised Graduate Developing You (GDY) programme, which all graduates undertake.

The programme adopts a blended learning approach incorporating theoretical and experiential learning. It supports and develops graduates, empowering them to be creative and pioneering to create innovative solutions that make a difference. The programme aligns with the business objective “to inspire and develop our people to drive success” - key to achieving their vision to be the premier international defence, aerospace and security company.

Impact provides an engaging development programme aligned to BAES’s global competencies, with the objective of enabling every graduate to realise their potential in BAE Systems and add value to the company. The behavioural competencies support high performance by inspiring and equipping graduates to; take responsibility for their learning, gain better awareness of themselves and their work, tackle workplace challenges, drive strategic growth, generate new ideas, partner and collaborate with customers and networks globally, influence, lead and inspire.

Throughout the three modules, the graduates discover more about BAE Systems and themselves - how their style affects other people, how they influence others and help them to do better, how they react in diverse situations and what their vision is for themselves and BAE Systems in a volatile, complex world.

The bespoke programme involves three modules split over 18 months and uses an eclectic mix of learning methodologies to create powerful individual and team opportunities to learn from new emotions, challenges and situations.

After pre-programme work, module one builds an understanding of personal effectiveness via a two-day residential programme. It covers self-awareness, personal skills, MBTI®, personal shields and disclosure.

Module two is a four-day Lake District-based residential programme where graduates present live business projects to senior stakeholders. The best projects are taken back to the business to be implemented. Graduates then experience Impact’s innovative methods, including outdoor journeys and 1:1 coaching, providing profound behavioural development opportunities. Whilst a community action learning project provides an opportunity for employing social responsibility by inspiring hundreds of primary school children, with a focus on the necessity of STEM subject skills and gender and racial diversity in this sector.

The third and final module involves pre-work before a one-day event that works with graduates on offboarding, energy resilience and wellbeing. It also offers a senior managers clinic, an alumni session and 360 feedback.

The programme reached finalist status as Personnel Today Awards ‘Graduate Scheme of the Year' 2016 and 2017.

A programme intrinsically linked to organisational competencies, for which results and evaluation is essential. Live business projects set by key stakeholders work on real business challenges. Stakeholders cite the programme as fundamental to establishing a successful career within BAE Systems. The programme numbers have increased every year, as have the statistical results. On an individual level, the 600+ past participants scored the programme 4.3 of a possible 5 when asked whether the programme will hugely benefit them personally. The programme reached finalist status as Personnel Today Awards ‘Graduate Scheme of the Year' 2016 and 2017.

Testimonials
See what our customers say about us
Karen Gregson
UK Learning and Development Lead
BAE Systems
"The programme leverages a variety of experiences for graduates including teamwork opportunities derived from Impact’s adventurous outdoor activity, workplace activities which provide real experience of business challenges, insights into other business areas, opportunities for reflection, and practical theory that they can learn from and then apply. This is an innovative programme which increases workplace capability and provides a strong return on investment”.