Glass and brass objects — an open book, two figures, a growing plant and a compass — lit on a stone platform against a city skyline at sunrise.

Employee Development Resource Guide

People. Potential. Progress.

Three questions, one place to answer them: what development would help me, which Sonoco option fits, and how do I get started?

Start with your goal Browse all offerings

How this guide works

From a goal to a next step in three moves.

1
Choose a development goal
Start from what you want to be better at — leading people, difficult conversations, influence, focus, financial decisions, feedback, or facilitating learning.
2
Compare the offerings that fit
Each suggestion explains what it is, who it is for, and the specific difference it makes in day-to-day work.
3
Understand how to get started
Some learning you can search for yourself in Sonoco University. Others begin with your manager, HR business partner, or Talent Review.

A facilitator guiding a small group discussion around a meeting table at sunset.

Step 1 and 2 — goal explorer

What would you like to develop?

Pick a goal to see the Sonoco offerings most closely related to it, with a short note on why each one fits. Employees and people leaders will find relevant options under most goals.

Preparing for leadership, or leading a team with more consistency. Most relevant to: Both

Suggestions are a starting point for conversation. Availability, eligibility, and timing are confirmed by your manager, HR business partner, or the Talent Management Team.

Browse all offerings

A curved golden path with three glass emblems — a lightbulb for ideas and learning, a rising chart for growth, and an upward arrow for forward progress — set against a city skyline at sunrise.

Step 3 — getting started

Three ways learning begins at Sonoco.

Knowing which route applies saves time. Each offering in the catalog states its route, and the help page explains what to do in each case.

Search Sonoco University
Packaged Learning, Skill Benchmarks, and the AI Simulator can be self-prescribed — start today.
Manager or HR business partner
Most courses and workshops are prescribed. A conversation confirms fit, timing, and availability.
Talent Review nomination
Foundations of Leadership, Develop to Lead, and Financial Acumen run through Talent Review.

See access guidance

Frequent starting points

Where most development conversations begin.

View all offerings

Leadership programs

BRIDGE to Leadership

A foundational step in the move from individual contributor to effective leader, built around ethical leadership, respectful communication, insightful problem solving, decisive action, team development, and continuous growth.

How this helps you: Gives a first-time or soon-to-be supervisor a shared language for making decisions, handling problems, and developing the people around them before the pressure of the role arrives.
For: Newly appointed supervisors, and individual contributors who will likely be promoted to lead people.

Manager or HR business partner

Leadership programs

Foundations of Leadership

A program for rising new leaders and people managers, focused on core leadership competencies and delivered through virtual instructor-led learning plus live, in-person practice sessions.

How this helps you: Builds the day-to-day management habits a new people leader uses immediately with direct reports, practised with a regional cohort rather than learned from theory alone.
For: Rising new leaders and those managing direct reports.

Talent Review nomination

Leadership programs

Develop to Lead

A 3-day immersive Development and Feedback Center at the University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC, USA) for people with the ability and demonstrated leadership skills to succeed in more senior, critical positions.

How this helps you: Turns assessment results and candid executive feedback into a focused development plan, useful when someone is being considered for broader responsibility.
For: Employees identified as High Potential through the Talent Review process who could fill more senior, critical roles.

Talent Review nomination

Leadership programs

Financial Acumen

A program with a curriculum developed by Sonoco’s own financial leaders, connecting plant leadership to plant financial performance through hands-on work with University of South Carolina faculty and Sonoco Finance leaders.

How this helps you: Helps an operations leader read the numbers behind their site and explain how a scheduling, staffing, or material decision moves business performance.
For: Plant managers and potential future plant managers who lead others directly or indirectly through a team or project.

Talent Review nomination

Workshops and skills

Crucial Conversations

A two-day, in-person, instructor-led course teaching nine powerful skills for working through disagreements to achieve better results, backed by 30 years of social science.

How this helps you: Gives you a method for the conversation you have been avoiding — raising a concern with a peer, a customer, or your own manager without the discussion breaking down.
For: Leaders at all levels of the organization. All employees could benefit from this course.

Manager or HR business partner

Workshops and skills

Getting Things Done

A course in the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology — productivity with presence and purpose. It builds focus and personal productivity, and helps teams create a shared, trusted way of working.

How this helps you: Gives you one trusted place for every commitment, so a busy week is driven by deliberate priorities instead of whatever arrived most recently.
For: Leaders and employees at all levels of the organization.

Manager or HR business partner

Also in this guide

Pathways, mentorship, and Sonoco University.

If you would rather start from your role than from a goal, the pathways page groups reasonable options by audience. Mentorship and Sonoco University cover learning that happens outside a formal program.

Explore pathways Mentorship Sonoco University