Do you have the proven executive development horsepower to execute on your most critical strategies and meet your business growth goals over the next 2 – 3 years?
In a recent study, 97% off organizations surveyed cited significant leadership development skill gaps. In the same survey, as many as 70% percent off those companies confessed that they are doing nothing to close those gaps. Why?
We believe that there are two fundamental causes for these findings which have been reported by research firms for the past decade.
1. Current Leadership Training Programs Not Adding Measurable Value: Those companies which have leadership development programs are not producing leaders who meet the specific needs off their organization.
2. Skeptical of the Value: Those without leadership development programs are r reluctant to start down the traditional leadership development path and are skeptical of the results they will achieve.
Showing posts with label Action Learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Action Learning. Show all posts
High Performance Practices in the PR Services Industry - A Case Study in Employee Engagement, Retention and Profitability
Background:
A prominent public relations services firm wanted to get senior managers to demonstrate the company’s values in their actions, develop better teamwork, and to improve leadership skills.
Approach:
Results:
Approach:
- Developed customized engagement survey and customized 360-degree feedback tools to get ideas directly from employees on how to improve teamwork and give feedback on leadership skills to individual managers.
- Customized survey developed to measure demonstrated management practices and executive behavior around “Walking the Talk” of their corporate values.
Results:
- Survey feedback was successfully used as part of determining executives’ annual bonus
- Project team structure and processes were modified to encourage teamwork
- Each key account team used survey feedback to develop team guidelines for their individual team behavior
- Management feedback from the 360-degree assessments was incorporated into executive development plans and scores are reviewed on an ongoing annual basis
Employee Development Outsourcing Practices in the Life Science Industry - A Case Study
"Having a partner like LSA to support our training and development needs has been a real benefit. In an emerging life science company where typically you can't afford the infrastructure necessary to provide a full range of development venues to meet the broad needs of an organization, having an external partner who offers everything from a wide range of open enrollment programs to customized organizational development consulting is almost as good (and in some cases better than) having your own internal Training and Organizational Development function."
Chris Wells | Vice President Human Resources | Xoma Ltd.
Background:
Xoma is a growing 200+ person biotechnology industry leader in the field of antibody discovery and development. Over the past 30 years the company has built strong intellectual property, technology platforms, and capabilities to engineer cutting-edge therapeutic antibodies that have the potential to transform medicine and reshape people’s lives.
Goal:
Quickly and cost effectively establish a:
* Learning and development department with an outsourced partner who could provide a turn key/one-call-access for their organizational learning and development needs
* Common, consistent, and integrated baseline of “foundational” management and employee skills across the organization to drive a performance-based culture
* Process to support individuals and intact teams with specific training and organizational development needs
Challenges:
* Desired a broad curriculum for all employees and all levels
* A lack of consistency combined with considerable redundancy in current “training opportunities” with contradictory and often competing models and language
* Inconsistent and immature training processes, offerings, and practices
Approach:
* Assess & Design
* Pilot
* Full Program Implementation
Results:
* Training Outsourcing Scale: Delivered over 100 customized programs over the last 6 years to groups, intact teams, and individuals
* Training Outsourcing Client Satisfaction: Overall satisfaction score 96+%
* Training Outsourcing Consistency: Created consistency of management language, competency, process, values, and approach across all locations
Training Outsourcing Money Savings:
* Estimated outsourcing cost savings of over $600,000 over 6 years
Compelling / Interesting Design Features:
* 100% turn-key learning and development outsource partner
* Dedicated external account team with a combined 40+ years of experience to handle outsourcing of strategy, planning, and day-to-day operations
* Only weeks to design and implement proven curriculum/solutions
* Linked all learning to strategic plan and annual budget while supporting key intact teams
Chris Wells | Vice President Human Resources | Xoma Ltd.
Background:
Xoma is a growing 200+ person biotechnology industry leader in the field of antibody discovery and development. Over the past 30 years the company has built strong intellectual property, technology platforms, and capabilities to engineer cutting-edge therapeutic antibodies that have the potential to transform medicine and reshape people’s lives.
Goal:
Quickly and cost effectively establish a:
* Learning and development department with an outsourced partner who could provide a turn key/one-call-access for their organizational learning and development needs
* Common, consistent, and integrated baseline of “foundational” management and employee skills across the organization to drive a performance-based culture
* Process to support individuals and intact teams with specific training and organizational development needs
Challenges:
* Desired a broad curriculum for all employees and all levels
* A lack of consistency combined with considerable redundancy in current “training opportunities” with contradictory and often competing models and language
* Inconsistent and immature training processes, offerings, and practices
Approach:
* Assess & Design
* Pilot
* Full Program Implementation
Results:
* Training Outsourcing Scale: Delivered over 100 customized programs over the last 6 years to groups, intact teams, and individuals
* Training Outsourcing Client Satisfaction: Overall satisfaction score 96+%
* Training Outsourcing Consistency: Created consistency of management language, competency, process, values, and approach across all locations
Training Outsourcing Money Savings:
* Estimated outsourcing cost savings of over $600,000 over 6 years
Compelling / Interesting Design Features:
* 100% turn-key learning and development outsource partner
* Dedicated external account team with a combined 40+ years of experience to handle outsourcing of strategy, planning, and day-to-day operations
* Only weeks to design and implement proven curriculum/solutions
* Linked all learning to strategic plan and annual budget while supporting key intact teams
High Performance Environment - A Case Study
The Client
The client is the Australian arm of a world leading, research-based life sciences company which operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 100,000 people. GSK consists of two operating groups—GSK Pharmaceuticals and GSK Consumer Healthcare—who research, develop, and manufacture medicines, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products.
In Australia GSK invests more than $35 million each year in research and development, contributes significantly to export revenue through pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare exports, and is active in GSK’s $580 million investment in global/community health improvement initiatives. The Asia Pacific revenue is $2.96 billion.
The Situation
There was a sense that the business was growing complacent. The Managing Director wanted to “return a positive performance management pressure to the business.”
The Approach
We used a combination of the following:
In the words of Managing Director Paul Lirette:
“There has been a significant attitudinal and behavioral change from increasing the potency of the exposure mechanisms.” Annual reviews used to come around and it didn’t really matter as long as one does the norm. There were often no consequences for performance and there was acceptance of substandard performance. “The solution is to have clarity about the consequences for failure and the employee needs to expect appropriate consequences. This increases accountability. We see this in the executive team being more engaged.”
The client is the Australian arm of a world leading, research-based life sciences company which operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 100,000 people. GSK consists of two operating groups—GSK Pharmaceuticals and GSK Consumer Healthcare—who research, develop, and manufacture medicines, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products.
In Australia GSK invests more than $35 million each year in research and development, contributes significantly to export revenue through pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare exports, and is active in GSK’s $580 million investment in global/community health improvement initiatives. The Asia Pacific revenue is $2.96 billion.
The Situation
There was a sense that the business was growing complacent. The Managing Director wanted to “return a positive performance management pressure to the business.”
The Approach
We used a combination of the following:
- The High Performance Environmental Structure (HPES) Diagnostic to identify the next two moves
- Senior Leadership Development Programs tailored towards key leaders to build their performance plans for their businesses
- General HPES education for the wider leadership team (80 leaders)
In the words of Managing Director Paul Lirette:
“There has been a significant attitudinal and behavioral change from increasing the potency of the exposure mechanisms.” Annual reviews used to come around and it didn’t really matter as long as one does the norm. There were often no consequences for performance and there was acceptance of substandard performance. “The solution is to have clarity about the consequences for failure and the employee needs to expect appropriate consequences. This increases accountability. We see this in the executive team being more engaged.”
Human Performance & Leadership Accountability - A Case Study
The Client
The Laminex Group (Laminex) is the leading marketer, distributor, and manufacturer of premium decorative surfaces in Australia and New Zealand and has a portfolio of market-leading brands. The organization has a long history in the manufacturing sector, approximately 1,900 employees, and about $1 billion in annual turnover.
The Situation
Laminex was aiming for:
We used a combination of the following:
In the words of CEO David Worley:
“The HPES contribute[s] to my ability as a CEO to contribute to performance. Tension around performance is a good way of stimulating and containing performance. There is good communication and clarity between what is expected of the individual or the team. I don’t think without the HPES, I would see as many individuals hitting objectives.
The HPES helps the leaders implement change in a clear way. The common language in the approach is extremely helpful and we have adopted the language in our business. Without the HPES process, I would not have gotten as much out of my management training investments and team performance as I have over the past 12 months. The process has been very helpful and is a complement to how I am aligning my leadership team and not a distraction. The HPES principles, levers that can be pulled, and concepts are easily applicable to a corporate context.”
The Laminex Group (Laminex) is the leading marketer, distributor, and manufacturer of premium decorative surfaces in Australia and New Zealand and has a portfolio of market-leading brands. The organization has a long history in the manufacturing sector, approximately 1,900 employees, and about $1 billion in annual turnover.
The Situation
Laminex was aiming for:
- A stronger human performance management focus to the business
- An increase in executive development, leadership training and overall accountability for results as the economy turned downward
We used a combination of the following:
- Senior leaders completing the High Performance Environmental Structure (HPES) diagnostic
- Individual performance plan design, i.e., all leaders to develop performance plans to: (1) Address individual performance and training measures in their own teams, (2) Increase accountability for outcomes among their direct reports
In the words of CEO David Worley:
“The HPES contribute[s] to my ability as a CEO to contribute to performance. Tension around performance is a good way of stimulating and containing performance. There is good communication and clarity between what is expected of the individual or the team. I don’t think without the HPES, I would see as many individuals hitting objectives.
The HPES helps the leaders implement change in a clear way. The common language in the approach is extremely helpful and we have adopted the language in our business. Without the HPES process, I would not have gotten as much out of my management training investments and team performance as I have over the past 12 months. The process has been very helpful and is a complement to how I am aligning my leadership team and not a distraction. The HPES principles, levers that can be pulled, and concepts are easily applicable to a corporate context.”
Action Learning - Leadership Development in the Tele-Communications Industry - A Case Study
Background
This regional Tele-communications Company developed a new market strategy and began the transition from a utility company to a high-tech, communication service organization. In preparation for this strategic shift, IT leaders wanted to prepare their mid-level managers to take on a leading role in executing a new strategy that would double the size of the company and put it on a national scale.
Goal
The goal for this initiative was to provide mid-level IT managers with executive management skills, greater leadership perspective, and capabilities needed to take on critical new responsibilities, change management initiatives, and new technologies. Specific goals for emerging leaders and new managers included:
The Leadership Development Program design needed to address the following challenges:
The program combined traditional executive and leadership development approaches with an action learning format for executive development. Once a month for half a day, we provided traditional training on topics such as communication skills, problem solving, conflict management, motivating employees, risk management,and others. For the remainder of that day and in between sessions, participants worked in cross functional teams, with a goal of providing a significant contribution to the company's bottom line or competitive position.
Teams progressed through the phases of a major project while they received just-in-time training, coaching, mentoring, and the tools necessary to succeed. Four teams of 4 participants went through the following steps over a twelve-month timeframe:
While initial leadership development program objectives and metrics did not include specific dollar goals and bottom line impact, the action learning framework evolved to incorporate this focus as part of the implementation process for opportunities identified that could potentially produce bottom line results.
This regional Tele-communications Company developed a new market strategy and began the transition from a utility company to a high-tech, communication service organization. In preparation for this strategic shift, IT leaders wanted to prepare their mid-level managers to take on a leading role in executing a new strategy that would double the size of the company and put it on a national scale.
Goal
The goal for this initiative was to provide mid-level IT managers with executive management skills, greater leadership perspective, and capabilities needed to take on critical new responsibilities, change management initiatives, and new technologies. Specific goals for emerging leaders and new managers included:
- Managing technology expansion programs with high levels of efficiency, effectiveness, and quality in a cost effective manner
- Identifying non-IT opportunities that impact the company's bottom line and increase managers’enterprise-wide understanding
- Balancing strategy execution with tactical challenges
- Communicating IT’s value proposition at all levels and roles within the organization
The Leadership Development Program design needed to address the following challenges:
- Managers had little reason to change the way they worked for a very long time; now they needed to innovate and drive value
- Participants were only used to traditional training with little accountability to learn. Now they would be on the hook to not only apply their learning, but also to produce tangible business impact
- Provide a learning experience that was relevant to participants' current and future roles within the company
- Get significant levels of senior executives’ participation to link action learning experiences to current and future IT initiatives
- The company’s hierarchical organizational deisgn and structure discouraged mid-level managers from taking risks and innovating
- Balancing IT innovation with the rest of the company’s desire for IT to remain consistent and conservative
The program combined traditional executive and leadership development approaches with an action learning format for executive development. Once a month for half a day, we provided traditional training on topics such as communication skills, problem solving, conflict management, motivating employees, risk management,and others. For the remainder of that day and in between sessions, participants worked in cross functional teams, with a goal of providing a significant contribution to the company's bottom line or competitive position.
Teams progressed through the phases of a major project while they received just-in-time training, coaching, mentoring, and the tools necessary to succeed. Four teams of 4 participants went through the following steps over a twelve-month timeframe:
- Identify opportunities to either drive new revenue or decrease operational costs
- Select one high potential opportunity and create a business case to present to senior executives for implementation approval
- Lead the project implementation, engaging and influencing targeted areas within the company
- Measure results from the project
- An executive coach who provided knowledge and input on project scope, organizational politics, and how to keep on track
- A shared Executive Sponsor, the Chief Technology Officer, who met with teams between
sessions to provide strategic guidance - A senior operations manager who helped provide subject matter expertise to the program, the facilitators, and the teams
While initial leadership development program objectives and metrics did not include specific dollar goals and bottom line impact, the action learning framework evolved to incorporate this focus as part of the implementation process for opportunities identified that could potentially produce bottom line results.
- Roughly, $150,000 in bottom line impact was realized in Year One with a conservative Year Two estimate of $500,000 in impact
- Four of sixteen participants were promoted immediately following the program as a result of their performance and executive visibility
- Two participants made lateral moves as a result of interest, performance, and new relationships with non-IT executives
- Results also included the development of new critical processes and identification of marketing opportunities
- At the end of the two-year growth and acquisition period, several program participants were
acknowledged for their contribution to the successful execution of the company’s strategy
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