1.
a series of three self-directed learning exercises
2. a one-day introductory seminar
3. a six-day residential workshop
4. a team-based learning project focused on understanding
competitive issues
facing the bank
5. a concluding seminar and
6. several follow-up initiatives in the form of an alumni
network, executive
feedback on the projects, and participant self-evaluations
on behavior shifts
over time.
…participants received an assignment to be conducted
on their own.
…self-directed learning module
…they were given an overview of the program, readings
on leadership, a video on
leadership, and the bank's global strategic agenda.
"We
knew that most people here think of leadership as a 'storm-the-hill'
activity-led
from the front. We wanted them to think much more about
it as a relationship between
people and why leadership is so important to the National
at this point in time."
The
objective was to get the participants thinking more deeply
about leadership and
themselves.
Participants
were asked to consider the success factors for high-performing
teams.
The workshop was built around four learning goals: strategic
issues facing the bank,
leadership competencies, interpersonal relations, and
teamwork.
Participants
learned the basics of team dynamics.
How
does my behavior shape how I influence others in teams?
What patterns of my
behavior come out under pressure? Are these valuable or
a hindrance?
Socializing
Company Vision and Values
Leaders inculcate these assumptions by building a shared
understanding of what the
organization is about and how it should operate. We often
refer to this understanding as
the organization's culture.
…most
people follow the example of their leaders-adopting their
values and imitating
their management styles.
Through
an extensive socialization process, developing leaders
learn and internalize the
Army's leadership creed through years of direct interaction
with more experienced
leaders. This interaction not only demonstrates consistency
in values across levels of
hierarchy and occupational specialties but also demonstrates
a shared commitment to
teaching and developing subordinates. Indeed, the training
and professional development
of officers is considered one of the most important responsibilities
of all Army leaders
(US Army, 1997, non-draft version).
…clarifies
and reinforces the Army's vision and values along with
the duties and
expectations associated with carrying them out at each
level of management.
The
Army maintains that through this integrated system it
builds a common
understanding of the character, attributes, and skills
that its leaders are expected to
possess and a shared dedication to the values and ethics
that drive its culture and
operations.
The
Importance of Socializing the Next Generation of Leaders
A shared understanding of what the organization is about
and where it is going to
especially important in a world marked by rapid change
and rising competition.
In
the socialization process, leaders play a dual role. One
one hand they influence
the socialization of all those below them, but on the
other hand they too must be
socialized to the organization's vision and to their role
in bringing the vision to
fruition.
…leaders,
like other organizational participants, require socialization.
Formalizing the Socialization Process Through Leadership
Development
In general, leaders work to achieve two basic objectives:
to come up with the strategies
or solutions needed to overcome organizational challenges
and to implement those
solutions efficiently and effectively.
To
improve implementation efforts, organizational leaders
can systematically pay
attention to important initiatives, measure and control
outcomes associated with desired
strategies, provide rewards and recognition to those who
accomplish strategic goals, and
role-model behavior consistent with chosen solutions.
Of
the firms we studies that recognized the importance of
a strong vision and
guiding philosophy, almost all recognized that leadership
would be a dominant force
in driving and sustaining their corporate visions through
the rest of the
organization. Because of the critical role that leaders
would play in this process,
these firms were extremely selective about the individuals
they enlisted in their
development efforts. In essence, participants were expected
to be missionaries.
…many of the Army's leadership development programs
are also highly selective,
especially at the senior levels. For example, a Department
of Army Selection Board
determines who will attend senior officer training at
the US Command and General Staff
College.
Among
the most extensive selection processes we examined was
Federal Express's
Leadership Evaluation and Awareness Process (LEAP). At
Federal Express, leaders are
expected to cultivate a "people-first" environment.
The firm's guiding philosophy is that
"when people are placed first, they will provide
the highest possible service, and profits
will follow" (American Management Association, 1994)
Once
in a management role, they have the opportunity and responsibility
to participate in
the required and elective courses offered by the Leadership
Institute.
LEAP
is a thorough evaluation process that involves multiple
steps and requires
participants to be evaluated by their supervisors, peers,
and a formal assessment panel.
The evaluation process (American Management Association,
1994) entails the following:
" Attendance at an introductory on-day course entitles
"Is management for me?"
" Compilation of an employee's leadership profile.
" Formal assessment by the superior (the Manager's
Focused Recommendation).
" Formal assessment by peers.
" Formal evaluation by the LEAP Panel
1.
Charismatic Leadership
Charisma derives from the ability to see what is really
important and to transmit a
sense of mission to others. It is not exclusively the
province of world-class leaders or
a few generals or admirals. It is found in people throughout
business organizations
and is one of the elements that separates an ordinary
manager from a true leader.
Individuals who are charismatic leaders serve as symbols
of success and
accomplishment to others. They make others enthusiastic
about assignments,
command respect, and have a sense of purpose. Subordinates
have faith in
charismatic leaders and are proud to be associated with
a leader whom they trust to
overcome any obstacle. A charismatic leaders instills
pride, faith, and respect among
subordinates.
2.
Individual Consideration
Managers who practice the individualized consideration
concept of transformational
leadership treat each subordinate as an individual and
serve as coaches and teachers
through delegation and learning opportunities. They avoid
treating subordinates
alike. They discover what motivates each person individually
and act on this
discovery. These leaders have a "developmental"
orientation toward followers and
consciously or unconsciously serve as role models. They
also show appreciation and
give special attention to newcomers and those who appear
neglected.
3.
Intellectual Stimulation
The importance of a leader's technical expertise and intellectual
power is frequently
overlooked, particularly in high-performing organizations,
because of the emphasis
placed on interpersonal skills. However, intellectual
stimulation is vital part of
leadership that:
" Arouses an awareness in subordinates of problems
and of different methods by
which to solve them
" Provides compelling and convincing reasoning and
evidence.
" Stirs imaginations.
" Promotes thought and insight prior to actions rather
than immediate, emotionally
stimulated reactions.
4.
Courage
Leaders stand up for unpopular ideas: they do not avoid
confrontations by giving in to
pressure. They are willing to give negative feedback to
subordinates and superiors.
A leader has confidence in his or her own capability,
desires to act independently, and
does the right thing for the company or subordinates in
spite of personal hardships or
sacrifice.
5.
Dependability
Leaders follow through and keep commitments, meeting deadlines,
taking
responsibility for actions, and admitting mistakes to
superiors. Leaders work
effectively with little or no contact with supervisors,
but keep supervisors informed of
progress.
6.
Flexibility
Leaders function effectively in a changing environment,
provide stability, and remain
objective when confronted with many responsibilities at
once. Leaders handle several
problems simultaneously, focusing on critical items. A
leader changes course when
required.
7.
Integrity
Leaders adhere to a code of business ethics and moral
values, behaving consistently
with the corporate climate and professional responsibility.
A leader does not abuse
management privilege, but gains trust/respect. A leader
serves as a role model in
support of corporate policies, professional ethics, and
corporate culture.
8.
Judgment
A leader uses logical and intellectual discernment to
reach sound and objective
evaluations of alternative actions. Decisions are based
on logical, factual information
and consideration of human factors. A leader knows his
or her own authority and is
careful not to exceed it, and uses past experience and
information to gain perspective
on present choices.
9.
Respect for Others
A leader honors rather than belittles the opinions or
work of others, regardless of their
status or position in the organization. A leader demonstrates
a belief in each
individual's value regardless of background, culture,
or other similar factors.
Organizational
Needs Assessment, Tailored Content and Design
Organizational analysis involves the assessment of the
firm's short- and long-term
strategic goals, as well as the trends expected to affect
those goals.
"Area
Effectiveness Survey"
The survey asked partners to evaluate how effectively
their area leaders
communicated the firm's vision to line partners and staff,
involved others in planning
and decision-making processes, and worked across organizational
boundaries to align
systems and eliminate barriers.
It
is crucial therefore for the success of any socialization
program that the
organization possess a vision and value set that are reasonably
well articulated and
lived out.
In
five-day sessions with nine high-potential junior executives,
Enrico teaches about
his personal philosophy of lending and the importance
of building businesses as a
core leadership competency.
Crystallize
Theories into Explicit Models, Attributes, and Behaviors
Enrico distilled his leadership experiences into a model
build around several
major themes. Simple and to the point, five key themes
were identified:
1.
Think different terms: The central idea is that leaders
must constantly be
working on big ideas that provide a competitive edge for
the organization in
its future. Incremental changes are insufficient for long-term
success. These
continuous improvements are valuable, but thousands are
required to drive
the business. It is through "big changes to big things"
that an organization
builds the business. Moreover, effective leaders continually
search for the
big ideas. It is a continuous process.
2.
Develop a point of view: Leaders must have a clear point
of view. They are
able to pinpoint and crystallize the opportunities into
ideas. These ideas are,
however, based on solid evidence and a belief in them
is shared by important
constituencies throughout the organization.
3.
Take it on the road: Effective leaders sell their ideas
throughout the
organization to get buy-in. But before making the grand
sell, they test
market them on smaller groups of constituents who provide
critical feedback
and help in developing the initiative. Enrico likes to
call this testing phase
"going off Broadway before you go to Broadway."
This is also a time to test
whether the language used to describe the idea evokes
interest and passion.
4.
Pull it all together: Once the idea is crystallized, the
leader then must
translate it into a clear vision, establish the right
measurements, gain
commitment from important stakeholders and effectively
anticipate and deal
with resistance.
5.
Make it happen: Finally, leaders must communicate their
vision using clear,
vivid messages that both motivate and provide direction.
This also involves
identifying the key constituencies that need to support
the initiative, enrolling
them, and getting into place the processes and support
systems that would
give the efforts staying power.
How
FedEx and PepsiCo Socialize Vision and Values
"At Federal Express, if you have the title of manager,
that means you also have to be
a leader…because all of our managers are responsible
for people. You've got to
listen to that voice [of leadership within]. It's called
common sense. It's called
conscience. It's called the right thing. We at Federal
Express have given you that
special trust and confidence as a leader. We need to get
this message out to company
managers."
Servant
Leadership
Leaders work for their staffs, not the other way around.
Case
Study: PepsiCo's Building the Business Program
During the course of the program, each participant develops
and refines a personal
vision for their project, as well as an action plan for
its implementation.
Program
Description
That evening or the very next morning all participants
must deliver an "elevator
speech." Enrico explains, "Imagine you have
just gotten into an elevator. You
have three minutes to the top. In that three-minute period,
you need to convey
the essence of your project and why it's so important
to the group who you are
imagining in the elevator with you." This exercise
is used by Enrico to drive
home the notion that unless an individual can articulate
the essence of their
project in less than three minutes then they need more
work to crystallize their
vision.
Enrico's
message is straightforward: "This is how things get
done. You don't
wait for somebody to tell you to do something. You don't
even have to wait for
someone to tell you it is okay to do something. You figure
it out and you make it
happen. It is time to get your own agenda and to figure
out how to drive it."
This is not a remedial course but a "take-it-to-the-next-level"
course. His goal is
to graduate a group of change agents who understand that
the biggest value they
bring is driving productive change. The purpose of the
course is to give them
some new ways to think about how to effectively drive
change.
Central
to the learning experience is the opportunity to simply
hear and learn
from Enrico. Questions to him are an essential part of
the learning. No question
is off limits, and discussions are direct and candid.
After
this introduction, Enrico then focuses on how the division
presidents
describe "running their businesses" versus "building
their businesses."
Running the business is the role of managing; building
the business is the role of
leadership.
…"take
back the streets" to emotionally convey the necessity
of Frito
overcoming its eroding market share. "Take back the
streets"
The
final part of the program is devoted to lessons on how
to make change happen.
Strategic
Leadership Initiatives
Business leaders today face a marketplace characterized
by change and growing
complexity.
Unfortunately,
many leaders have discovered in the midst of this sea
change that they
are ill-prepared to respond to-let alone lead-this change.
No
longer will senior leaders be able to rely on the top-down
command-and-control
tactics of the past, for these work only when the organization's
environment is
relatively stable and when directives can be well defined.
Leaders
throughout the organization-not just at the top-must be
able to create
strategy and lead change.
…leadership
development serves a dual purpose: it builds critical
capabilities while
at the same time achieving real-time business needs.
According
to Harvard Business School professor John Kotter (1996),
the
organization's need to deal with its growing bureaucracy
causes it to focus
primarily on monitoring and managing internal operations
rather than adapting
to external demands. An emphasis on management-the set
of processes that
keeps existing systems running smoothly-rather than leadership-the
set of
processes that initiates and adapts the organization to
significant
change-becomes
ingrained in the very fabric of the corporate cultures.
…managers had become stronger in management skills
than in leadership skills and
that many had become overly confident and somewhat complacent.
A
New Role for Leadership Development
…leadership development programs aimed at strategic
intervention seek to advance
five very different objectives:
1. To facilitate a unified, collective understanding of
the firm's strategic vision
2. To expedite large-scale change
3. To ensure the immediate application of useful knowledge
4. To build depth of leadership talent
5. To achieve measurable results that meet the "bottom
line"
Widespread
involvement is a necessity. All managers and employees
must take
ownership of a new vision and apply it to their daily
decision.
In
short, strategic thinking capabilities must be distributed
throughout the corporate
hierarchy.
…it
doesn't take long to determine that hiring five faculty
members or consultants to
design and teach an in-company program for several hundred
managers is less
expensive than sending each of those managers to a one-week
session at a prestigious
university or commercial program.
…leadership
development programs that seek to facilitate strategic
change have a
number of common design elements. These elements include
a well-articulated
strategic framework, sophisticated assessment processes,
content customized to
promote strategic objectives, learning organized around
executive cohorts, curricula
designed to elicit collective dialogue, trained facilitators,
and active feedback
processes.
1.
Strategic Framework Drives Program Content
The single most important feature of any leadership development
program designed
to facilitate large-scale change is a clearly articulated
framework that guides the
firm's collective efforts.
2.
Up-Front Assessment of the Organization's Learning Needs
To be effective, strategic intervention programs must
be preceded by an in-depth
assessment of the organization's learning needs. This
ensures that program designs
directly address critical obstacles and dilemmas facing
the implementation of the
firm's strategic goals.
4.
Curricula Designed to Elicit Collective Dialogue Between
Units and Across
levels
Collective dialogue across functions and between levels
is particularly important for
developing a common understanding of a firm's larger vision,
and in turn a shared
interpretation of how that vision can be adapted at the
local level.
6.
Active Feedback Mechanisms
One program we studies was structured to allow extensive
interaction between the
organization's new CEO and the top 140 or so leaders that
make up its Senior
Leadership Council.
3.
Multiple Opportunities for Reflective Learning
Feedback and reflection should be focused around the many
different levels of
learning that are occurring for the participant and their
organization. In the betterdesigned
programs, reflective learning opportunities are not only
targeted at what was
learned through the projects themselves but also on the
person approaches and styles
of the individual team members. Here are several topic
areas for reflective learning
that should not be overlooked:
-
How do our findings confirm or disconfirm our existing
notions of our
marketplaces (competitors, customers, suppliers, governments)?
Our existing
notions of our organization and its capabilities and shortcomings?
- What am I learning as a participant about business strategy,
leadership,
organizational change, innovation, global markets, and
so on?
- How effective are our group's processes for accomplishing
the project task?
- How effective am I as a team member in terms of my personal
style,
contributions, teamwork, initiative, decision-making approach,
and so on.
- What am I learning about how other functions, business
units, and the corporate
center operate, and their distinct needs?
- (When the project is completed) What could we as a team
and I as an individual
have done differently to make the process more effective?
How could I have
improved my own contribution and performance within the
team setting?
The
above summary has been provided to you compliments of
Altfeld, Inc.
