RISE - Effectiveness - Week 2 to Week 4

The Functional Commercial Onboarding Journey

This phase (Week 2–Week 4) is about:

• Getting more familiar with your role and responsibilities
• Understanding how Commercial works in practice
• Beginning to apply what you’ve learned so far

You’ll continue progressing through the journey at a steady pace, building knowledge and confidence as you go.

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Phase Two: What to Expect

Purpose:

In this phase, you will gain the knowledge, connections, and tools to succeed in your role.

Equip you with knowledge about the Commercial function, its role at Mars, and our Mindsets. ​ Introduce you to key leaders, teams, and stakeholders to build your network.​ Familiarize you with essential policies, standards, and required training. Provide clarity on your job family, roles, and ways of working.​ Introduce you to the systems and tools that will support your daily work.​ Support your personal development through planning and reflection.

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Phase Two: What to Expect

Guidance:

As you move through this phase, these principles will help you stay grounded, connected, and focused on what matters most.

• Live Our Values: Embrace Commercial principles and procurement ethics in everything you do.​
• Stay Curious: Onboarding is about learning—progress matters more than perfection.​
• Align Often: Keep open communication with your manager to stay on track.
• Engage Fully: Complete all mandatory training and explore the resources provided.​
• Connect with Purpose: Build meaningful relationships with your team and stakeholders.
• Seek Clarity: Regularly confirm expectations, ways of working, and decision-making processes.​
• Leverage Tools: Get comfortable with Commercial systems and intelligence sources to work efficiently.​

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Tips to Support You in This Phase

As you continue settling into your role, these practical tips are designed to help you make the most of your learning, conversations, and day-to-day work during this phase of onboarding.

Schedule your learning

Prepare for meetings

Practice networking

Block time weekly to complete trainings and review guides without rush.

Use the guide questions and prompts to make your conversations meaningful and productive.

Try LinkedIn AI role-playing to build confidence in stakeholder conversations.

Document your progress

Ask for support

Keep notes on your Personal Development Plan (PDP) draft and job expectations to track your growth.

Reach out to your manager or onboarding buddy whenever you need guidance or clarification.

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What to Focus on During This Phase

Get to Know Commercial

Understand Your Role and Team Context

Build Your Network & Clarify Ways of Working

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Learn more >

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Learn more >

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Complete Mandatory Standards & Policy Training

Familiarize Yourself with Systems & Tools

Plan Your Development

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Reminder You can find a downloadable copy of this task list in the next section of this module.

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Plan Your Development

• Begin drafting your Personal Development Plan (PDP) to set clear goals for your growth.

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• Reflection: Discuss with your Line Manager about a task or behavior that’s core to your role and that you might be finding challenging.

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Complete Mandatory Policies & Standards Training

• Explore the Commercial Guide Policies and review all the red-line policies relevant to your job family.

• Complete mandatory training linked to protecting the business and regulatory compliance, and promptly complete the mandatory Commercial Guide attestation. You can download a copy of your Week 2 - Week 4 training list in the next section of this module.

• Reflection: Check with Line Manager if there are additional policies specific to your Segment that you need to comply with​.

Note: You can find your training checklist and links to more information the Commercial Guide in the resources section of this module.

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Get to Know Commercial

• Engage with required training to understand the Commercial function, its framework, and leadership.​

• Explore the Commercial Glossary to find the meaning of words and acronyms used in the Commercial function.

Note: You can find links to these items in the resources section of this module.

• Reflection:
• ​ Identify where your role fits best among the Commercial Pillars. ​
• Think about which job families you might interact with the most. ​
• Discuss the natural tensions that might arise due to differing motivations/incentives/priorities of different roles.​
• Reviewing the Overall Mars Inc. Commercial Organization, identify any relevant team that will be useful for your onboarding

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Familiarize Yourself with Systems & Tools

• Begin to explore the systems that will support your work.

• Get acquainted with the intelligence sources that will support your work.

• Reflection: Check with Line Manager if there are additional tools & systems specific to your Segment that you need to be aware of.

Note: You can find links to these items in the resources section of this module.

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Understand Your Role and Team Context

• Learn about your job family & typical responsibilities. ​
• Reflection: The Job Family one-pager is just a starting point. Ask your Line Manager for more details on your job family and those you will connect with the most.​
• Get an overview of your Commercial Team and ways of working: the Commercial Leadership team (CLT), Commercial strategy & priorities, Commercial sub-teams & what they do, who are your key stakeholders with their roles & responsibilities, list of important meetings & forums to be aware of/attend.​
• Reflection: Reflect how your role fits within the context of your overall Commercial team.​
• Add relevant meeting series to your calendar​.
• Observe processes in action:​
• Begin attending relevant forums (such as insights readouts, digital tool demos, performance reviews or compliance touchpoints).
• Optional - Shadow a teammate​.
• Get a light touch introduction to your Segment business: OGSM, key stats, plant & office locations, key Segment-specific processes (e.g. S&OP+...)​.
• Reflection: Reflect how the business info is useful for your role.
• Start to learn about operating rhythm: e.g. how we drive policy compliance, risk management, learning & development, digital enablement, and insights to support Commercial teams.

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Build Your Network & Clarify Ways of Working

Following the Contact Plan provided by your Line Manager, plan meetings, clarify roles and decision-making, and start refining your job expectations.

• Attend introductory meetings with key stakeholders (internal teams).​

• Establish meaningful connections with your team and key stakeholders and gain a clear understanding of your business context and collaborators.
• Find out how they operate, what tools they use, when you will collaborate with them and what they will need from you and what you will need from them.

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