The Henkel CEE Academy, the company’s professional training and further education vehicle for employees of Henkel Central Eastern Europe (Henkel CEE), has been in existence since the year 2001. In 2008, the new focus is on the issue of “diversity“. A further innovation: leadership seminars with peer coaching.

In the fall of 2008, the Henkel CEE Academy will hold a pilot seminar “Diversity & Intercultural Management“. Diversity in management is a global human resources priority at Henkel. Last year, the company appointed Anke Meier to serve as its global diversity manager. Moreover, another pilot project of the Henkel CEE Academy is a new “leadership“ seminar, where managers can intensively learn instruments designed to promote the career development of employees in a targeted manner, including peer coaching (reciprocal coaching by executives). “In this case, participants work together in pairs within the context of a leadership seminar module and define key issues related to human resources management in which they would like to interact and ‘compare notes’ in the future”, says  Lena Rumjanceva, who is responsible for the professional development of employees at Henkel CEE. “The particular duo will meet between the first and second training module, providing support to one another in order to be able to report about the experiences gained in their own team at the seminar“.

The Henkel CEE Academy was launched in 2001, with 300 participants from Austria and the CEE region. In the meantime, each year 4,000 Henkel employees take part in an average of 320 seminars. Together with professional trainers, a diversified offering of seminars is developed which is tailored to the precise personnel development requirements in Central and Eastern Europe. Four modules are complemented by a specially designed course of studies in strategic management, developed in cooperation with IEDC Bled School of Management, along with a series of high-level seminars offered by the “Henkel Global Academy“ (IESE Barcelona, INSEAD Fontainebleau, IMD Lausanne).

The international team of trainers, currently consisting of 63 experts from 17 different countries, is selected by a special assessment centers. In addition to local seminars held in the respective national language, the Henkel CEE Academy also features a broad spectrum of international training courses in English. The primary aim of Henkel’s professional development and further education efforts is to promote the individual career development of its employees. At the same time, another priority is to provide a basis for intensifying the interaction and networking among staff, both on a local and international level.