Leadership Case Study: The HiPo Accelerator Program

If we had to call one program our “Talent Hacks baby,” this would be it. The HiPo Accelerator program, our flagship Academy. It’s been our pride and joy, not just for what it’s done for our clients but for how it’s shaped us, too, keeping us sharp, relevant, and in touch with what truly drives people. Over two years, we’ve seen this beast grow and evolve through three distinct iterations, each one bigger and bolder than the last. And let me tell you, it’s been one hell of a journey!

The HiPo Accelerator draws on all the tools in our Talent Hacks toolbelt. Everything we’ve got, blended into a flexible learning and development program for a select group of high-potential employees. All of this, drenched in our special Talent Hacks edutainment sauce!

Our latest run was the third iteration for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), and wrapping it up left us with that bittersweet mix of pride and nostalgia. This time, we worked closely with 24 HiPos; 24 brilliant, ambitious people who’ve been with us every step of the way. For months, we challenged them, supported them, and watched them transform into stronger versions of themselves. And now, as we let them go, we want to thank them and everyone else who’s supported this program from behind the scenes.

The Blueprint of Leadership Potential

What’s the HiPo Accelerator all about? Well, our client needed future leaders. Not just any leaders, mind you, but the kind that would carry BSM’s torch forward with passion and purpose. So, we crafted this two-year program to transform their high-potential rockstars into the type of people with the capability of transitioning into future leaders.

You might be wondering how HiPos are identified and selected to enter the program. Well, it’s a cocktail of managerial feedback, peer feedback, performance appraisal reviews, recommendations, online submissions of interest, video submissions, and interviews to be as sure as we can that the people identified have what it takes to challenge themselves and deal with the expected workload. Learning agility, Multi-dimensional thinking, Emotional intelligence, Resilience and being in-control, and a Drive for results, were the key dimensions we focused on in selecting the final cohort of HiPos.

Four distinct phases to the program, each building on the other. We started with Self-Awareness (because how can you lead others if you don’t know yourself?), dove into Personality (that complex maze of working with humans), embraced Leadership (the art of coaching and empowering others), and crowned it all with Business Innovation (because future leaders need to be innovative in their own unique ways, don’t they?).

A Dynamic Leadership Development Program

By nature, the program itself is built to be dynamic and ever-adapting to HiPos’ and the company’s needs. We mixed it up with in-person training, online smart courses that adapt to people’s personalities, solo assignment and tasks to practice new behaviours, team projects to foster collaboration and produce some vital company output, and virtual workshops for quick up-skilling. We used Motimate, our learning platform of choice, as the program’s backbone. It allowed us deliver learning and engage with our HiPos and also foster engagement between them in a vibrant community forum that really came alive with insight and vulnerability throughout all the various exercises and tasks they had to complete.

Self-Awareness and Personality training for High Potentials

The program kicked off with a customized version of our Team Dynamics Boot Camp. Two full days of learning and self-awareness in the serene village of Kalopanayiotis in Cyprus, up in the Troodos mountains. Picture forests, fresh air, and minds opening to new possibilities.

We pushed them to open up to exploring their ‘self’. We pushed them to explore ‘others’. Lots of fun, outdoor problem-solving exercises, late night dinners, and a whole village, spread over a hillside, to explore and navigate through.Our Performance Coach, Hassan Shohaty, went to work on them during the Personality phase, months into the program, to ensure the learning stuck and got incorporated the right way (avoiding common pitfalls) into their evolution as professionals, and to help them explore their obstacles and goals and aspirations as individuals.

From Leadership to Business Innovation

To transition HiPos from the world of leadership, to the world of innovation, we had them work in teams on a project that involved scanning their business landscape with a fine tooth comb. And this, signaled the transition to the Innovation Sprint, their largest team project to date.

To launch the Sprint, we threw them into the bustling heart of Dubai for a 5-day Training Week that would make even the most seasoned professionals sweat (and not just because of the weather. Luckily, it was still March!). This event focused on business acumen and innovation, pushing teams to ideate and develop the beginnings of their proposed business ideas.

The Innovation Sprint embraced Strategyzer’s Business Model Generation framework and leveraged Rapid Visual AI, our in-house tool that helped teams visualize customer value scenes as a vital asset for conducting their customer interviews. The Sprint’s philosophy centered on fast iteration, validation, and agility, teaching participants to think and act like innovators.

Graduation Event: The End of a Leadership Journey

A full day of pitch practice and presentation edits and pitch practice, and so on. And then people getting their ‘smart casual’ on for the graduation event. BSM’s senior leaders and VIP guests arrive. The air’s thick with anticipation. Our introverted HiPos are looking within for strength, our extroverted HiPos are looking outward. But they’ve all been taught to embrace their strengths and weaknesses, and consequently, their individuality and authentic selves.

While some ideas captured the interest of senior leaders for further exploration, the true reward was the transformative journey experienced by the HiPos. The event showcased their ability to apply agile thinking, adapt to challenges, and communicate effectively, skills that transcend the program and prepare them for future leadership.

They all rocked, in their own, unique way.

The Next HiPo Accelerator program

Shorter and punchier. Condensed HiPo potential awesomeness. Rapid Visual AI will help us enhance and speed up their innovation learning and efforts. And some of our upcoming ‘people development’ AI tools, will help us maximise time and content delivery even more!

Yes, the HiPo Accelerator is always built to accelerate leadership potential. But at its heart, this program isn’t just about creating leaders. It’s about transformation. It’s about watching people discover strengths they never knew they had. And acknowledging the weaknesses they think drag them down, and evolve these back into unique strengths. It’s about building a community of role models and innovators who’ll carry BSM forward into whatever challenges tomorrow brings.

So, here’s to our HiPos, past, present, and future. Keep pushing boundaries. Keep asking “what if?” And most importantly, keep being authentically, unapologetically you.

Isn’t that what leadership is really about?