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McCormick Blog

Purpose-Led Performance April 10, 2023

Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders through Leadership Academy

McCormick employees in meeting

Our employees underpin our success. They drive innovation, growth and collectively make McCormick a great place to work. Our commitment to educating and developing our employees continued its evolution in 2022 with the launch of McCormick University, our new platform to provide learning for all, and Leadership Academy, providing skills for now to build for the future. 

We are striving to become an industry-leading global learning organization for the development of employees and future leaders, and in 2022, saw a significant increase in the number of connected employees with active development goals. Our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, coupled with our new education and development tools enables us to deliver unbiased training opportunities to ensure an inclusive leadership culture to attract and retain top talent. Our Global Head of Talent Acquisition, Nikole Freeman, is already seeing the benefits of Leadership Academy for her team.

“The new tools have really magnified what we’re able to offer to our employees,” says Nikole. “I have different needs of my leaders and they are at different phases of their careers. What I love about Leadership Academy is that it meets them where they are.”

 
Nikole Freeman, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at McCormick

“The new tools have really magnified what we're able to offer to our employees."

- Nikole Freeman

The tool enables learners to self-assess where they currently stand and identify gaps in their skillset for where they aspire to be. Courses and other resources are suggested for an employee to address their knowledge gap and align their competencies and skills for the future.

Nikole has identified many opportunities to utilize Leadership Academy within her team. “There are courses for the beginner leader, someone who is perhaps moving from a peer into a leadership role and how to manage that. We’ve also recently moved to being a global function and there are leaders in my team who have transitioned from being regional leaders to global leaders and they have the opportunity to take courses that help with that transition.” 

The programs offered are agile and flexible, allowing employees to learn at their own pace, in bitesize pieces. There are also accelerated learning opportunities, whereby individuals can advance their learning once a core curriculum is completed. Nikole expanded on the importance of having these resources available for use as and when they are needed. “Everything changes so quickly, technology has changed the way we all do business. As a result, we have to be at the top of our game as stewards of the organization.”

Leadership Academy is one of the many opportunities offered to employees within McCormick University. Another tool for employee development is Learning for All, powered by LinkedIn Learning. In addition to advancing their education in areas of interest, learners can also receive official academic credit for completing learning content on LinkedIn Learning. Specific Learning Paths have been reviewed by select university partners globally, who recognize the learning outcomes as official academic credit that can be applied against their academic programs. Continuing education credits can also be earned towards certification from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), the Project Management Institute (PMI), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and many more.

For Nikole, the benefits are clear: “To be able to offer these resources in-house is critical to our success, enabling us to pivot much quicker. It is a vital component of staying competitive in the quest to acquire top talent, and for the business as a whole.”

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