Features

Published November 2003

Winning Strategies for Leadership Development

Michael Andrew

The important question is: What are the success factors for effectively executing corporate leadership education and development programs (including action learning)?

Action learning, or simply "learning by doing," is a given today. Action learning revolves around teams working on real, and sometimes the most vexing, problems facing the business. Most companies and practitioners of leadership development recognize the significance and impact of action learning when executed well.

This article outlines the success factors for executing high-impact leadership development, including action learning. This list of success factors is not a list to be prioritized, but a best practice list of key levers in which all of the elements are interrelated, utilized and managed.

Commitment From Senior Executives
Senior executives own the process. They understand the use of executive education as a strategic vehicle. They play the roles of mentor, faculty, supporter and beneficiary of the executive education process. They also play a vital and essential role in making action learning work. Roger Enrico, former chairman of PepsiCo, once observed the value of leadership development: "I have two jobs. The first is to grow the business; the second is to identify and develop the people who will accomplish objective number one."

Can you imagine GE's venerable Executive Development Course (EDC) or its Business Management Course (BMC) without the commitment of its senior executives? GE and PepsiCo are just two of a number of leading companies that had sincere and active commitment from the very top of their organizations. One other note: People have an uncanny ability to sense whether their managers truly value the course learning and its application.

Leadership-Led
In high-impact leadership development, senior executives often play a role as faculty to complement the external consultants. They realize that good companies don't just teach their managers and leaders-they learn from them. Leadership lessons are best learned from those who are trusted and well respected inside their own organizations. They have an opportunity to model leadership. Research shows that leaders learn best from other leaders. Leadership-led learning brings credibility to the development process because the audience listens firsthand to the ideas, points of view and issues facing its executive leaders.

One of my clients, a very profitable global leader in the computer services field, not only has each member of the senior leadership team involved as faculty, they are also goaled to play an active role (therefore, they are committed). In this case, about 800 worldwide senior service managers per year get to know and hear, firsthand, unfiltered, the key messages about the business (the goals, the strategies and the impact to the field). Great discussions and debate ensue about how to execute and what to consider, and how the field executives and home-office executives should and will partner with each other to ensure success of the goals and strategies. It is not uncommon for the strategies to be revised based on the realities and considerations from the people in the field. As a faculty member and a coach with a core leadership program for a professional services firm, two internal partners augment the external faculty. This leadership program is the highest-rated in the firm and is believed to have true impact on the participants' problem-solving leadership skills and their preparation for further responsibility on client engagements. The partners bring the frame of reference and keen insights that these young associates appreciate and value.

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