Developing our talent

We’re proud of the growth opportunities we provide our associates through access to optimum training, diverse experiences and education. We offer career advancement opportunities and grow our talent aggressively. Our Global Talent Management team develops existing talent through programs such as Mentor Me, the Business Leadership Series and Leadership Academy, all of which impact associates across the globe.

Executive Development Session (EDS)

This speaker series offers all officers exposure to various speakers and thought leaders. Sessions are typically held once per quarter and provide a variety of speakers, including authors, professors and business leaders. In 2013, topics included innovation, collaboration, trend spotting and business ethics.

Mentor program

Walmart’s Mentor Me program empowers associates to take an active role in their development by providing resources, tools and events to encourage connectivity and drive effective mentorships. Open to all associates, Mentor Me is a self-directed program designed to assist in creating and sharing diverse knowledge, experiences and perspectives around the globe.

Summer internship program

We’re committed to attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent across the organization. Our corporate summer internship program attracts the highest-caliber students from a variety of colleges and universities, and provides an exceptional learning experience. Our interns represent a great variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, including African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American/Alaskan Native and Caucasian, and bring unique perspectives that are extremely valuable to the success of our program and business. They participate in a variety of developmental activities that provide exposure to senior leaders, mentors, associates across the organization and community service opportunities, while they build strong relationships with each other that can last throughout their career. The program’s conversion rate has consistently been a success, with the majority of those in the 2013 intern class receiving job offers. In the summer of 2014, we’ll welcome our next group of 275 interns to Bentonville, Ark.

Global leadership development

Learn the Business, International and U.S. Audience: Learn the Business is a monthly informational series available to all associates which provides exposure into various business segments and shows how those areas impact our company goals and objectives. Associates benefit from the enhancement of business acumen to improve their business decisions and leadership skills. Learn the Business also offers senior leadership a forum to share valuable information about their business unit and to meet associates who have an interest in seeking career opportunities within the area.

Leadership Core: Foundational, competency-based development for associates at all career levels to improve productivity. Leadership Core is composed of 70 courses and more than 150 hours of training that every business unit can align in order to develop its associates and meet its unique business needs. Leadership Core is designed to teach leadership skills that are unique and critical to specific levels in the organization.

Benefits:

• Integration with functional training and execution through associate training plans
• Customized content for Walmart associates based in the Walmart leadership context
• Diverse scenarios and case studies from all business units
• Blended learning delivery: e-learning, classroom training, self-paced worksheets, leaders as teachers
• Content directly aligned to Walmart’s Universal Competency Model and our Basic Beliefs

Leadership Foundations:

I. Program affiliation
Leadership Foundations is a 12-month curriculum presented by Global Leadership Development, a part of the Global Talent Management Division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

II. Relationship to knowledge base
Leadership Foundations is a series of entry-level leadership courses based upon the leadership profit relationship model. These courses present the participant with theories, concepts and skills targeting operational leadership and performance management.

III. Goal
The goal of Leadership Foundations is to provide participants with the opportunity to learn and practice operational leadership skills and associate management skills. Such skills should lead to an increase in associate engagement of participants’ direct reports, thus leading to an overall increase in customer service, organizational vitality and, in turn, profit.

IV. Content
Leadership Foundations curriculum is divided into two delivery methods: classroom instruction and self-directed learning partnered with participants’ managers. The classes cover a basic orientation and overview, a behavioral profiling assessment, multiple courses focused on intra- and interpersonal relationships, and a capstone event that challenges participants to utilize all the skills acquired during the program against a variety of leadership challenges. The program ends with a graduation ceremony that allows participants to reflect back on their leadership journey and prepare for future growth and development.

HR Development Series: Monthly one-hour webinars that provide HR development for all HR associates throughout the company. The program also provides no-cost continuing education training to our HR associates for HRCI recertification hours for those who have their GPHR/PHR/SPHR certification. The program allows Walmart to leverage our internal talent for their personal development and the development of other associates. Topics that were discussed in 2013 include: ADAAA, FMLA, Employee Recognition, Culture, New I-9 Form, Worker’s Compensation, Military Leave Law and Policy: USERRA, and Legal Employment Law Update. In 2013, 2,630 associates attended the HR Development Series.

Global People Academy: Overall framework for all HR Development programs. The Global People Academy provides education, experiences and exposures to advance the leadership pipeline within the organization. As HR, we are always focused on providing development for the businesses we support. The academy is designed to help us focus on developing ourselves. Benefits to associates: empowers Human Resource associates at all levels to expand their skill sets and capabilities in their current positions and prepares HR associates for future positions. Benefit to the company: provides an internal talent pool of highly effective, promotable HR associates.

Walton Institute: Leads management associates through an in-depth examination of leadership in Walmart’s culture. The program, founded in 1985, centers on understanding, internalizing, navigating and perpetuating Walmart culture. In 2013, more than 2,600 managers and directors from across the company attended 76 classes in 12 countries.

High-potential programs

Developmental programs designed for top-talent associates provide exposure to all aspects of Walmart’s global responsibility, including social and environmental issues. Participants are taught to understand the holistic business and to innovate in expanding the positive impacts of our global operations and footprint. Participants gain knowledge and form perspective on topics such as sustainability and women’s economic empowerment, and their impact on our business, customers and stakeholders. These top-talent programs also focus learning on specific aspects of our business strategy. For example, a week in Leadership Academy focuses on the Increase Trust with Stakeholders imperative. By the end of our top talent programs, all participants have been immersed in understanding Walmart’s unparalleled reach and potential as a positive force in the world.

Building Opportunities through Leadership Development (BOLD) Women’s Program

Walmart is on a mission to become the best place to work for women at all levels. BOLD is a global, selective, specialized leadership development program for female directors and senior directors. It’s designed to prepare selected associates for expanded or next-level roles by targeting Walmart-specific leadership competencies, practicing skills essential to growth and development, and leveraging relationships with peers and company leaders.

The program, piloted in August 2013, is a two-and-a-half-day event, but the BOLD experience continues throughout the year, as participants complete a Pay It Forward project focused on advancing and developing Next Generation talent via the pillars of Walmart’s Global Women’s Strategy. A total of 94 women, representing nine divisions within Walmart, were nominated and attended in 2013.

BOLD provides exposure to senior leaders and the opportunity to learn unique lessons from those who have advanced through the company. Nearly 95 percent of the associates who went through the October 2013 session indicated that BOLD was one of the most valuable development experiences they’ve had as a leader.

Leadership Academy

This developmental program selects and systematically accelerates top talent leaders. Leadership Academy identifies top leaders at multiple levels throughout the business, develops them in a cross-functional environment, connects them to key executives and injects them back into the business as leader teachers. In addition to developing retail leaders, the course is designed to prepare participants to lead with a strong sense of global, environmental and social responsibility through special projects, intentional discussion and education. All divisions, functions and geographic regions of the organization are integrated into courses, and graduates are placed in new roles with a heightened sense of awareness and responsibility soon after completion of the program.

In 2013, Leadership Academy broadened its global reach to include associates from eight countries: Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, India, U.K. and the U.S. A total of 134 associates completed the program, 49 percent of whom were women. More than 500 leaders have successfully completed Leadership Academy since its inception in 2008.

Walmart International Academy

Walmart’s International Academy focuses on building talent capabilities at the inception of an individual’s career and fuels a pipeline of high-performing talent to critical markets at a pace that successfully accommodates growth expectations. The Academy focuses on four functional areas: Merchandising, Replenishment, Logistics and Real Estate, and provides developmental opportunities for new hires and current associates. Each pillar of the program adheres to the standardized framework of on-boarding, training, experiential learning and capstone, with a specific focus on developing functional expertise. Participants receive strategically designed leadership development that allows them to return to their individual markets as Walmart cultural ambassadors and change agents. More than half of the program graduates are female, and a number of Academy graduates who have returned to market have been promoted or have shifted to roles where they have been given greater business responsibility.