Building future leaders: Looking back on the Accelerated Leadership Program

Leadership is a significant part of the “life at TomTom” DNA. TomTom supports TomTom’ers to make an impact at every level of the business. That includes those on the cusp of executive roles – TomTom wants to give them the tools and knowledge they need to take the next significant step toward becoming a business leader. That’s why TomTom has introduced the Accelerated Leadership Program.

This is a five-month learning program, organized by TomTom and the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. Arne-Christian van der Tang, Chief Human Resources Officer, explains:

“Our Accelerated Leadership Program aims to support the rapid development of those individuals who have shown extraordinary leadership, and whose steep trajectory and impact provide confidence in their future development and potential.”

Arne-Christian van der Tang, Chief Human Resources Officer

It brings together the complexities of leadership, organizational culture and individual development, so participants get a feel for what it takes to be truly successful in business and beyond. And it’s all “enriched by the wisdom and sponsorship of TomTom’s executive leaders, and the professors and tutors of the Cambridge Judge Business school,” says Mihaela Dobre, People Development Partner and one of the organizing members of the program.  

As part of a strengthening partnership with the University of Cambridge to support TomTom’ers in reaching their career ambitions, this edition of the Accelerated Leadership Program brought together 14 TomTom’ers from different departments, looking to learn more about company strategy, develop new skills and solve problems both big and small to ensure ongoing success. And the program agenda matched these ambitions perfectly. Talks from both Cambridge professors and TomTom leaders covered the ups and downs of leadership, how to manage and scale a company strategy, how to take a product to market, and other key topics. Plus, participants had time to talk with and absorb the experience of TomTom’s leaders during a fireside chat.

All this learning came in handy for the practical element of the program. Participants applied their existing skills and freshly acquired knowledge during a team exercise. Their mission: identify and solve a TomTom challenge or take advantage of a business opportunity that will benefit TomTom in the long-term. The brief was kept deliberately broad to allow genuine innovation, and the teams presented their proposal to a panel of TomTom’s leaders. The results must have impressed, as all participants went on to graduate from the program with flying colors.  

From an initiative like TomTom’s Sponsorship Program to the Accelerated Leadership Program, TomTom’s commitment to career growth is clear. It reinforces TomTom’s philosophy that leadership is a superpower accessible to all. Arne-Christian emphasizes that leadership “enables us to create the technologies that solve customer problems. And this superpower is not just for the happy few. We grow leaders at every level, defined by behaviors and principles, rather than by positions and titles.”

The leadership program offers a unique way for TomTom’ers to embrace their inner leader. Rather than only seeing an obstacle in front of them, an initiative like the Accelerated Leadership Program shows TomTom’ers a clear path to take control and find the way past it.

Participants are already identifying the benefits. Victoria Lim, Head of People Communications, says, “Learning from leading academics in their field, with great knowledge of different businesses and industries, allows us to think outside our own bubble and broadens not only our perspective, but the positive impact we can make on the business.” Jo Hetherington, Director of IT, saw it as a great means to “build collaboration across different departments.” Plus, survey data reflects a hugely positive outlook: 100% of participants felt that the program’s content was “relevant to enlarging their horizons as a leader.”

Through this program, TomTom’ers are finding new and exciting ways to learn skills and become leaders in their area of expertise and beyond. As Arne-Christian notes: “Our unique blend of being a major global competitor in tech and a relatively small group of people working toward the same objectives, allows us to make leadership development programs meaningful and impactful, but also hugely personal.”

TomTom benefits from this as well. As more impact seekers grow within the company, including those who graduated from the Accelerated Leadership Program, the potential for TomTom’s geolocation technology increases exponentially too, with each TomTom’er contributing towards shared business goals, such as engineering the first real-time map, redefining the sourcing and sharing of map data, and more. Professor Kishore Sengupta, Academic Program Director for the Accelerated Leadership Program, acknowledges this:

“To be effective, leaders need to find a suitable direction for the business, influence and manage their stakeholders, take teams along on the journey, and get the best out of people. This was the journey of the Accelerated Leadership Program, and we are privileged to work with such a bright, talented, and motivational group of leaders.”

Professor Kishore Sengupta, Academic Program Director for the Accelerated Leadership Program

With new leaders waiting in the wings, ready to make it all happen, the future shines bright for TomTom and its people.

Do you want to fulfill your ambitions of becoming a leader? Whether it’s in the business sense or in your area of expertise, TomTom is the place to make these happen at every level and in any direction you want to go.

Take a look at our open roles and see how you can make an even bigger impact.