• What we do to accelerate our talent

For employees who have been consistently demonstrating high performance and are recognized as future potential leaders, several talent acceleration programs have been designed to develop them both professionally and personally, to advance their careers, and to accelerate their readiness to take on bigger and broader roles in the future. All programs follow a global and cross-divisional approach, and participation is by nomination.

  • VP Acceleration Program

    The Bank-wide Vice President Talent Acceleration Program was launched in 2016. It is a development training that draws on the growth mindset concept to engage and empower participants to accelerate their own development.

    It provides insight into their own (leadership) style and how they want to be perceived, and includes formal leadership development, additional internal leader-led elements, and 1:1 and peer coaching opportunities.

    2019 Vice President Talent Acceleration Program

    22.8%(104 participants overall) were promoted to Director in March 2020 compared to 2.1% of benchmark*

    14.2%of the population have made internal role moves compared to 12.7% of benchmark

    *Benchmark is the population eligible for the program based on the hard criteria, i.e. those that have been in corporate title for a minimum of two years

  • dbBOLD

    The Black Opportunity Leadership Development (dbBOLD) program was launched in September 2020 for Black Vice Presidents based in the US. In partnership with the McKinsey Black Leadership Academy, it offers virtual, expert-led sessions and small group discussions. These are complemented by opportunities for exposure to senior leadership as well as a series of sessions on key leadership topics hosted by leaders across the bank and select external speakers. This program will be extended to Black Directors in the US from April 2021.

  • Director Acceleration program

    The bank-wide Director Talent Acceleration Program (DAP) was launched in 2017. It is delivered through a combination of formal training, internal leader-led sessions, and 1-on-1 and peer coaching elements. The DAP includes the Women Global Leaders (WGL) module, which enables the bank to continue its focus on senior female development, and support talent retention.

    2019 Director Talent Acceleration Program

    22.4%(32 participants overall) were promoted to Managing Director in March 2020 compared to 1.8% of benchmark

    94.4%have been retained compared with the 91.8% bank-wide retention rate for Directors

  • ATLAS

    Accomplished Top Leaders Advancement Strategy (ATLAS), is a program for senior female Managing Directors, and was launched in 2009. Since then, the program has run five times and follows a structured development journey intertwined with individual development measures. It is aimed at increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles across the bank.

    Overall ATLAS

    In 2019, an ATLAS alumni was appointed as a Member of the Management Board

    Two Group Management Committee members were part of the ATLAS program

    25%hold MB-1 positions and more than half hold MB-1 and MB-2 positions

Watch this short story of Sarah, a Director Talent Acceleration Program Alumni.

The Talent Acceleration Alumni network was launched in June 2020 – a virtual community for all past Talent Acceleration program participants. It provides a space for continued engagement with the bank’s top talent where they can share views, access resources, facilitate opportunities and exposure for their peers, and network as a community across programs and regions, not only with each other but also with senior management.

The Talent Acceleration programs will continue in 2021, in a slightly altered format. Programs have been designed to allow for a blended learning experience with heightened virtual elements and internally led sessions, alongside adapted core content which have made the programs such a success in past years.