Case Study: Training and Development - IBM

The purpose of Blue Talent is to enable and fast track the development of high potential women towards more senior positions within IBM UK. Benefits include:

• Motivating, recognising, developing and promoting the talent of high potential women
• Directly related to IBM’s gender goals to strengthen the pipeline, develop the talent and reduce attrition

Blue Talent is currently owned by the UK Women’s Leadership Team, and supports existing HR talent programmes:

• High potential women are identified by each business
• Individual development plans are built, based on current experience/career for 6-12-18 months to prepare these women to make the next career step in a Management, Sales or Technical direction
• Local resources are used to deploy and UK Women’s Leadership Team supports and facilitates with the aim of moving the programme to HR once it is up and running

The programme helps to improve the climate for UK IBM women by:

• Optimising the use of existing mentoring programmes and enabling UK women to make full use of them in their professional development and career path activities
• Providing networking opportunities at different levels, eg outside the UK, across IBM lines of business
• Increasing the visibility and accessibility of existing programmes
• Providing exposure to opportunities that may not otherwise present themselves.

Unfortunately the launch of this initiative was delayed because the owner of the programme moved on. However, over 25 women have now been nominated for the programme across most lines of business within IBM UK. A launch event took place in July 2007, followed by participation at a European Conference in September Future events and activities will then be tailored to the needs of individuals