Working at Mars
Learning and Development
At Mars, everyone has the chance to achieve their full potential.
Approximately 70 percent of an Associate's learning and development takes place on the job. About 20 percent more comes from additional coaching and mentoring by line managers and, in many cases, professional executive coaches. The remaining 10 percent of learning and development is through courses and training.
Mars University
Mars University (Mars U) is the framework for learning and development across Mars, Incorporated. It delivers a range of learning programs to build the functional, technical and leadership skills required to achieve our business goals. Investing in education and development is important to Mars and Mars Associates, and creating world-class learning programs is our goal.
Mars U launched in 2006 and delivers both standardized and tailor-made learning programs. These programs extend beyond classroom training, including the intranet and remote learning, to deliver education in the most effective way to Associates across the world.
Our companywide online-learning management system provides a common place for Associates to learn. We deliver more than 400,000 hours of training annually. In addition, we provide education and consulting around the critical skills, tools and capabilities we need to reach our business goals. These include:
- Embedding the Five Principles in our business
- Developing strong leaders
- Building capabilities and expertise to address specific business challenges
- Sharing ideas and best practices
In 2010, Mars invested more than $50 million in training and development through Mars U and other programs.
The Essence of Mars
An Associate's learning begins with understanding the Essence of Mars. Our Five Principles of Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom are the foundation of our culture and our approach to business. They unite the Mars family and Associates across generations, geographies, languages and cultures.
The Essence of Mars training introduces all new Associates to the Five Principles and explains how to apply them to business decisions and the ways they work. It is available worldwide in 22 languages. Our Associates bring the Five Principles to life through their actions; the Essence of Mars provides the foundation.
This program has been critical during our recent organic growth and acquisitions. In fact, more than half of today's Associates joined the company within the last five years. Helping them to learn about Mars and the ways we do things is a major focus of Mars U. Our target is for all new Associates to receive the Essence of Mars training within six months of starting at the company. We have recently installed a new learning management system in order to accurately track these metrics.
Developing Leaders
To meet the business challenges of the future we seek to recruit, nurture and develop the brightest talent. We believe that the people best qualified to run our business in the future are already Mars Associates. Leadership development is focused on building capability in six areas.
Our global leadership curriculum is focused on two approaches. First, we strive to help all Associates manage the transition as they move between levels in the company. Second, we use targeted programs to accelerate the development and performance of specific groups of Associates, such as high-potential Associates, Line Managers and General Managers. We have a curriculum to help Associates become successful leaders, whether they are managing people for the first time or moving into a more senior role.
Accelerated Performance Timeline
Jesselyn Panis rose through the ranks at Wrigley in just under a decade to become a General Manager in the Philippines. Here is an overview of her remarkable progress:
Q&A with Ibtehal Fathy
Q. How long have you been at Mars and what is your current role?
A. I've been at Mars since 1998. I'm the chocolate plant manager in Dubai where I lead the plant team. Ours is the largest chocolate plant in the region, with nearly 600 people working here. We produce SNICKERS®, MARS® and GALAXY® products.
Q. Have you always been in this role?
A. Oh, no. I’ve made my way up over the past 13 years. I started as a shift leader in production. From there I moved to engineering, where I managed different projects throughout the region, and later into industrial engineering. Then I moved into market logistics. Then I became an operations manager. This latest role has certainly been my biggest.
Q. How did you prepare for the job?
A. When I was brought in to manage the plant in April 2009, I was identified as a candidate for the Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP) because I was entering into a big leadership transition and becoming responsible for a large number of Associates.
I was going from being a peer in the plant management team to leading the management team — it was a major transition, both professionally and personally. Not only that, we were in the process of doubling the factory capacity and Associate base. The company knew it needed strong leadership to deliver business results in a challenging year.
Q. What did the program entail?
A. Over 20 delegates from the Africa, India, Middle East region and Russia were enrolled in the program that year. It was actually quite intense. We met for a week in Dubai to formally kick off the program. There we were each assigned mentors and coaches. The mentors were Mars senior leaders, and the coaches were brought in. They were very useful, almost like therapists!
We had to identify a challenge to address throughout the program. We then spent five months checking in with our mentor and coach for an hour every two weeks. We’d talk about our progress on the challenge and about what’s working and what's not.
Q. Were there any other components to the program?
A. There was peer-to-peer mentoring because some challenges are similar throughout the world, and we were given many opportunities to collaborate.
We met again in Prague five months later for another week of seminars and brainstorming. We did a lot of work on "breakthrough" thinking, navigating complex challenges and how to create change.
The program ended in December, when we gathered for a final meeting and shared our stories about how challenging our journey had been. We also discussed what transformation we felt as new leaders and what revelations we had experienced.
Q. What have been some of the biggest takeaways from the program?
A. I've kept in touch with many of the people I met. It's really fantastic the contacts we all made in such a global program!
It's also been incredible to see how I've taken all of the learning and tools with me and now apply it to other challenges I face. You are going to be facing challenges all of the time. I really feel like I have solidified my learning.
Coming out of the program, you really feel like you are a better, more competent person.
Developing Expertise across Functions and Segments
In addition to our leadership curriculum, Mars U invests in programs to grow specific functional expertise. Eight functional colleges and segment-based academies help Associates to develop their business skills.
Petcare Academy
In 2010, we introduced A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS™ workshops in selected markets to help Petcare Associates improve their knowledge of their segment. This fun and interactive program uses a number of innovative learning approaches. The workshop encourages Associates to help grow the segment as a whole rather than focus solely on their own brand.
Procurement College
We have about 800 Associates dedicated to procurement. We need well-trained buyers to ensure we purchase high-quality, good-value products and services that are responsibly produced and delivered. Our Procurement College trains our buyers around the world in these areas.
All new procurement Associates take the College's foundation course, which gives them a "license to buy" and covers topics, including strategic sourcing, contract law, negotiation skills, supplier management and ethics. For more experienced buyers, we offer a number of advanced courses, such as vendor assurance and strategy development. We also offer specific training, such as Commodities market analysis, which equips our Commodities buyers with the specific knowledge they need. All of these courses are developed globally then implemented locally, ensuring we take specific market practices into consideration.
Rice 101
Delivered by our Research and Development (R&D) College, our Rice 101 course contains everything an Associate needs to know about rice - from its characteristics and nutritional qualities, to where it is grown and how it is produced. The course provides information about UNCLE BEN'S® product lines, including boil-in-bag, instant, long-grain and wild rice products. Rice 101 is tailored and offered to R&D teams, administrators and other generalists in our Food segment.
Legal Compliance Training
In line with our Principle of Responsibility, we continued to train key Associates on legal compliance, focusing on competition (anti-trust) and anti-corruption rules.
