It is our belief that a strong and effective leader who motivates and inspires their team is a key factor in successful business development. That is why we emphasized the development of managers, improving their leadership skills and the relevant expertise in the Strategy for 2020. At the same time, the requirements on leaders have also increased: we expect our managers to be accountable not only for the work results, but also for the development of the team and for the promotion and propagation of corporate culture at Sberbank.

Change in leadership style

The type of leadership has changed together with the development of corporate culture at Sberbank. The results of a recent employee engagement survey performed at the Bank show that over the past two years managers have curtailed the use of the top-down management style and begun to rely more on a new leadership style that is effective over the long term and promotes employee engagement: a companionable, mentoring and visionary style (emotional support and good relations within the team, support for development, questions instead of ready answers, answer to the question “why”?).

• model is a model of compliance with the values of the Bank's corporate culture
• leader inspires the team, sets clear goals and priorities, creates an atmosphere of psychological security, openness and trust, encourages the treatment of errors as a valuable experience
• mentor is a mentor: develops themselves and their team through constant feedback supports the development of their employees on a daily basis, showing a mentoring management style.

Development of managers

We actively cultivate a training format that allows managers and specialists to share their expertise, hold training based on real-world models and using the Bank’s tools, and increase internal proficiencies. We paid close attention in 2017 to the development in managers of the skills set forth in the new competence model, and established new training programs at Sberbank Corporate University.

Program	Summary of goals and the skills being developed	Number of employees who received training in 2017
Executive Development Program	Aimed at building the managerial and professional knowledge and skills required by a modern world-class leader	55
Sberbank 500	Aimed at providing middle managers with the knowledge and skills required for successful performance of their duties during the digital transformation of Sberbank. Implemented with an emphasis on the three focal points of the Sberbank Strategy: technology, structural transformation, team and culture	320
Sberbank Mini-MBA	Aimed at providing line managers with a set of management skills and knowledge in line with the corporate competence model, and singling out highly talented managers for further career growth	568
Branch manager workshop	Aimed at developing the professional knowledge of managers regarding banking products and technologies, forming people management skills, learning the tools to manage the experience and emotional reactions of clients and employees	8,989
Corporate culture and emotional intelligence	Gives managers tools to increase self-awareness and emotion management, allowing to build in the teams the atmosphere of trust and the culture of cooperation necessary to advance the priority directions of the development of the corporate culture and implement the Bank's strategy	5,250
Training program of the Academy of Technology and Data of Sberbank Corporate University	The Academy was created to reach the technological goals of Sberbank’s Strategy: developing the most sought-after competencies in information technology and providing access to courses and materials on topics such as: IТ, Data Science, Data Engineering, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence	5,022

Assessment and promotion of managers

Sberbank has various systems for assessment of managers, which are used to give them feedback on their work and to construct plans for their development and advancement up the career ladder. The key tools for assessing managers are:

• 360° performance assessment method (survey of the managers, subordinates and colleagues of an employee to assess the level of development of their expertise): with the introduction of Success Factors, the system was expanded to include all Bank employees at the end of 2017 – start of 2018;
• assessment of a manager’s NPS (survey of the subordinates of a manager to receive feedback on their skills as a team leader): this tool was introduced and tested on 600 bank managers in 2017, and in early 2018 was made available to all managers through Success Factors;
• the Team system of continuous feedback, which makes it possible to give feedback on and request feedback from colleagues on the demonstration of values and progress in the development of competencies. More than two thousand managers at the Bank use the Team system.

Managers at various levels go before annual personnel commissions for the collective discussion of the work results and compliance with the culture of the Bank. The HiPo management talent pool is formed and decisions on the promotion of managers are taken based on their results.

Succession

To ensure the Bank’s uninterrupted operations and the maintenance of internal expertise, succession planning is performed for management positions. Employees with high potential are identified, and are given the required knowledge and experience. The succession pool is formed based on employee assessments by the personnel commissions. In 2017 a Talent Pool was formed for managers of sixteenth grade and above.