54 2021 ESG Report Appendices Transparency Responsible supply chain Product impact Climate change Introduction Healthy workforce and communities In addition to the career growth cycle, each of BD’s business, regional and central teams refreshes its Strategic Organizational Plan (SOP) annually. At BD, the SOP is a tool used for a critical, forward-looking process to evaluate BD’s workforce and organization of today against the talent and capability needs of tomorrow, in line with our strategic objectives. The SOP helps to create a talent strategy that builds and develops our associates’ capabilities now to enable us to deliver in the future. This process is designed to allow BD to capture and proactively address potential areas of human capital risk and/or retention needs, and to provide long-term career paths for our associates. This work culminates in annual CEO Organization Review discussions, where business leaders and senior HR business partners discuss and refine these plans and key associate development action items directly with the CEO, chief people officer and talent management leadership. Enterprise themes from these plans and discussions are aggregated and shared with our Executive Leadership team and Board of Directors so that we are having the appropriate conversations on talent and, as leaders, are helping to mitigate any obstacles to achieving desired outcomes for our associates and the customers and patients we serve. In preparation for the SOP, BD also conducts regular talent reviews. These are focused sessions designed to review, discuss and commit to development, capability and succession planning for the talent needed to deliver on current and future business objectives. During these sessions, we evaluate our succession pipeline health, and our ongoing commitment to diverse representation across positions and succession slates, and seek specific opportunities and plans to drive the movement, development and growth of our associates. We also identify individuals with differentiated potential and connect them with additional learning experiences called career accelerator programs to further support their growth and the achievement of their career aspirations. We encourage and train our people leaders on having ongoing discussions with their associates where rich development plans can be built and advanced, with the support of near-term feedback and coaching. We have a deeply rooted practice of investing in our next generation of leaders and offer a number of leadership development programs. The early career programs are dedicated to specific areas, such as finance and technology, and they serve to introduce new talent into BD, while other programs focus on building specific leadership skills to promote a healthy succession pipeline at the director and above levels. We offer associates and their managers several tools to help in their personal and professional development, including career development plans, mentoring programs and in-house learning opportunities. This includes BD University (BDU), our in-house continuing education program, which follows a "leaders-as-teachers" approach. For 20 years, BDU has helped shape a culture of continuous learning aligned with company strategic goals. Our learning philosophy follows a 60-20-20 rule: 60% of learning on the job 20% through coaching and mentoring 20% coming from formal training BD University has implemented several new approaches and programs designed to meet the new and emerging needs of our associates, managers and leaders. We launched a robust digital and virtual learning curriculum for our associates, who are now working in a hybrid environment. We began an organization-wide rollout of growth-mindset training to foster the belief that qualities and talents can be developed through dedication and hard work. This year, we launched new flagship programs to help our more than 8,000 people managers become more effective, and create work environments that facilitate growth and success. We have, in addition, conducted several virtual programs for our executive leaders to support them in their roles as company leaders who are responsible for navigating the new leadership challenges presented by the pandemic. In particular, our emphasis has been on servant leadership, a philosophy that we believe will enable leaders to unleash the potential of the organization by focusing on the growth and well-being of our associates so that they will be empowered to develop, perform and thrive while meeting business objectives. BD is committed to creating an inclusive environment, and promoting a culture of ongoing feedback, continuous performance conversations and forward-focused development discussions aligned with our cultural principles. Our journey of impact and growth begins with setting clear objectives aligned to the BD 2025 strategy and rooted in our cultural foundation. It continues with promoting regular conversations throughout the year to help our associates grow and maximize their impact. The end of the year is our opportunity to reflect upon impact and development during the year and focus on future growth and opportunity.