In response to international growth and cultural diversity, Stevanato Group launched a managerial development program that involved more than 300 leaders across eight countries. The initiative strengthened strategic and cultural alignment, promoting shared leadership capable of driving change in a global organization.
Authors: Edlira Gjokhilaj, Giacomo Arnoldi
In a global context marked by rapid growth and the coexistence of different cultures and organizational structures, the ability to develop a managerial culture aligned with corporate values represents a strategic element for company success. This is the challenge Stevanato Group, an Italian company that is a leader in pharmaceutical packaging, decided to tackle by launching a managerial development program that involved more than 300 managers worldwide.
The project: a concrete response to a global transformation
Stevanato Group is a company that, in recent years, has experienced significant growth, integrating people and companies from all over the world, with different cultures and organizational styles. In this scenario, people managers are the key lever for ensuring not only individual and team performance, but also for translating the group’s values into everyday practice, ensuring greater organizational efficiency.
International expansion made clear the need to align corporate leadership around a shared vision, capable of overcoming cultural and geographical differences. To address this strategic need, Stevanato Group designed and implemented the “Managerial Development Training Program,” a managerial training program led by Yanna Liu, HR Director for the APAC region.
As Yanna Liu explains, “the initiative was born from the realization that, despite having many talented people coming from different sectors and companies, not everyone had a clear vision of the group’s HR strategy.” “Managerial practices,” she notes, “can vary considerably from one organization to another, often based on different principles. Hence the need to build a global training program that would not only align skills, but also offer a space for managers to exchange experiences.”
From analysis to design: a shared path
The project began with an in-depth analysis of the context, carried out through interviews with managers from different countries and levels of responsibility. This made it possible to clearly identify the main obstacles hindering managerial effectiveness: the need for greater decision-making autonomy, the need for smoother and more transparent communication, and the need for more consistent, shared leadership tools.
From the outset, the program met with strong buy-in from the managerial population. “It was not perceived as a project imposed from above,” Yanna points out, “but as the answer to a real need that managers had been waiting for. During the interview phase we received full cooperation: this program was expected.”
This first phase also made it possible to gather crucial information on training needs, operational priorities, and emerging themes following the most recent organizational changes, which had strengthened the role of the Business Units. On this basis, a training framework was defined, structured into two separate paths, one for Senior Managers and one for Managers, built around three key dimensions of leadership: leading people, leading the organization, leading change.
A tailor-made methodology for a global challenge
The design and implementation of the program were carried out in partnership with Methodos S.p.A., part of the Digital360 group, chosen as a partner for its experience in cultural transformation processes. The methodology adopted was structured in three main phases.
- Content Analysis: a systematic survey to identify the specific training needs across different contexts, the areas of greatest relevance for the business, and the elements to be highlighted at a global level.
- Collaborative Design: a co-design phase that directly involved local HR teams. As Yanna points out, this made it possible to “create a training path that, while respecting cultural specificities, maintained strong global consistency.”
- Global Delivery: a multi-phase delivery. Two pilot sessions were run in Italy in 2024, essential for testing and refining the model, making it solid and replicable. The program was then rolled out between March and June 2025, with 17 editions delivered across eight countries — including the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Denmark, Slovakia, China, Germany and Italy. One of the distinctive aspects was delivery in the local language, made possible by Methodos’s international network of facilitators. This choice helped make the program accessible and culturally relevant for every participant.
The teaching methodology adopted was strongly experiential. The sessions were based on hands-on activities such as real case analysis, role-play exercises, and peer discussion moments. “One of the most powerful elements,” Yanna notes, “was precisely the ability for participants to immediately apply, in their own work, the skills they developed in the classroom.”
Conclusions
In short, Stevanato Group’s experience shows how a managerial development program, rigorously co-designed and backed from the top, can serve as a cultural infrastructure in complex multinational contexts, preserving identity and consistency as the organization grows on a global scale. Investing in managerial development doesn’t just mean improving technical and soft skills. It means creating a common, agile and resilient culture, capable of successfully facing the challenges of an ever-changing global market.