BENTONVILLE, Arkansas — SVI, a leading organizational development company, was recently selected as the exclusive designer and content developer for Walton Institute, Wal-Mart’s flagship leadership and cultural development program. As the program’s exclusive developer, SVI worked with various divisions within Wal-Mart to determine relevant development solutions that would support the individual growth of Wal-Mart managers around the world.
Founded in 1985 by Sam Walton, Walton Institute was created to help Wal-Mart associates understand, personalize and apply Wal-Mart culture. The program aims to accommodate various cultural expressions without losing Wal-Mart’s heritage or jeopardizing it’s core values.
Wal-Mart and SVI recently completed a pilot of the newly re-designed program and received extremely positive feedback. “We’ve very much enjoyed working with SVI”, said Walton Institute facilitator Randy Ransleben. “We are amazed at how much work is being done in such a short amount of time, and also how flexible they have been throughout the process by asking for and listening to our ideas.”
Since it’s inception in 1985, nearly 25,000 Wal-Mart managers have attended more than 600 Walton Institute classes in Bentonville, Ark., as well as in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom and Japan.
