The Accelerated Leadership Program: Building authentic and transparent leadership

At the beginning of spring, our Superbet office in Bucharest hosted the graduation event for the 2023 cohort of the Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP).

This bespoke training concept focuses on encouraging a leadership style anchored in knowing oneself, developing successful relationships, and building a solid business acumen.

With a length of six months, from November 2022 to April 2023, the ALP gathered 38 participants from eight countries, representing a variety of business areas, such as Trading, Finance, Accounting, Brand & Marketing, Business Intelligence and Retail Operations.

Shaun Conning, Chief People Officer:

We are thrilled that the enthusiasm and commitment to learn of our teams matches the ambitions of our organization. Our goal is to create a culture which is centered around our people taking ownership and being laser focused on delivering high impact outcomes - all through a lens of being supportive and doing the right things.

The Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP) is a testament on how we choose to enable a growth mindset at Superbet: with passion, agility, anchored in the reality of modern market dynamics, while adopting progressive approaches to learning.

While sharing my insights and experience during the program, I was impressed to see the positive energy and real potential of all the participants.

The learning journey of the ALP consisted of three major chapters, each addressing an important aspect of leadership:

Martina Živković, Head of Brand and Marketing Operations:

As someone who freshly graduated the ALP, I can certify that it was a game changing experience for me. A perfect balance of theoretical knowledge providing various strategies, tactics, and tools, combined with practical implementation of what we have learned. Through this method we were able to experience progress directly and, at the same time, it made us think how we can apply the lessons learned in our everyday work, making us better and highly aware leaders.

For sure, I feel more confident and equipped in leading my team, but also leading myself, because this is how it all starts.

George Dumitriu, Purchasing Manager:

The ALP is an excellent investment of energy and time for professionals looking to develop their leadership skills and advance their careers.

In today’s constantly changing business landscape, organisations need leaders who can adapt quickly and effectively. Thus, this program offers to its’ participants a competitive advantage, nurturing skills, and competencies necessary to stay ahead of the curve.

Furthermore, the modules bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds, providing opportunities to build a strong network of peers and mentors.

Effective communication, critical thinking, change management, conflict resolution and the ability to lead high-performing teams are just some of the valuable lessons I have learned throughout the chapters of this complex training formula.

Throughout the program, senior leaders from Superbet Group contributed with their insights and advice:

Marcello Magaletti, Deputy CEOShaun Conning, Chief People Officer Adam Shaw, Chief Revenue OfficerAdam Lamentowicz, Country Manager, Superbet PolandAndrei Popa, Director of Business IntelligenceTeresa Januskevic (Januszkiewicz), Group Head of Procurement

Furthermore, one of the key principles of the ALP was consistency, with an average number of 44 learning hours invested by each participant in the program.

Lavinia Turac, Call Center Manager

The ALP was a kaleidoscope of insights and lessons learned, from the importance of self-assessment and self-leading to the ways through which we can build resilience and successfully deal with new circumstances.

Perhaps one of the most important exercises was in how to offer and receive feedback. This helped me understand that a real coach and team leader knows how to ask the right questions, can actively listen, offers guidance to their teams, and empowers people to pursue a process of self-discovery.

Another important chapter was related to change management within our teams and how we can deliver positive results by properly explaining and consistently implementing changes.

Overall, the training modules and senior leadership sessions of the ALP have shaped my leadership style and gave me a clear perspective on how I will continue to guide my team.

Jovan Vraneš, Finance Manager

The thought leadership moments provided within this program were essential and highly convincing. We got to learn, first-hand, how to deal with challenging situations and how to take strategic decisions.

As a manager, you must be able to take tough decisions for the benefit of the business, and the ALP offered depth and context on how these types of decisions should be approached.

One other valuable principle of work which I got from the Superbet senior leaders who attended the guest speaker sessions was that managers should be as transparent as possible in their decision-making process.

ALP guest speaker: Ana-Maria Popescu (Brânză), four-time team European champion, individual European champion, and two-time team world champion in fencing.

As feedback is an essential part of the Superbet culture, the ALP cohort were also offered to opportunity to provide extensive feedback on the training and grade the quality of content and facilitation. As a result, the final satisfaction score of the participants was an impressive 4.8 out of 5.

Anna Rossudowska, Tableau Leader

The ALP has been an invaluable experience. It was brilliantly structured into three key areas - leading self, leading people, and leading the business - offering a complete overview of essential management skills.

The expert speakers and interactive sessions made the learning process enjoyable and engaging. During the course, we had plenty of opportunities to work with other participants, which helped us create new connections and learn from each other.

From coaching to strategic thinking, this course has empowered me to become a more effective and well-rounded leader. It’s great to see Superbet investing in us by providing these practical opportunities for growth and development, and I’m genuinely thankful for this experience.

Pieter degraeve, Lead Data Analyst, Napoleon Sports & Casino, part of Superbet Group

The ALP program is a rollercoaster of learnings and highly interactive, containing individual work, practical case simulations, one-to-one coaching, and panel-discussions. The discussions with experienced leaders brought the theory really close to the workplace but I think the sessions on ‘limiting beliefs’ helped me identify the most potential. Moreover, the group-exercises created a unique vibe, where I got to know several great colleagues which helped me a lot in the integration between Superbet Group and Napoleon.

Roxana, Catalina, Alexandra, Cezara & Laura - part of the Superbet Talent Development team

The Superbet core design and facilitation team of the ALP consisted of Catalina Veneziano, Learning Architect, Laura Niculescu, Learning Architect, Roxana Ene, Learning Architect, Cezara Rotaru, Senior Learning & Development Specialist, with additional facilitators Alexandra Sucioaia, Head of Talent Development, Mihaela Todoca (Florea), Learning Project Manager, Katarina Zibar, Trainer, and guest facilitators provided by Humanistic learning ecosystems.

The ALP already represents a landmark in the people development journey at Superbet. Dynamic, organic in its’ structure and adapted to practical scenarios, this training concept aims to expand and strengthen the skill set of our people at the same pace as the constant business expansion of our Group.

As we close the book on this recent chapter, we are proud to state that exciting people development programs will follow, as we continue to nurture personal growth and team cohesion within our organization.