Leaders at Every Level: Appreciating the Value of Professional Development

When it comes to the word “leader”, many people associate the concept with executive job titles such as president, chief executive officer or director. But why confine “leadership” to high-ranking corporate titles? In reality, leadership is not about a person’s title. A leader is simply someone who embraces opportunities to make a difference in their organization or community.

Stericycle recognizes that leaders who exhibit talent, great ideas and thoughtful action exist throughout the entire team. That viewpoint has not only helped the company become a market leader in its core service lines; it has helped nurture the “inner leader” in employees across the globe. For any company to achieve its mission and vision, it’s essential to build leaders at every level.

Encourage Employee Growth

At Stericycle, we believe that every one of our 20,000 worldwide team members has the potential for greatness. Our leaders drive trucks, manage data and deliver world-class customer service, as well as sit in executive offices. That’s because we continually innovate how we engage, encourage and take care of our people. In fact, Stericycle was recognized as a Champion of Learning by the Association for Training and Development (ATD), the world’s largest talent development association.

Here are just a few examples of Stericycle’s commitment to professional development:

• Leadership Academy. Team members get front-line leader training at the global Leadership Academy. Instructors teach leadership skills and techniques that build cohesive, winning teams.

• Global Competency Model. It’s tough to succeed if you don’t know what success looks like. That’s why Stericycle has defined measurable skills, attitudes and behaviors that set clear performance goals. No matter what job a team member performs, the Global Competency Model offers a consistent way for them to develop and promote excellence.

• Safety Champions. Safety is one of Stericycle’s four strategic areas of focus, along with the areas of service, savings and growth. The safety champion network lets front-line team members work together with operations management to lead safety programs to help all Stericycle staff keep safety top of mind every day.

• Management Trainee Program. This intensive, two-year immersion program for recent college graduates includes formal mentoring, foundational leadership training, leadership off-sites and more—all conducted with the goal to prepare graduates for future career excellence.

• Manager Onboarding. Stericycle has invested in a standardized e-learning program to help newly promoted managers and new manager hires. The self-paced training delivers more than HR policies. It also teaches “soft skills” to strengthen leadership and engagement capabilities.

• Culture Ambassadors. To date, nearly 400 team members have stepped up to support a variety of corporate programs as Culture Ambassadors. These leaders play key roles driving engagement for training events, community activities, and initiatives like Drug Take-Back programs for unused medicines 

• Training On Demand – Team members globally have access to 2700 e-learning modules in SteriU Leadership and Management Academy (LMA) that covers training to develop both soft skills and technical skills.

• Employee Resource Groups – currently have three ERG’s that represent our Women, African American and Veteran team member population. Our team members participate in these ERG’s and are able to partner with various groups to ensure a diverse and inclusive Stericycle

• Stericycle Women’s Leadership Conference - A leadership conference focused on providing a day of training and networking for our high potential women.

Companies often question whether it’s worth investing in such extensive development programs. What they should keep in mind, though, is how important it is to create an environment where team members can enjoy and excel in what they do. That kind of culture leads to customer loyalty, which in turn sustains business growth. When business prospers, companies can reinvest in their people and resources—which generates employee satisfaction and makes the whole cycle repeat. Stericycle calls this the Circle of Growth.

Build Your Leadership Potential

Stericycle understands that taking care of our customers, communities and environment starts by taking care of our people. From our safety champions to our global competency model to our leadership academies, Stericycle invests in innovative programs to support leaders at every level.

Let us help you discover your own leadership potential. Find out how to join our team by visiting Stericycle Careers.