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Our leadership DNA
At Deutsche Bank we understand that everything flows from strong leadership. Our leaders are responsible for role modelling the right behaviors, empowering our teams and taking balanced decisions. That is why strong leadership is at the heart of every successful strategy and is based on trust, collaboration and empathy.
Our house view on leadership
To enable the bank’s strategic ambition of sustainable growth we transform the way we lead.
At Deutsche Bank we have clearly defined leadership behaviors. Sharing a clear purpose that is rooted in common leadership language, vision, and behaviors is key. We want to promote, develop and reward leaders who demonstrate expected leadership behaviors and show the right capabilities and character to shape an organization people feel proud to work for.
Leadership Kompass
Our Leadership Kompass is a set of eight behaviors that reflect our ambition and serve as a guide to bring our leadership DNA to life.
We expect our leaders to exemplify these behaviors every day to become the best versions of themselves, to inspire their people and deliver business strategy in a sustainable way.
How we develop our leaders
We run a wide range of learning initiatives to develop leaders at all levels, regardless of the nature their work agreement or part-time rate: whether it is to support employees who take on management responsibilities for the first time, or whether our employees need to strengthen their leadership experience. Our new learning platform was used by 92% of our managers to proactively build their own skills and support the development of their teams. At every step of their career, they can develop key leadership skills by interacting with our AI-driven learning platform, which will recommend content for their individual needs.
92 %
of our managers proactively built their skills
Great leaders bring their vision to life, and foster a culture where people are inspired to reach higher than they thought they could, growing professionally and as individuals. But leadership is nothing without accountability, where leaders stand by their decisions and actions irrespective of the outcome. Creating this culture of accountability enables others to take ownership and learn from the process, while giving them support when its needed.
The Black Opportunity Leadership Development (dbBOLD) program was launched in September 2020 for Black Vice Presidents and Directors based in the US. This was followed by the UK launch in 2021. The program is an investment in the career planning and leadership development of our Black talent. With 320 Black Vice President and Director participants throughout the 2020-2023 cycle, this program, in partnership with the McKinsey Black Leadership Academy, offers virtual, expert-led sessions and small group discussions. These are complemented by opportunities to interact with senior leadership as well as a series of sessions on key leadership topics hosted by leaders across the bank and select external speakers. We will continue to monitor the career progression of our participants while evolving the program for future Black talent.
We also continue to deliver bespoke senior leadership development to high performing individuals within our succession and talent pipelines. This process is based on intensive leadership diagnostics, which incorporate a structured psychometric interview and feedback from key stakeholders. Based on outcomes, personalized development plans are agreed which include a range of bespoke development strategies.
Read about how the program was established and sponsored in the US: https://careers.db.com/life/renee-jan and subsequently extended into the UK: https://careers.db.com/life/its-not-just-good-for-our-people-its-good-for-business
How we accelerate our talent
Fail to plan, plan to fail. Talent and succession planning is an essential process to ensure companies can fill key positions when a role becomes vacant. This builds resilience, continuity of leadership and makes transparent to talent what roles they can move into in future.
For employees who have been consistently demonstrating high performance and are recognized as future potential leaders, we offer talent acceleration programs at the Vice President and Director level. These have been designed to develop participants both professionally and personally, to grow their careers, and to accelerate their readiness to take on more complex accountability in the future.
Our “Accomplished Top Leaders Advancement Strategy” programme (ATLAS) is the bank’s leadership program for female Managing Directors. It recognizes an individual’s outstanding contribution in their current role and their future potential. ATLAS is also an integral part of the Schneider-Lenné Cadre, a network of senior women across the bank. This is comprised of ATLAS participants, female alumni and Senior Management Risk Takers (SMRTs). The aim of the group is to create a powerful network of senior women who will act as role models, discuss and support on key issues with senior management, inspire ideas and drive cross-bank connectivity. This is sponsored directly by the Management Board and is an integral part of the bank’s leadership and cultural evolution.
Ensuring suitability of our key leadership appointments
HR suitability assessment frameworks apply to around 160 of our main subsidiaries and branches. Appointees and incumbents are assessed in line with the ESMA and EBA Guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders with 'fit and proper' suitability reviewed at an individual and collective basis. In addition, we continue to apply strong governance to the assessment and appointment of our Deutsche Bank AG Key Function Holders with annual suitability reviews and bespoke support provided if indicated.