RealTime Leadership

Leadership development has long been considered a discretionary expense.  During economic downturns it is often one of the first budget line-items to be cut.  However, there was a different feeling this time around.  As we entered the recession in 2008 and 2009  there was hope, and some evidence, that  companies had learned from past downturns.  Eliminating leadership development only left them further behind when the economy did start picking up again, as it inevitably does.

In the Wall Street Journal last week, an article reports that training budgets over the past two years have been down 11%, but now there is signs that it is coming back.  It appears that the companies that did scale back training are now scrambling to catch up:

Already, some companies say they are finding they don’t have the managers to spearhead new projects or step in for departing executives, a problem as companies try to shift into growth mode.

The article goes on to report that companies like Amway and Rockwell Collins are re-launching leadership programs that were cancelled during the downturn.  The goal is to accelerate the development of internal talent while they hire experienced managers from the outside to meet the increased demand to fill vacancies.

Unfortunately the article does not contrast the experience of Amway and Rockwell with one or two companies that continued to invest in leadership development at a steady or increasing pace over the past two years.  Companies like O’Neal Steel remained committed to training and entered 2010 with a strong talent pipeline and engaged employees.  These organizations are better suited to take advantage of the opportunities for growth in 2010 and 2011.

As for the other companies, well, hopefully they learned their lesson; cutting spending on leadership development is more expensive in the long-term.

Has the recession forced organizations to more closely align learning objectives to business goals? A new study by CLO Magazine surveying over 1,500 senior learning and development executives found:

“90 percent of CLOs believe their learning will be more aligned with organizational business objectives this year. That’s music to some executives’ ears.”

Jim Gillece, AlliedBarton’s senior vice president and chief people officer, talks in the article about the importance of well-defined leadership competencies, at every level of the organization, as key to bridging the gap.  I think this is a good and necessary step, but it doesn’t go far enough.   All learning can eventually be reduced to individual learning.  Thus, each individual must understand how the new skills and behaviors obtained through training or on-the-job learning link to the personal business goals of the learner.   We call this “line of sight” for the learner and it is a critical piece that is missing from much of the training I see today in the corporate world. 

“Line of Sight” for a learner is really the alignment of individual learning goals with business goals.  The tool we recommend for establishing Line of Sight is a Success Map.  The Success Map clearly defines the learning goals for a training event or activity, then links those goals to on-the-job applications, and finally links the application to measurable business outcomes.  If you can achieve this with every learner in your training, you will be well on your way to establishing true Alignment in your learning organization.

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with our families, now is an appropriate time to take account of the many things to be thankful for at work.  As a leader, what comes to mind for me is the debt and gratitude I have for the people I have the honor to work with everyday.  So how do I, as a leader thank the many people around me who not only contribute to my success, but more importantly to the success of the organization?  One way is to simply say “thank you.”  But another more powerful and sustainable way to say thank you is to treat people with respect and acknowledge and encourage their full commitment and contribution throughout the year.

There are times, however, when the pressures of work kick in and deadlines need to be met, and it is easy to slip back into the mode of barking orders.  It is times like this when I try to remember a simple rule; “Treat your people as if they were volunteers.”

I did not come up with this rule, rather it was given to me as a “gift” by Vice President at a major global company, who I was interviewing for a leadership development project.  When I asked this individual to characterize his approach to leadership, he summed it up this way;

“In my mind, I like to lead people as if they were volunteers.  The fact is, the great people who work for me, the high-performers,   can leave at any time.  Their skills and expertise are in demand.  If I don’t lead them and treat them as volunteers, all I get is what I ask of them.  But if I ask them what they think and how they approach a situation, I get their full input, energy and passion.”

So let’s be thankful for the people who work for us this Thanksgiving, and let’s acknowledge the gift of their presence by treating them like the volunteers they truly are.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Often when working with clients to design and deliver leadership training, I’m told to create an experience where participants have fun, are fully engaged in the program and learn new skills.  Recently, I partnered with a client, a major U.S.-based insurance company, that decided to raise the bar and set the expectation that learners would also apply what they learned back on their job in a way that impacts business results.  

To achieve this goal we applied the 5As Framework to the design and implementation of a training program for a group of  high-potential managers as part of a regional leadership conference.  The program we delivered was Interplay, a one-day business simulation where groups of 4 to 5 learners work together as a team to manage a business.  In this case, the management teams where running small start-up organizations that were competing with large established insurance companies. 

Interplay is a demanding program that keeps participants engaged at a high-level.  The friendly competition between teams allows for a lot of fun with cheers for the winning team and collegial encouragement for the teams that are struggling.  And throughout the day there are multiple opportunities to learn new skills around business acumen, teamwork, communication, decision making and strategy.  The most important and most powerful learning objective is for participants to understand how their decisions impact a company financially and drive value for shareholders.  Thus, Interplay met the criteria of being fun and engaging, and also taught new skills.  However to ensure the skills where applied and business outcomes where impacted, we applied the 5As Framework:

Anticipation

An SVP  kicked off the event by communicating to the participants how important this training is to their success.  The leader reinforced that the individuals in the room were selected for their management and leadership skills, and the company truly believed in their potential.  The SVP also set the expectation that the participants were expected to learn new skills, apply them back on their job, and help their department and the company achieve it’s business goals.  This short speech helped participants anticipate success and open their minds to the possibility of learning new skills.  It also reminded participants that they are expected to both apply new skills and achieve results. 

Alignment

The first exercise of the day invited participants to review 10 learning outcomes from Interplay and select the 2-3 that are most important to them personally.  In addition, we invited participants to share within their groups why these outcomes where so important, especially with respect to their current jobs and responsibilities at the company.   Already, the participants were aligning learning outcomes with activities and results on their job, yet in a traditional sense, the “learning” had not yet started.

Alliance

There were six vice presidents and six Interplay teams participating in the program.  Throughout the day, the vice presidents rotated from team to team, so they got a chance to observe and engage with each team.   The V.P.s offered feedback, coaching and guidance, enriching the learning process.  Later that evening, each V.P. was assigned a group of participants where, over dinner, they continued to coach and reflect on the learning.

Application

At the end of the day, when the energy and excitement was at its peak, we asked participants to personally reflect on their own Interplay Success Map.  A Success Map is a document that explicitly identifies the linkages between the learning outcomes of Interplay, applications of that learning on the job and organizational results.  For example, one participant identified the following linkage:

Interplay Learning Outcome: Understand how an investment in people development impacts business results.

Application on-the-job: Spend more time and resources at my regional office, getting to know my employees better, taking the time to coach and development them, and invest in employee development.

Impact on Results: Higher retention and increased employee productivity.

This participant now clearly understands the linkage between the learning outcome of Interplay (importance of people development) on the business outcome (employee productivity).

Accountability

Once the Success Maps were created and discussed at each team, we announced the “winners” of the Interplay simulation to great cheers.  Thus we ended the day on a high-note with a burst of positive energy.  But there was one more important message to be delivered before participants walked out the door.  The SVP took the stage again and challenged everyone in the room to take the Success Map back to their offices and share them with their direct supervisors.  If additional ideas or thoughts came to them on the plane, continue to add to the document.  And finally, the SVP let them know that he was personally going to follow up with their supervisors to ensure that a conversation took place, and results where being measured.

The high-potential leaders in the room were not daunted, rather they were motivated to truly apply their new skills and achieve business success.  They wanted to be accountable for their learning.  In fact, they expected nothing less for their leaders and their organizations.