As one of the largest technology companies in the world, HP places a strong emphasis on leadership development. Recognizing the need to expand its leadership pipelines, HP began a partnership with AWE in 2022 to design leadership development programs for their high potential talent at the Manager, Director and VP levels.
Introduction
HP is a global leader in the technology industry, known for their innovative solutions in personal computing, printing and 3D printing technologies.
The Challenge
With over 60,000 employees worldwide, 6,000 managers and operations in more than 170 countries, one of HP’s most important business objectives was building a robust talent pipeline to ensure that more women advanced into leadership roles.
When speaking with Rhonda Fletcher-Leonetti, HP’s Global Talent & Learning Manager she shared that “When creating our learning experiences for the next generation of women at HP, I really wanted to hone in on the talent lifecycle from end to end and to understand the barriers that women face in getting into leadership roles at different stages of that journey. We know that there are individual barriers, organizational barriers and societal barriers. Some of the important themes that stood out to me in my research were the need to gain visibility, strengthen professional networks across the organization and getting the support of their manager.”
The Solution
To address the themes of visibility, networking and manager feedback while meeting their 2030 gender equality goals, HP began a partnership with AWE through a variety of targeted programs such as AWE Accelerator and AWE Leader which were offered to their high potential women along with a suite of other learning experiences that employees were given the autonomy to choose from. Some key skill areas that HP was looking to develop in their women leaders included coaching, feedback, fostering trust and business acumen.
Through our highly interactive AWE Accelerator program, multiple cohorts of women at HP from the US, EMEA and APAC regions participated in facilitator-led programs that provided them with a framework for career advancement focusing on areas such as networking, mentors and sponsors and storytelling in business. We worked with women across HP’s functional areas such as Finance, Supply Chain, Marketing and Engineering. In our AWE Leader program, women at the Director and VP level took part in cohort-based training sessions on topics such as force of presence and professional branding that were complimented by a Hogan assessment and group coaching sessions.
Impact
To date, over 400 women at HP have taken part in AWE’s programs. The implementation of AWE’s trainings provided participants with not only the strategic leadership skills that are necessary for career advancement but also the confidence and personal growth essential for thriving in leadership roles. The programs also provided participants with a unique opportunity to network across functions and business units, which is a key focus for HP in their development programs.
In a post program survey sent to HP’s participants, 100% felt that they were set up for greater professional success after the program and planned to apply the learnings in their day to day work.
- 89% felt that their resilience had improved
- 94% of participants had learned how to network more efficiently
- 93% responded that they now had the tools to elevate their executive presence
- 83% have begun to strengthen their relationships with their mentors and sponsors
In conversation with Rhonda, she mentioned how powerful the AWE programs had been on employee engagement “By sending these women to this external program it’s showing that HP sees all of them as valuable, that we want to build their future within the organization and that we want to invest in them”.
Conclusion
This engagement highlights the power of targeted leadership development programs that can result in measurable outcomes such as improved resilience, enhanced networking skills and strengthened executive presence.
Looking ahead, Rhonda mentioned a few key regions that HP is looking to for inspiration in their 2030 gender equity goals. “In our Bucharest office, they are practicing a very intentional management placement strategy that has resulted in 54% of their leadership positions being held by women. I think we can learn a lot from their process. I also think there is huge potential in India to develop our women leaders in that region which is really exciting”.
HP’s commitment to having more women in leadership roles combined with AWE’s expertise in embedding inclusion throughout an organization has laid the foundation for this partnership to play a crucial role in shaping the future of inclusive leadership within the company.