Developing Leadership at BASF

About

BASF needed to prepare future leaders in 17 countries for critical leadership roles amidst changing business requirements and a competitive market landscape. The Asia Pacific Programme for Leadership Excellence (APPLE) development programme is an award-winning three-module leadership programme including immersive leadership challenges, VUCA diagnostic tools and a competitive strategy workshop.

Objective

The programme aims to enhance participants' leadership capabilities and capacities, equipping them with the self-confidence and capability to have a strategic perspective, be agile, embrace change, foster innovation and coach teams to achieve high performance. The programme enables participants to:

Reflect on how to manage complexity, both internally and externally
Understand BASF challenges, their market and competitors
Explore strategic approaches to managing change
Develop the capacity to demonstrate leadership behaviour in challenging situations

Solution

The three-module leadership programme incorporates innovative and challenging projects, along with in the moment coaching to provide 1:1 feedback and reflective follow-up based on the participants’ behaviour. Key elements include:

VUCA Q ® - an action-orientated diagnostic tool designed to inform, equip and guide leadership action.

War Games - a competitive strategy workshop where participants analyse BASF from the perspective of their competitors.

Immersive Leadership Challenges - uses a combination of real-life and fictional issues to create high-pressure, complex simulations.

Result

The overall APPLE Development programme was recognised at the 2016 HR Excellence Awards, with a Silver award for Excellence in Leadership Development.