Interview with Inge Scherders about the newly developed CoreDux® Talent Academy.
In this article, we will engage with Inge, our Head of People & Culture at CoreDux® Netherlands, to learn more about the new CoreDux Talent Academy and the wealth of opportunities it will present to all CoreDux colleagues! Excited? Wait till you’ve read what we’re actually going to do.
Hi, Inge! Please tell me, what is the Talent Academy?
‘’The CoreDux talent Academy was created to stimulate and facilitate our colleagues’ training, education and development. It aims to bring all activities in the field of training, education and development into one place. Both for colleagues who want to make use of this and for the organization to be able to purchase training and education more effectively and to be able to assess their quality.
Besides registering for open courses, the CoreDux Talent Academy also arranges introduction training for new colleagues. It allows current colleagues to request training, motivational assessments, or a consultation with our Training & Development Advisor. Beyond that, through this platform, we offer every employee, temporary worker and intern free access to GoodHabitz, in which they may participate in unlimited online training courses.’’
That sounds great. Why is the Talent Academy being created?
‘’For a long time, there has been a CoreDux Academy from which several colleagues share their knowledge and latest developments with customers during (practical) knowledge sessions and training sessions. This has always been highly appreciated.
Because we value our people as our most important asset and wish to enable and encourage personal and professional development, we decided to establish the CoreDux Talent Academy specifically for our colleagues!
We noticed that training and education have always been considered important at CoreDux but were not always easy to find or readily accessible for all colleagues. With the arrival of our new intranet, it will be possible to bring together all activities and requests relating to training, development and education in the CoreDux Talent Academy, making it easy for colleagues who want to develop further to start learning immediately!’’
What is the purpose of the Talent Academy?
‘’The purpose of the CoreDux Talent Academy is to encourage and facilitate the training and development of all CoreDux colleagues.
All training, education and development activities are included in the Talent Academy. From introduction and onboarding to Personal Development Plans, from training courses for which everyone can register through open registration and unlimited free courses via GoodHabitz to training courses which are actively offered to specific groups of employees or individual training and education.
Every employee who wants to follow a training or would like (advice for making a) Personal Development Plan or training advice may request this through the CoreDux Talent Academy platform.’’
What is the target group? For who did you create the Talent Academy?
‘’Our target group is all CoreDux colleagues, temps and interns. After all, everyone has talents, and if they want to develop these further and grow in their current or future position, we are happy to support that!’’
Will there be any stratification regarding juniors, mediors or seniors?
’Yes. This is currently under development, but there will be job-specific training courses for various positions, product training courses, in-house Dutch courses and ERP training courses so that people can be quickly introduced when they arrive. These are being developed especially for new colleagues.
Open training courses, such as an Excel course, a Dutch course, personal development plans and advice from our training and development advisor, are open to everyone. Training such as Lean six sigma will first be offered to a pilot group before being offered more widely later on.’’
Ok, got it! Moving forward, what else can people use the Talent Academy for exactly?
‘’The management team and the People & Culture (HR) department consider our colleagues extremely important. In fact, without them, CoreDux wouldn’t exist. With this in mind, the CoreDux Talent Academy helps facilitate personal ambitions, growth and development by combining training, education and development activities.
Colleagues can use this platform to apply for courses or training to develop further within their field of expertise or move into a different role in our organization. Besides requesting advice and career interviews, we will also offer (support with) personal development plans, motivation tests and assessments in the near future.
On the platform, our colleagues can also find general, non-functional training courses for which they can register via open registration or in which they may participate through GoodHabitz. Patricia, our Training & Development Advisor, will focus entirely on assisting colleagues with development issues and organizing training and education. And the best thing about it? Everyone is welcome!’’
That’s wonderful, but what is your vision for the future of this platform?
‘’I believe that every colleague has specific talents and that every colleague is responsible for their development. By actively working on this, people can grow in their roles.
Whether they just arrived as a new colleague at CoreDux and still have to learn everything or have worked successfully within the organization for years. As an organization, we like to facilitate professional and personal growth.
To make this happen, we should offer opportunities for it. Whether it is to increase professional knowledge, improve skills that need polishing, or further develop your natural talents. Everyone who wants to should be able to develop their current or future role further. With the CoreDux Talent Academy, we’re facilitating just that.’’
How do you approach this in practice?
‘’We consider personal ownership very important; everyone is responsible for their own development. To foster this, we’ve made it easy to apply for training courses, development advice, personal development plans, etc. However, we leave the active responsibility for actually applying for a training course, participating in the free GoodHabitz courses, or registering for an open training course with the colleagues themselves.’’
How will you define the Talent Academy’s success?
‘’For us, the CoreDux Talent Academy is a success when even more colleagues than in recent years actively and effectively engage in their own (professional) development and enjoy it.
The Talent Academy will be successful if all colleagues experience that we appreciate everyone’s contribution to the further growth and professionalization of CoreDux and that we express this appreciation by investing even more in the further development of our colleagues.
In addition, an important success criterion for us is that the process from requesting training or training advice from a colleague to following and evaluating it runs smoothly and efficiently.’’
That sounds easier than it will probably be… How will you monitor the Talent Academy?
‘’All applications and registrations are made through an automated system, guaranteeing the follow-up and that nothing gets lost in the process. Naturally, we also monitor the quality of the training courses taken by our colleagues.
For new colleagues in production, a function-specific introduction programme will be started automatically upon commencement of employment, in which explanations will be given for each functional component, and it will be monitored which components have already been mastered to what extent.
This gives each team real-time insight into the skills available. We have worked with the foremen and shift managers to develop this. Later this year, we will continue to set up company-wide competence management and expand the onboarding program for several different functions. ’’
Where in the current primary process do you want to improve first? For example, is there a phasing of KPIs we want to optimize regarding the talent program?
‘’Our primary focus is providing opportunities to develop the talents of everyone, not just creating a talent program for a select group of colleagues. All employees may apply for training if they wish.
It is already possible to request personal training or education and personal advice from our training and development advisor. The next priority is to offer personal development plans and training with open enrollment.
While further developing the CoreDux Talent Academy, we will focus on the introduction training and onboarding for new and current colleagues. An internal colleague has developed the first training and introductory presentation for new employees. More internal training will be developed in the coming weeks. We will take the learnings from these training sessions and evaluate them moving forward.’’
and introduction presentations for new employees
How exciting! Thank you for sharing this information with us, Inge. We’re going to wrap up this interview, but we’re certainly looking forward to seeing the Talent Academy in use.
‘’So do I! It was my pleasure to share this. Thank you for the thoughtful questions, and please let me know if anyone requires additional information.’’
