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Growing a New Generation of Leaders at SunCulture

As an off-grid solar technology company, sustainability is at the heart of SunCulture’s work. That’s why, as the company continues to grow, they decided to invest in their own leaders’ professional development with customized emotional intelligence training.

Overview

Situation: As SunCulture kept growing from a startup to a post-series A company, it recognized the need to help its leaders transition from star individual performers to leaders by offering emotional intelligence-based leadership development.

Solution: PTS Africa, a Six Seconds Preferred Partner, worked with Sunculture to develop and implement a modular leadership development program over a 3-month period for all Heads of Department.

Results: Participants in SunCulture’s Management Essentials Project showed substantial increases in core emotional intelligence skills and leadership outcomes.

“The program encouraged me to think critically of my own strengths and areas of improvement: what I could leverage even more in my work, and which areas I could be seeking more support. This program led to impactful conversations both with my manager and my direct reports that resulted in stronger and more productive relationships.”

– Manager, SunCulture

Situation

SunCulture is a Nairobi-based solar technology company. They provide off-grid solar panels and irrigation systems to small farmers in order to increase yields, sustainability and income. Since its founding over 9 years ago, SunCulture has grown significantly, and is looking to scale dramatically in the next 12-24 months. In the midst of this major growth, SunCulture recognized the need for meaningful and ongoing professional development for its leaders. One of SunCulture’s core values is Training and Professional Development, and they wanted to double down on this value and equip its leaders for the transition SunCulture is entering as a post- Series A company. The goal is to implement internal systems to grow sustainably, just like the organization helps farmers to do externally.

Solution

PTS Africa, a Six Seconds Preferred Partner, worked with SunCulture to develop and implement a modular leadership development program over a 3-month period for all Heads of Department. The program consisted of 3 phases. In the first phase, all participants took the Six Seconds Leadership Vital Signs assessment, a 360-degree leadership assessment that measures a leader’s emotional intelligence and how that is showing up and impacting others. Then they met with a coach for a 1-to-1 debrief and set goals for the program. Phase 2 consisted of 8 training sessions on topics related to emotional intelligence, performance, teamwork, diversity & inclusion, women in leadership, and more. In Phase 3, the leaders took another LVS 360 to measure the program’s impact.

Results

The data showed substantial increases in core emotional intelligence skills and leadership outcomes for participants, both by self-rating and others’ ratings.

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HIGHER ENGAGEMENT

57% of participants reported greater engagement upon completion of the program.

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BETTER PERFORMANCE

93% of participants were rated by others as having increased in key leadership outcomes.

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CHANGE READINESS

13% of participants showed significant improvement in their ability to deal with change.

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Products & Services Delivered

EQ Skills

SEI – Six Seconds’ Emotional Intelligence Assessment is a validated psychometric tool for measuring emotional intelligence, used with over 250k people worldwide.