The Definition of Great Leadership

The Definition of Great Leadership

by Dan Hilbert

 

If the definition of great leadership is record-setting industry growth, creation of wealth for employees, changing communities through unprecedented volunteerism and financial donations to the needy, Bill Greehey defines greatness.

 

Greehey, former CEO of Fortune 10 company Valero Energy and now chairman of fast-growing energy company NuStar, builds these successful conglomerates through a simple human capital leadership model that drives business, shareholder, community and employee value. The model is adaptable and repeatable.

 

1. Take care of your employees.

2. Demand that employees take care of the community.

3. The community takes care of the company.

 

The first time I heard Bill say these words, I responded with the obligatory executive corporate response, "Brilliant!" while my mind was saying, "Sure. That's nice. We'll see."

 

Three years later, Valero experienced the third-fastest growth rate in American economic history: $3 billion to $92 billion in annual revenue; 3,000 employees to 28,000; one country to 28; 100 retail stores to 5,000; a low-performing stock to the fastest-growing major energy stock from 2004 to 2006.

 

Greehey's business model is as follows:

 

1. Take care of employees like family.

 

a) Generous stock options for all, free health care, high bonuses, retirement and no layoffs.

b) Thank you e-mails from Greehey upon every Valero success.

 

2. Employees take care of the community.

 

a) Record-setting contributions of employee volunteerism - more than 1 million hours per year.

b) Record-setting monetary contributions to the United Way - the highest per employee in United Way history.

 

3. The community takes care of Valero.

 

a) $19 stock growing through three splits in three years and ending at $82.

b) Wealth created for thousands of employees.

c) Valero reaching Fortune 10 status.

 

The environment was magic. Low performers became solid contributors and top performers delivered results beyond their wildest dreams. Greehey's human capital model is a success incubator. I led all talent functions and workforce planning for Valero. The team I was honored to lead won more awards in 2006 than any entire HR department in industry history.

 

Each Christmas, Greehey visited every cubicle and personally looked each of us in the eye and shook our hands, thanking us for our contributions - all 3,500 of us then flew to the refineries to do the same. Suddenly 70-hour weeks didn't seem that long. The results were thrilling.

 

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Greehey and troops literally built a city inside the flooded city for Valero's refinery and retail employees including trailers, roads, generators, doctors, food, medicine and counselors, within four days - while the flooded city was officially closed.

 

Valero took over the failing PGA golf event in San Antonio. In three years, the Texas Open became the highest donator of all 34 PGA events, giving more than $8 million to Children's Miracle Network.

 

Responsibility to shareholders and employees is brutal in tough times. The first instinct in corporate leadership today seems to be to cut employees and costs. Greehey has a no-layoff policy. When times were tough, management bonuses went first and salaries froze. Expenses were cut. But no employee was let go. This policy resulted in stunning workforce performance and loyalty: "Hey, Bill. Do you need us to give a few more hours to Valero and community? No problem!"

 

After retiring from Valero in 2006, Greehey bought Valero's small pipeline company. When Greehey left, Valero was worth $28 billion. His new company, NuStar, was worth less than $500 million. Three years later, through these brutal economic times, Valero is worth $9 billion, and NuStar is worth $3 billion and paying a 7 percent stock dividend. Taking care of your employees really does work - for all. In brutal economic times like these, does your leadership team want to face investors with an AIG debacle story or a NuStar success story?

 

 

[About the Author: Dan Hilbert is CEO of Orca Eyes, a software solutions provider, and former head of global talent management for Valero Energy.]

 

Leaders Teaching Leaders

Leaders Teaching Leaders by Steve Cohen, Kevin Wilde and Cheryl Bethune   As organizations leverage the valuable experience of their leaders as teachers, they should implement an instructionally sound framework that addresses the technical and emotional needs of all stakeholders.   You've been trying to convince your senior leaders for some time now that they have much to offer in teaching other leaders in your organization. By actively sharing their experiences and perspectives on the company's values and expectations, they send an unmistakable message of commitment to the company's success and to growing its leadership pipeline. Now you've finally gotten your chance. You are sitting across the desk from one of those executives, who has agreed to participate in your newly developed high-visibility senior leadership academy as a presenter. You're simultaneously excited and terrified: excited because you know the value that executives can bring to the program and terrified because you want to have a highly engaging learning experience, not a death-by-PowerPoint presentation or an unfocused stream-of-consciousness agenda.   Sure, many executives have risen to the top because of their ability to charismatically communicate and present to their teams, boardrooms and customers. But can they facilitate a real learning experience?   There are really only two factors that will influence the success of a leaders-teaching-leaders initiative. The first involves the creation of a simple, adaptable framework that facilitates the type of breakthrough learning experience you desire. The second factor addresses the emotional element of making executives comfortable doing something that may not come naturally: truly engaging the leaders in their audience.   Not Presentation Skills   With some direction, executives can learn the basics of creating engaging, meaningful and action-oriented learning experiences based on any content they want to present. Now, this isn't about teaching presentation skills. We assume these leaders already know how to present, as it's something they've likely been doing for years. This is about learning to facilitate a session that participants will remember and internalize.   That said, we recognize that senior executives aren't going to sit through a course in instructional design - nor should they. But they would benefit significantly from being introduced to an instructional design "lite" model that wouldn't take that much time to understand and apply, but would yield concrete results.   Such an instructional design "lite" process includes the following six phases.   Phase 1: Content Mapping   This phase involves identifying, organizing and sorting out the relevant content to be communicated in the session. Internal and external sources for the information are first determined and then accessed in order to be mapped. This mapping process classifies the content into one or more of the following three areas:   a) Knowledge, or the information one needs to know about the topic. b) Skill, or the ability one needs to demonstrate about the topic. c) Attitude, or those beliefs one has to embrace about the topic.   Leaders tend to know what they want to say but sometimes need an organizing framework to make the information meaningful to their audiences. This simple threefold approach allows them to create relevant and concise information. They also need to not only identify lessons learned from previous experience but create a story around their teachable point of view, which then can be mapped by the knowledge, skills and attitudes that story communicates.   Phase 2: Learning Objectives   Based on the content identified in Phase 1, specific learning objectives are created describing the intended and expected outcomes that will be addressed. These are aligned with the content classifications from Phase 1 such that the following questions can be answered as a result of participation in the session:   a) What do learners know now that they did not know prior to the session? b) What can learners do now that they were notable to do prior to the session? c) What do learners believe that they did not believe prior to the session?   Phase 3: Instructional Design   Based on the desired learning outcomes identified, create an initial teaching process in the form of a high-level design document. The format for this design resembles teaching notes that, when finalized, are used by the leader to instruct the session. This process takes into account the level and experience of the learners, the audience size, the specific business context involved and the desired learning objectives.   The methodology used involves three key elements: the "what," the "so what" and the "now what."   1. The "what" refers to the content that will be discussed. It revolves around the mindset required to learn the intended topic or point.   2. The "so what" provides context for learners and helps them understand how they will need to apply the content in their specific job roles. It focuses on the skill set required to apply the content.   3. The "now what" addresses the application of the content - helping direct reports, managers and others become more effective. To apply the skill sets developed, leaders now need an appropriate tool set designed specifically to address their business challenges.   Phase 4: Materials Development   Once the overall session's instructional design has been completed, learning executives can work on developing the most appropriate learning experiences to convey the necessary information. This can be facilitated by matching intended learning outcomes with appropriate learning strategies. Then, all the materials for the session - such as reading materials, tools, workbooks, PowerPoint presentations and teaching notes - can be developed.   Phase 5: Module Delivery   Prior to the actual delivery of the session, conduct a practice walk-through with a small group of colleagues who provide feedback on the teaching process and materials. All revisions should be made prior to a final printing and delivery of the session.   Optional Phase 6: Cascading Rollout   Once the initial session has been delivered, CLOs might want to implement a process to teach participants how to deliver the module to their own direct reports, thereby extending the leaders-teaching-leaders model. Given that these learners are already familiar with the content and delivery, a working session can be organized for all interested to review key elements, answer questions and practice delivery.   This six-phase approach is easy to implement and combines the science of learning with helping the executives become emotionally comfortable with developing others. Once they have applied this approach, they should be able to do it on their own the next time around. True, the learning executive may have to co-facilitate a session at first, but over time, these leaders will become more and more comfortable with the continued success they are having. Furthermore, those learners seeing this approach modeled by their senior executives can even more quickly understand its benefits and follow it when creating their own leaders-teaching-leaders sessions.   A Few Final Tips   When working with executives, CLOs would do well to keep the following in mind.   1. This has not been their job. While they have been successful at telling and selling, facilitating a learning experience is likely to be out of their comfort zone. Therefore, provide them with a simple framework that engenders their confidence. It's your job to bring them to their conscious competence.   2. It's their style, not yours. Encourage them to use their own words, provide their own perspective and articulate their own points of view. A "facilitator" outline can help keep them on track and even a sample script could assist, but allow them the space to work within their own structure.   3. They must "own" their content. They need to believe in what they are teaching if they are going to effectively model and influence other leaders. In fact, minor flaws in their facilitation skills will likely be forgiven if they are passionate owners of their content.   4. You are the learning pro. As such, you must offer a collaborative and competent approach. Leaders will look to you for help, so don't back down from a framework you know will work. Having said this, you need to demonstrate your confidence and business savvy, so avoid using learning and development jargon.   The approach described in this article provides a framework that replaces the oft-dreaded uninspiring executive presentation with an engaging, relevant and impactful learning experience.     [About the Authors: Steve Cohen is the founder and a principal of the Strategic Leadership Collaborative, a global leadership strategy and effectiveness consultancy. Kevin Wilde is the chief learning officer and vice president of organization effectiveness for General Mills Inc. Cheryl Bethune is the manager of organization effectiveness at General Mills.]

The Leadership - Profit Chain

The Leadership - Profit Chain by Drea Zigarmi and Scott Blanchard   A specific sequence of events links leadership effectiveness to employee passion, customer devotion and organizational vitality.   Most executives know that leadership plays a key role in the success or failure of an organization, but little research has been compiled about the long-term impact of leadership on organizational productivity and profitability. In response, The Ken Blanchard Companies embarked on a study to answer some important questions about leadership and its role in supporting the overall success of an organization.   The study found that there is a specific chain of events that begins with strong strategic and operational leadership practices that drive employee passion. This, in turn, drives customer devotion, which leads to improved organizational vitality. This model is called "the leadership-profit chain," and it provides learning executives with a way to take a closer look at these connections within their own organization.   You Can Never Break the Chain   At its heart, the leadership-profit chain is a model that describes the impact that leadership has on profits in a commercial enterprise. Looking at a wide variety of studies published between 1980 and 2005 showed that leadership can impact organizational vitality in several ways, both directly and indirectly.   The research found that when employees are happy and are clear on how the organization wants them to treat customers, they provide a better customer experience. If they are not happy or are unclear, they take poorer care of their customers. The research also indicated that there is a reciprocal relationship between customers and employees. If customers are happy with a company's product or service, they create a more favorable environment for employees to work in. Conversely, if customers are dissatisfied, they take it out on front-line employees, which starts a cycle of decline in employee passion.   If a company is not systematically geared to focus on an increase employee passion and customer devotion through its managerial practices, then it is making a costly mistake. These two populations strongly influence overall organizational vitality.   Understanding the Human Element   A prudent business leader needs to carefully understand how the organization's customers and employees are feeling, because it is these emotional evaluations that drive economic value one way or the other for the business. People - whether they are customers or employees - care about what is being done to them, and they have strong feelings about the way they are treated.   Sometimes leaders run organizations as if they have lost sight of the human element within employees and customers. Leaders need to remember to see employees and customers as more than just assets and targets to be maximized and retained. It is also important to remember that people use an appraisal process to look at their environment, and this determines both how they feel about what they are experiencing and what they intend to do about it.   If an organization treats employees badly or without much care, then employees are going to respond with lower levels of performance and satisfaction. If an organization doesn't treat customers well, then the customers are going to see the organization as just another vendor. When that happens, customers expect more from a pricing standpoint. They also tend to be harder on front-line employees when things are not exactly right.   Many organizations today are focused mainly on profit. While turning a profit certainly needs to be a part of an organization's overall goals, research shows that the pursuit of profit to the exclusion of everything else is shortsighted. Profit is best seen as a byproduct of serving the customer and providing a motivating environment for employees. Leaders should look first to create a wholehearted sense of passion in employees and devotion in customers, and the profits will follow. Organizations have to keep their eye on the ball - serving the customer - and not become fixated on the scoreboard: profit.   Understanding Customers   Customers stay with an organization for complex emotional reasons that go beyond low prices. They are constantly making appraisals about an organization's entire system, looking for a product or service provider that offers the whole package: They have a good price, are easy to do business with, are flexible enough to adapt to changing customer needs and also provide faithful service.   Customers are looking for a company that they perceive as good, faithful and fair. They stay with organizations that provide good products but also show character, leadership and a focus that may not always be perfect, but that builds faith in a customer's mind. For leaders, this means creating an emotional attachment in customers' minds that makes them think they have selected the right company - one that will rectify any mistakes that arise, whether on the part of the customer or the service provider.   Organizations don't achieve that kind of feeling with price alone. Leaders at successful companies realize that price is just one component of a customer's evaluation process and that many other things also need to be addressed as part of the total customer experience.   Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Customers and Employees   The research determined that leaders need to be constantly aware of their employee base, the appraisals they make about the work environment and how they feel about management. Research also shows that leaders need to take care of the people who are taking care of the customers.   An additional element of the leadership-profit chain is the factors that drive employee passion. Leaders need to understand what these factors are and to what degree employees feel that their needs are being met. The good news is that many of these needs are low cost. Some of the factors include doing meaningful work and participating in a collaborative versus a competitive environment. Other needs include a sense of growth and the feeling that that a job is not a dead end.   Organizations that are not meeting these needs or are not systematically delivering on them end up creating conditions that will limit future productivity. The research shows that organizations can't just treat people poorly, put pressure on them and expect them to perform at high levels.   Recommended Leadership Behaviors   Leadership keeps an organization working well. If leaders do not provide employees with the support they need, organizations start to see wear and tear. When that happens, the organization has to stop and repair things. Here then, in general terms, are some of the good leadership behaviors that allow things to run more smoothly and efficiently.   a) Provide strong strategic leadership that includes setting an overall vision for the organization, coordinating the efforts of employees toward that purpose and keeping them prepared to adapt to changing conditions as necessary.   b) Identify and focus the organization on key strategic imperatives that have purpose for the customer or meaning for the greater community.   c) Send consistent messages based on a clear vision and the type of culture the organization wants to create. Behaviorally define the values that guide the way employees interact with customers and each other.   d) Focus on the operational leadership behaviors that translate strategy into daily practice throughout the organization. Identify employee needs and strive to meet them. These operational leadership behaviors have a big impact on the organization because they create the environment in which employees live. These factors influence employees' passion and how excited they are to work for the organization. Operational leadership is a linchpin and it has a huge influence on the ways that employees engage with clients.   e) Keep the organizational focus on the areas where leadership has the most impact. When managers focus their attention and emphasis only on organizational indicators of vitality such as profit, they have their eye on the scoreboard and not on the ball. Profit is a byproduct of serving the customer, which can only be achieved by serving the employee.   f) Don't fall into a trap of thinking that an organization can't focus on both people and results. Organizations can focus on both at the same time and should.   Benefits of Good Leadership   If leaders create the right environment and engage in the right behaviors, employees will think well of the organization. This leads to a sense of well-being, which translates into positive intentions to contribute to the organization's overall vitality.   Meeting people's needs unleashes higher levels of productivity that occur when people feel that someone cares about them. In an organizational setting, caring means creating a collaborative environment and making sure work is tied to purposeful endeavors that benefit the customer.   Leaders who are successful in creating this feeling can look forward to lower levels of turnover, waste and shrinkage and higher levels of productivity. In addition, leaders can also expect greater amounts of collaboration, which translates into better service.   Creating an organization that is successful and effective is an inside-out proposition. The quality of the culture and management practices and the alignment of these practices to key strategic initiatives rests with leadership.   Leaders who hold people accountable and ensure effective, productive behaviors in their employees can be the most effective influencers and drivers of organizational results. Equally important is a leader's ability to affect the mood, attitude and engagement of employees and the culture of the organization overall through a specific chain of events that is implicitly linked.   The key to organizational vitality is creating an environment that allows employees to win and be passionate about what they do. By taking care of employees, leaders establish an environment in which employees take care of customers at a level that causes customers to want to return year after year. The result is a strong, vital and profitable organization.     [About the Authors: Drea Zigarmi is a founding associate and Scott Blanchard is executive vice president for The Ken Blanchard Companies, a provider of training and organizational development services.]

The Global Leadership Mindset

The Global Leadership Mindset by Eileen M. Rogers and Daren Blonski   The integration of multiple geographies, cultures, nationalities, ages and styles in enterprises around the world is having an enormous impact on business relationships. Leaders today need a new, specialized set of skills if they are to be successful.   Fueled by social networks and technology, universal collaboration is becoming a daily business reality. Global data and knowledge are now accessed on devices that people can hold in the palms of their hands. Jim Kouzes, renowned leadership expert, recently described this shift by stating that "while the content of leadership has remained the same over the past 20 years, the context has not."   Leaders striving for success today must be able to master three new levels of competence:   1. Global business acumen: The new financial, industry, functional and technical skills needed to navigate a market characterized by rapid evolution of business models, markets, products, and mergers and acquisitions.   2. Global mindset: The capacity to engage in a boundaryless and synthesizing cognitive process that identifies opportunity and innovation in complexity.   3. Global citizenship: A potent combination of geographic, political, economic, governmental, legal, cultural, technological and environmental savvy that informs business strategy formulation and execution.   Global Mindset vs. Global Citizenship   A global mindset includes the ability to see beyond the boundaries of the organization, national culture, functional responsibilities and corporate gain to envision and communicate the ultimate contribution and value of the work to society and sustainability. In his book Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner delineates five sets of cognitive capabilities leaders must master: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind and the ethical mind. The global mindset demonstrates the application of the ethical mind, which conceptualizes how work can serve purposes beyond self-interest and can contribute to the greater good.   This global mindset enables people to embrace complexity and paradox. It means they are capable of holding the tension and ambiguity of opposing points of view, perspectives, data and values in their minds and then harmonizing these differences for greater leadership effectiveness.   Global citizenship is acquired by pursuing an open-minded interest in the world, global business, cultures and people. Again drawing from Gardner's five minds model, this capability to gather, retain and master vast reservoirs of knowledge, data and information about the world reflects the respectful mind. The respectful mind recognizes and embraces differences between human individuals and groups, tries to understand them and seeks to work effectively with them. The crux of a global citizen is honoring one's origins while suspending judgment and remaining open to others. This is emotional and social intelligence applied to cultural competence. These leaders adopt a flexible, adaptable and curious way of looking at things and see difference in others not only as acceptable, but as preferable.   Every aspect of leadership today must be described and measured through the lens of the global mindset. The core of global leadership is reflected in the "being" competencies - having a compelling vision founded on clear, shared values that appeals to a diverse constituency - as well as the "doing" capabilities - demonstrated by world-class expertise, eminence and results.   Leaders in the 21st century must then assume seven critical roles:   1. Strategist Integrating short-term and long-term interests with global and local stakeholders and establishing a clear course of action to achieve organizational success.   2. Innovator Generating a climate of innovation and change and personally identifying and pursuing new global possibilities, products and markets.   3. Communicator Engaging diverse stakeholder commitment and enthusiasm by sharing clear messages through multiple networks and technology.   4. Relationship builder Creating relationships of trust by developing keen insight and respect for difference while also connecting with others globally in a meaningful way.   5. Mentor or coach Building the next generation of leaders by supporting a strengths-based apprenticeship culture within the group or organization.   6. Decision maker Leveraging a global view, systems thinking and broad spectrum analysis to execute strategy in the midst of ambiguity and uncertainty.   7. Global citizen Honoring one's own unique origins while developing appreciation of and integration into a larger global citizenship.   Global Leadership at Every Level   Global companies in the 21st century may employ international processes and operations, yet they understand that the consumer is ultimately local. These companies find innovative ways to generate competitive advantage through their local enterprise presence by, for example, establishing R&D centers in the midst of their customers; hiring local talent who represent customer perspectives, values and requirements; and working within local regulatory contexts to conform to national requirements.   This extension of the enterprise into local contexts and the integration of local operations into the perspectives, strengths and results of the global operation require that all acquire the capabilities of global leadership. The global competitive context does not permit us to leave any talent underutilized. Everyone must acquire and embed global leadership competence into everyday actions and behaviors.   Developing Global Leaders   Learning professionals must equip leaders at all levels of the organization to:   a) Manage dynamic complexity. b) Respond with agility to crisis and opportunity. c) Embrace the democratization of knowledge. d) Engage the wisdom of crowds and social networks to innovate and grow the business in new markets. e) Build global cross-cultural competence as a critical business skill.   First, CLOs must craft a competency model that authentically describes these skills, behaviors and knowledge through the global mindset lens. Then, they must create a progressive curriculum that develops individuals to become global leaders.   Each employee then can enter the curriculum at the appropriate level, based on what he or she already has learned and mastered, not by level or position.   One of the best paths to build needed global skills is an immersion into the international context. As Oliver Wendell Holmes has stated: "A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." Initiatives to develop global leadership competencies currently focus on engaging individuals and teams in global, mini-expatriate assignments in several countries, functions and roles. The next innovation would be to replicate the expat experience in a virtual world and make it available to all.   Two examples of mini-expat initiatives are:   1. VF Corp Ron Lawrence, vice president of organization development for the global apparel company, helped launch an innovative short-term assignment program called Ex-Pat Lite. Like other large companies, VF has a growing need for global leaders but is challenged by the extremely high costs of full expat relocations as well as finding talented executives who are willing to move. The Ex-Pat Lite program allows VF to provide meaningful global learning and growth experiences to rising leaders at a fraction of the cost of a full relocation and with less disruption to the individual and his or her family. The usual duration is three to six months with a solid re-entry process back into the home country.   2. Berlitz International and the Georgetown McDonough School of Business Language and cross-cultural training company Berlitz International joined forces with the Georgetown McDonough School of Business to launch a global leadership development program that provides a rich combination of language training, communication skills, cross-cultural competence, global strategic business acumen and global leadership development. It is delivered over six months in four one-week sessions held in four hubs. Each of these locations was chosen for the role it plays in global business: London (global finance); Shanghai (supply chain and manufacturing); Bangalore (outsourcing and IT); and Washington (global business and industry policy). Each week leverages on-the-ground experiences and the development of business networks and insights while building intercultural leadership capabilities.   There are many examples of companies that entered global markets without understanding local consumer behavior, regulatory constraints, and even the implications of brand names that have a completely different meaning in another language. Consider the revelation that resulted from introducing the Chevy Nova in Mexico, where "no va" means "no go."   Preparing leaders to acquire, master and maintain global leadership capability is key to every organization's survival.     [About the Authors: Eileen M. Rogers is vice president of global talent solutions for TMC. Daren Blonski is managing director of LeadershipSigma.]

The Changing Face of Leadership

The Changing Face of Leadership by Ken Blanchard | Diversity Executive   Globalization and the increasingly international nature of business has changed the face of leadership. More and more people from different backgrounds, age groups and cultures are stepping into management positions than ever before.   Bringing people together from a wide variety of backgrounds creates tremendous opportunities for organizations, but also some challenges. Organizations can benefit from the new perspectives and possibilities that diversity brings if they are able to unite people with a common set of values and goals. If not, the result is misalignment and disorganized inefficiencies as people go off in every direction based on their own individual backgrounds.   For leaders looking to manage successfully in this new diverse workforce, the ability to balance different cultural perspectives within the context of a clear vision and a set of operating goals and initiatives is a key skill. This allows a leader to say, "I know that we are all coming into this with different values, experiences and expectations, but in this company, this is where we are headed, and this is what we are trying to accomplish."   The Power of Conversations   One of the best ways to get everyone on the same page is to increase the quality and quantity of conversations occurring between managers and their direct reports. The greater the amount of diversity there is in the workforce, the more managers have to communicate to make sure that each party's issues and concerns are on the table.   For example, a couple of years ago I wrote a book with Mark Muchnick titled "The Leadership Pill: The Missing Ingredient in Motivating People Today." The book was based on research Muchnick conducted with workers in the "Y" or Millennial generation - people born in the 1980s and 1990s. This generational group is the largest to enter the workforce since the baby boomer generation, and they will play a key role in the changing nature of workplace dynamics. This generation identified three things that they want from a leader.   First, they want a higher level of integrity. While we have talked about the importance of integrity in organizations for many years, what's different is how this generation will respond to inconsistencies in the workforce. In the past, if leaders were inconsistent, employees would talk about it in the bathrooms and in the hallways, but that was usually as far as it went. The younger generation in the workforce today will confront leaders. For example, in our own company, we've had some new people actually go to the president of the company and essentially say, "Listen, I don't know what you think you are running here, but let me tell you what is going on in terms of what you say you stand for and what you are actually doing." People are much more direct, so integrity is important.   Second, the newer generation wants a partnership relationship. That doesn't mean they necessarily want to be in charge, or expect to be equal on the organizational chart, but they do want to be considered a partner. One of the things younger workers hate are words like "superior and subordinate" or "head of the department versus hired hands," language that used to be commonplace in organizations. Next-generation workers want to be considered a partner and appreciated for what they bring to the party.   The last thing the newer generation of workers wants is recognition. And what separated this generation from those previously is they place a special emphasis on being recognized as a total human being. In other words, they don't want to "leave their nerve endings at the door." They want their managers to know them as people and the issues they might be dealing with in and out of work. They do not want to be compartmentalized. This leads back to the importance of increasing communication. Leaders need to continuously communicate so that all employees feel cared for, understood and supported in their efforts to make a difference at work.   Bringing Out the Best in Everyone   One of my favorite sayings is, "No one of us is as smart as all of us." When you apply that thinking to the more diverse work environment of the future, you have a roadmap for success going forward. In the past, leaders often gathered people around them who thought the same way they did. I've always believed that if you have someone on your team who always agrees with you, one of you is redundant.   One of the great advantages in having a diverse population is that you can tackle a problem from a rich variety of viewpoints. But you have to encourage participation and really listen to what people have to say to make the most of that opportunity.   Today, we need more involvement instead of less involvement, but this doesn't mean leaders need to immobilize themselves by making sure everyone agrees. It's much more important that everyone be heard. The face of leadership is changing. The old ways of doing things are not necessarily the ways of leading in the future. By using the excitement, willingness and the capability of people from diverse backgrounds, leaders will find they are able to make a significant impact in their organizations, their communities and in all walks of life.     [About the Author: Ken Blanchard is the co-founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies and coauthor of The One Minute Manager.]

Leadership Development Goes Organic

Leadership Development Goes Organic by Stephen Parker and Mark Smith | Chief Learning Officer   There is a new breed of leaders who can help their organizations achieve sustained, companywide growth. They're "growth leaders," and CLOs can lead the charge in identifying and developing them.   The business landscape has changed in ways no one fully understands. Credit remains tight. Confidence is fragile. The vitality of the recovery itself is uncertain. Growth in this new economic reality won't be about risky marketing plays or highly leveraged megadeals. What companies need now are solid organic growth strategies - ones that make the most of the resources already at their disposal. As chief learning officer, you can help shape such a strategy. You can lead the charge to accelerate organic growth.   Growing a business from within - rather than through mergers, acquisitions or takeovers - is a hallmark of a flourishing enterprise. Of course, even companies that grow through acquisition must consolidate and organically grow their acquired businesses. All companies want strong organic growth, yet as they get bigger, most struggle to sustain it. Why?   Part of the answer is simple mathematics. The larger a company's existing base of business, the more challenging it becomes to achieve double-digit organic growth. But there is also a significant cultural dimension. Big companies often work in ways that dampen big thinking. Forecasts. Quotas. Budgets. Policies. Procedures. Directives. Standards. The mechanisms that help corporate executives manage large spans of control can unintentionally suppress their company's innovation and growth initiative.   Impediments to Growth   Two decades of research by Healthy Companies International, a global management consulting firm, has found that within larger companies common impediments to organic growth include:   1. Placing too much faith in the power of data. A slavish reliance on data can be self-defeating. Data from the past may be irrelevant for assessing new opportunities.   2. Allowing bureaucracy to smother entrepreneurship. In big companies some bureaucracy is necessary, but when it stymies innovation, it kills growth.   3. Believing that only big is beautiful. Big companies often put most of their resources behind a few big ideas, while neglecting the cumulative value of many smaller ideas.   4. Insisting that all projects be treated equally. Putting every initiative through the same rigorous set of checks and balances kills out-of-the-box thinking.   Savvy Intrapreneurs   Intriguingly, some leaders manage to overcome such obstacles, consistently creating rapid organic growth inside large companies. An extensive study conducted by Healthy Companies International in partnership with the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business profiled a rare breed of leader working inside large organizations - most often as midlevel executives. These "growth leaders" operate much like entrepreneurs, leveraging the company's existing resources to drive double-digit organic growth. According to researchers Jeanne Liedtka, Robert Rosen and Robert Wiltbank in their book The Catalyst: How You Can Become an Extraordinary Growth Leader, this often entails working around the company's entrenched bureaucracy, control systems and inflexible work processes.   Where are these growth leaders in your organization? Most likely, they are working their magic far away from the limelight. This group of leaders rarely clamors for attention. In fact, many growth leaders will tell you: "The best thing the company can do for me is to stay out of my way." While this may sound like old-fashioned rugged individualism, it actually reflects growth leaders' frustration with systems built on assumptions they don't share.   Big companies tend to make big bets. And since big bets mean big risks, these organizations understandably want lots of assurance that their bets will pay off. Most, therefore, invest heavily in predictability and control mechanisms such as market research, sophisticated analyses, forecasts, project plans, standard operating procedures and approval systems.   In contrast, the growth leaders we found thriving inside big companies make small bets - lots of small bets. And while they cannot be certain their bets will pay off, it doesn't worry them. The potential losses are affordable. Growth leaders say: "Let's try this and see what happens." They test their ideas on a small scale to start, which makes it easy to pull the plug if an idea doesn't work. They learn from each experience, modify their ideas accordingly, or move on to experiment with the next innovation. In this way, growth leaders continually innovate in pursuit of organic growth at a low cost, while keeping risks under control.   Just as important, growth leaders are all about what their customers value. By viewing their own operations through the eyes of their customers, growth leaders spy opportunities traditional managers may miss. Many even enroll customers in shaping and carrying out their experiments. When the customer reports that an innovation does in fact add value, the growth leader scales it up. That is their formula for accelerating organic growth.   How Growth Leaders Are Different   The Healthy Companies study revealed that effective growth leaders are different from traditional managers in three fundamental ways:   1. They know differently. They have an innate appetite for experimentation and so command fuller and more diverse bases of knowledge, skills and experience.   2. They see differently. Growth leaders focus intently on customers and so see growth opportunities that internally focused, control-oriented managers miss.   3. They act differently. Growth leaders continually tinker with the value proposition to the customer's benefit and build high-performing teams that share their own growth mindset.   Build Your Own Growth Leader Factory   What does all this mean for the CLO? In a word: opportunity. In an age when companies compulsively define their key processes, it is ironic that few have an explicit process for driving organic growth. You can apply what research tells us to identify high-potential growth leaders in your company, systematically develop the competencies that research shows ignite organic growth, and then unleash these growth catalysts across your company to build high-performing growth teams and growth organizations.   A case in point is DynCorp International (DI), a government services contractor based in Falls Church, Va. With 30,000 employees, DI has annual revenues in excess of $3 billion. DI teams work in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives around the globe, often in hostile environments. The company erects and maintains military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, provides security to U.S. diplomats, maintains U.S. military aircraft, trains civilian police forces, supports economic development initiatives, and takes on a wide range of law enforcement and peacekeeping missions worldwide.   When CEO Bill Ballhaus took the helm in 2008, DynCorp International was at a turning point. Revenues were flat, and attempts to reorganize the company hadn't yielded significant organic growth. Ballhaus recognized the need to inspire innovation and instill an organic growth mindset. With his senior team, he developed a shared vision of how the company would accelerate growth and then customized criteria to nominate candidates from within DI to take part in a program specifically designed to develop high-potential growth leaders. Dianne Walker, DI's senior vice president of human resources, led the team that shaped the solution.   "Our Growth Catalyst Leadership Development Program is an immersion and mentoring process that identifies and develops entrepreneurial leaders from across the company," Walker said.   Significantly, the leaders selected to participate in the program were viewed as likely successors to top posts. "Our program is instilling a growth mindset that will endure beyond our current group of top leaders," Walker said. "This program also gives managers who currently run diverse parts of the company a chance to experience interacting directly together, as a team."   In weeklong modules conducted quarterly over the course of a year, participants in the program receive classroom instruction specifically designed to develop the growth leadership competencies identified in Healthy Companies' research and engage in collaborative work sessions with their peers. Early in the program, participants select projects critical to fulfilling the company's growth vision, with input from the DI senior team. Continued mentoring, coaching and webinars between modules help these growth leaders stay connected with the program objectives while feeling supported in taking appropriate risks. Participants also have online access to a customized tool kit with hundreds of support tools and assessments.   "The venue for each module of the Growth Catalyst Leadership Development Program was chosen to emphasize important characteristics of growth," Walker said. "Our first session was held close to the company's headquarters, where the senior team could interact with participants and share their growth vision. The second module took place further off-site to help the growth leaders gel as a team. A later session was held in New York to emphasize the financial implications of growth. A visit to a major customer site helped emphasize that sustained organic growth is driven by what customers want and value."   DynCorp International's Growth Catalyst Leadership Development Program is still unfolding, but the impact is already apparent.   "We have definitely seen a shift in mindset," Walker said. "Sustaining strong organic growth is more of a clear priority across our enterprise, and we see a stronger bias for both innovation and action, which make growth possible."   Last year, DynCorp International grew at a pace well into the double digits - faster than any of its industry peers. That growth was nearly all organic. The company recently made its first two strategic acquisitions, which are expected to open new channels for organic growth. Looking ahead, DI's top leaders say that both organic growth and acquisitions will be keys to sustained growth.   A Differentiated Development Investment   Just one-third of the executives responding to a McKinsey study conducted in March believe that their companies' training programs build capabilities vital to improving business performance. We imagine senior executives often struggle to discern a clear link between customary, generic high-potential leadership development and the company's measured business success. In contrast, developing your high-potential growth leaders aims to build your company's capacity to drive top-line growth. That makes the business value unmistakable.   Additionally, tangible growth returns are realized quickly because participants execute growth projects while they are learning growth leadership skills and receiving coaching and mentoring. At the end of one year, high-potential growth leaders can look back not only on a period of tremendous personal development, but also on measured contributions to the organic growth of the business. Along the way, growth leaders become a more cohesive team, ready to work together at the next level and better prepared to mentor and encourage other growth leaders across the company.   In sum, your growth leadership development program can be the catalyst for a sustained, companywide organic growth success story.     [About the Authors: Stephen Parker and Mark Smith are principals in Healthy Companies International, a global management consulting and research firm.]

Leadership Development for SMBs

Leadership Development for SMBs by Daniel R. Tobin | Chief Learning Officer   Most of the literature and examples of best practices for developing a company's next generation of leaders cite the efforts of large companies as examples. These large companies have large leadership development staffs, impressive budgets and often a dedicated facility for leadership development activities.   Few small to midsized companies - defined here as having fewer than 5,000 employees - have the resources, both financial and personnel, to even think about replicating the approaches to leadership development used in larger companies. In smaller companies, leadership development is at best the responsibility of the HR group, which always has many other responsibilities. At worst, nobody in these companies is thinking about leadership development except for an occasional discussion in the succession planning process.   For these smaller companies, the development of the next generation of leaders cannot be focused on a single leadership development program or experience. Leadership skills are necessary, but they are not sufficient to create a new generation of leaders. Along with leadership skills, this next generation must develop its business acumen, learn and practice execution, and broaden its knowledge and skills from functional specialties to a broader range of strategic thinking and planning.   A comprehensive approach to leadership development that can work for many small and midsized companies runs over a period of two years and has four basic components:   1. Quarterly education sessions: These are focused on a wide variety of topics, ranging from business and financial acumen to strategic thinking.   2. Action learning projects: These are each directly tied to the topic of an education session. Some projects are assigned to teams, others to individual participants in the program. The results of the projects are then presented to a panel of company executives at the start of the next quarterly education session.   3. 360 assessments and individual development plans: These are produced for each program participant.   4. Mentoring and coaching: Each participant is assigned a mentor from the company's executive team and, as needed, coaches are assigned to individual participants to help them develop knowledge and skills not included in the overall program, but which are identified as a personal need.   By involving company executives in the program, in a variety of roles, they will get to see their high-potential employees in action and, more important, will be able to test their leadership skills through action learning projects before promoting them. Executives who participate in the program feel that they get a much better line of sight into the company's talent than they otherwise would have had, and they end up feeling more connected to the front lines of the business.   A common question is: How much is this going to cost the company? The answer is that no matter how much it costs, the entire program will cost much less than making poor promotional decisions without it.   Here are some reasonable expectations for results from using this leadership model:   a) Expanding a company's pool of talent for use in succession planning. b) Increasing retention of top talent. c) Addressing long-standing company challenges. d) Making top talent more visible to company executives. e) Increasing the performance potential of participants in their current jobs. f) Weeding out supposed high-potentials who fail to perform in the program.     [About the Author: Daniel Tobin is a consultant on leadership development programs and corporate learning strategies, as well as the author of "Feeding Your Leadership Pipeline: How to Develop the Next Generation of Leaders in Small to Mid-Sized Companies."]

Leaders Need Power

Leaders Need Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer | Talent Management   A recent conversation with an executive coach who works with up-and-coming executives in Silicon Valley companies reminded me of one major challenge talent leaders face: helping people develop their power skills. These include promoting themselves and their agendas, displaying confidence and being able to understand others' points of view.   She said few of the smart, technically savvy people she worked with understand organizational dynamics or are comfortable building and using power. And they often can't get things done. For instance, a business development leader found he was more successful in getting his team's ideas implemented when he flattered his boss and led her to think the business development initiatives were actually her idea.   Hierarchy is ubiquitous, but people often have trouble with these kinds of relationships. Employees may exhibit counter dependence as they resist cozying up to superiors. People don't recognize the conflicting dimensions of collaboration and competition in peer relationships and can seem reluctant to exercise authority over subordinates.   Many young leaders grew up in a world where if there were seven people in a swim meet, seven people got ribbons. This tendency to view everyone as a winner and competitive differentiation as too harsh has produced high school graduations with multiple valedictorians. Meanwhile, inside companies, power remains, to use Rosabeth Kanter's apt phrase from more than 30 years ago, "the organization's last dirty secret."   Literature doesn't help much to clarify the issue, wavering between autobiographies from successful leaders that gloss over what they actually did to get to the top and Scout-like lists of recommended virtues and behaviors. Recommendations such as telling the truth, being modest and self-effacing, and coaching and developing others would clearly improve organizational performance and produce more humane workplaces. But such lists ignore two facts. First, few mortals are perfect, so the question becomes what trade-offs between strengths and weaknesses should companies make.   Second, the qualities that make someone a good leader are not necessarily the qualities that would get a person into a leadership role in the first place. There are often negative correlations between perceptions of competence and niceness, so, as one study showed, people who wrote more negative book reviews were seen as smarter albeit less likeable than those who were more positive in their evaluations.   Some companies, such as the Gap a few years ago and Hewlett-Packard today, have programs that train influence skills, and more companies should follow their lead. Programs ought to include some focus on qualities that promote influence - energy, focus, persistence, the ability to see the world from others' perspectives - and include a self-assessment and personal development plan to increase these attributes.   Skills to build effective social networks as well as networking skills can be taught, and this training can help people win promotions, compared to similarly talented and qualified peers who haven't had it. The ability to act and speak with power is a crucial skill that can be developed, as actors well know. Further, people need to understand the sources of power, the social psychology of influence and how to cope with the inevitable opposition and setbacks that even the most successful individual confronts.   Most leadership books present a world that is different in one important respect from the world that talented individuals inhabit; a few trade-offs must be made. In the world they portray, what's good for the company is good for the individual, so when individuals succeed, their companies are better off. Ideally, people succeed based on performance. The traits that make people likeable are, for the most part, the same ones that make them successful leaders, and so it goes.   Talented people clearly see when they look at the world around them that this isn't completely true. People receive promotions based on credentials, experience and their relationships with their bosses, not just their job performance. Sometimes not-so-nice people win the race to the top, and individual and organizational interests can and do diverge.     [About the Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II professor of organizational behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and the author of Power: Why Some People Have It - and Others Don't.]

Are Your Leaders Environmentally Friendly?

Are Your Leaders Environmentally Friendly? by Arthur F. Carmazzi | Talent Management   In a world where information travels faster than ever, the expectations of work and leaders have changed significantly in just a few years, and, with those expectations, the emotions and motivations that affect our jobs and our lives also have changed. The goal? To develop leaders rather than followers.   With so many distractions, not to mention the lure of instant emotional gratification, average employees wait to be told what to do. Worse, they often do not see, feel or understand the bigger picture of their roles in an organization. Some leaders chalk it up to poor attitude or mentally challenged employees. The reality may relate more to a poor environment created by leaders who are unaware of the psychology of modern society. To cultivate leaders in an organization and lead them to greater achievement, consider applying a psychological form of leadership called environmental leadership.   The Psychology of Environment   Individuals have various environments that bring out different facets of their identities, and each is successful in one area or another. The key differentiators are the emotionally charged perceptions within each environment. The environmental leader creates a platform through education and awareness where employees fulfill each other's emotional gratifications and become more conscious of when and how they affect the group dynamics in positive or negative ways. This sets the foundation for the talent leader to cultivate a unified culture where employees feel they are important parts of achieving a greater goal and their roles in attaining that goal also serve them on a personal level.   Essentially, an environmental leader is the sculptor or an organization that promotes confidence and responsibility to act on what needs to be done to achieve business objectives in ways dictated by the culture.   Environmental leadership is not about changing the mindset of the group or individual; it's about cultivating an environment that brings out the best and inspires the employees in that group. It is not the ability to influence others to do something they are not committed to. Instead, environmental leadership nurtures a culture that motivates and even excites individuals to do what is required for the benefit of all. It is not carrying others to the end result; it's establishing the surroundings to develop qualities in employees so that they can lead each other. In other words, an environmental leader implements a psychological support system that fulfills the emotional and developmental needs of the group while simultaneously nurturing self-leadership.   The path to becoming an environmental leader is founded on a bed of self-discovery and laid with the tiles of group psychology. Only when we have an understanding of how leaders affect the system of a group, and how that system affects us, can we evolve to environmental leadership.   At first glance, it may seem like a daunting journey, but this path has an applicable structure that can be followed to create specific results. The first step is to realize that every action a leader takes, every decision made, no matter how small, will affect the group and will impact the organizational culture. Whether it is positive or negative, there will be an effect. Second, when any individual in a group reacts, it will affect the leader and each of the other members of that group, and this how a corporate culture is created.   Again, a leader's actions and reactions not only affect the psychology of individuals, but the entire culture of the organization or group. An environmental leader manages seven key psychological influences - two keys of personal awareness and five pillars of transformation - to cultivate a group and a culture that effectively supports the greater abilities, fulfillment and passion of the members of that group and nurtures leadership within.   Trust is a common fundamental for leadership, and while there are many facets of trust and many different ways to build it, one crucial way to do so is in simply sharing information. Group dynamics are best established by getting the group involved. The environmental leader does not develop followers; he or she nurtures leaders and leadership in their group or organization. To facilitate this, exactly how to be an environmental leader must be common knowledge disseminated throughout the organization. The more people there are who understand the essence of how they can become environmental leaders, the easier it becomes to cultivate a leadership-enriched environment and the better results everyone will attain.   The Two Keys   Cultivating a corporate culture where leaders develop leaders and decisions are competently made to achieve organizational objectives is an achievable outcome. It starts with understanding the seven key psychological influences an environmentally savvy leader manages in order to cultivate a group and a culture that effectively support the greater abilities, fulfillment and passion of the members of that group, while nurturing internal employees who have strong leadership potential.   Self-awareness leads to the recognition of two keys of personal awareness that must be accepted before the environmentally savvy leader can build the final five pillars of a transformational environment. The first step is the ability to realize that we will consciously or subconsciously make others wrong to support our ego, which leads to blame and discourages growth. Learning about our encoded assumptions, our rules of engagement and our circle of tolerance can help us recognize the reactions that may be preventing speedier growth for ourselves and those around us.   Thus, the first key is: Concentrate on growth and results; do not blame or make others wrong.   The next step is making others right, making leadership decisions and taking actions that help others to succeed and develop their abilities. And when they do succeed, specifically acknowledging their success and why they were successful. Learning how our genetic processing affects the way we perceive the world and approach tasks and decisions and what that means in manifesting our natural talents not only makes this easier, but also gives us a better platform to understand, cooperate and communicate with others.   Thus, the second key is: Create opportunities to make others successful, and positively acknowledge their specific actions that lead to that success.   The Five Pillars of Transformation   The following five pillars are the cornerstone of a leader's ability to modify group dynamics and to nurture an environment that inspires and brings out the best in others. Further, it is the process of constructing the five pillars itself that enables the leader and his or her team to embrace the two keys of personal awareness. This course of creation acts as a leadership catalyst to the keys' implementation, and modification of the leader's own behavior advances that individual's development into a more powerful, environmental leader.   1. Have a greater purpose. The team must have a purpose that is greater or nobler than the personal goals of each individual. Yet realization of this greater purpose should be equally fulfilling to each individual.   The role of an environmental leader is to inspire this noble idea. The leader should make the group or team want it and be willing to take action to achieve it for the cause, for the promise of a greater working environment and to create a greater self.   2. Have a methodology that can make change. The team must believe that change can happen and that they as a group can make it happen. They must believe that their own behavior can be improved and that they, as human beings, can be better people. They must believe that there is a way, through a common wisdom in the group, in which they can become powerful enough to change the organizational culture into a more fulfilling environment for all and, equally important, for the betterment of their own lives.   But to believe any of this, employees must have, and must recognize, a psychological methodology that can effectively make change happen.   3. Speak a common language. The methodology carries with it a specific language. The language reinforces the learning and the higher purpose. It sets a foundation to understand and explain awareness, change and a higher level of living and working in a concise and effective way.   The role of the environmental leader is to use and reinforce the use of language in the group. Essentially, this individual should set the example by applying or using communication that supports the greater cause.   4. Have a unified identity. The label or name given to a cause provides a psychological reference to a common goal and a common identity. The role of the environmental leader is to solidify that identity, to facilitate the team's efforts to associate or align itself with that identity and everything it represents. The environmental leader should be able to distinguish those who are a part of the greater purpose and simultaneously give them a group vision.   5. Maintain a supportive, internal environment. The role of the environmental leader becomes to nurture and develop other environmental leaders within the team and the organization.   At this stage, the environment created will fulfill many of the constantly expanding emotional gratifications. This environment provides greater substance and meets the greater expectations of the modern world. Yet it cannot be developed without the right leadership. Environmental leaders must go into this knowing that as the process matures, they will no longer be as essential as when they started.     [About the Author: Arthur F. Carmazzi is the principal founder of the Directive Communication Methodology.]

Leadership Beyond Boundaries

Leadership Beyond Boundaries

by Mike Prokopeak | Chief Learning Officer

 

The world may be flat, but human relationships are bounded by limits. Action learning and experiential leadership development can help overcome those personal and organizational boundaries.

 

There's an interesting paradox at the heart of today's connected world. Technology and communications have created more and more social connections between widely dispersed groups of people. But those same tools strengthen divisions, breaking down visible and physical boundaries while bolstering invisible and mental disconnections.

 

"The boundaries that matter most to us today - and why this is so challenging from a leadership perspective - is that the boundaries are now found more in human relationships - in us and in them, across layers of management, across silos, across different organizational cultures," said Chris Ernst, senior researcher for the Center for Creative Leadership and co-author of Boundary Spanning Leadership.

 

These boundaries are especially tricky because they are often tied up in a deeper level of identity. But to solve the complex problems facing today's organizations and create new opportunities for growth, leaders must learn to think and act beyond those boundaries and identities. Meaningful leadership development experiences, not training, can be an answer.

 

Ernst said there are five common boundaries found in business today:

 

a) Vertical boundaries across organizational levels and authority structures.

 

b) Horizontal boundaries across wide ranging functions and expertise.

 

c) External stakeholder boundaries with partners, suppliers, customers, communities and governments.

 

d) Demographic boundaries.

 

e) Geographic boundaries across locations.

 

"They're most recognized by the everyday business vernacular we hear: silos, stovepipes, culture clashes, diversity divides, turf battles," Ernst said.

 

Ernst and his co-author identified six practices for helping leaders adapt, alter and modify the shape of boundaries in organizations:

 

1. Buffering to define boundaries and create safety.

2. Reflecting to foster understanding and respect.

3. Connecting to build trust.

4. Mobilizing to develop community.

5. Weaving to create interdependence.

6. Transforming to cut across boundaries.

 

To help leaders develop skills in these areas, CLOs need to create work environments and experiences that challenge leaders to get out of their silos.

 

"The key for CLOs to think about how they can identify strategic change challenges in the organization, how they can create these cross-boundary teams that get people outside of their normal, everyday working environment and working in new ways," Ernst said. "You give them the ability to advance strategic organizational issues and simultaneously they're building collaborative networks, they're building new skills, they're building new mindsets and perspectives as they work across boundaries in service of implementing organizational change."

 

These sorts of skills can be learned in a classroom. They can be done with simulations. But learning by doing is one of the most powerful ways, Ernst said. "There's nothing like the power of real work, especially real work that matters where there is real skin in the game," he said.

 

But CLOs can't just provide the challenge; they need to structure the experience and provide coaches, facilitators, feedback and just-in-time tools. The individual and the organization benefit as a result.

 

"By having them work on real strategic change initiatives of the organization, they are simultaneously helping to advance the business strategy of the organization while developing individual leadership capabilities," he said.

 

Boundaries often convey constraints or limits, and there is certainly no shortage of those in today's business environment. But there is different way to think about them.

 

"They're the locations where the newest, most advanced, most innovative activity is happening in any given area," Ernst said. "We talk about boundary-spanning leadership as this ability to create direction, alignment and commitment across these boundaries in order to turn borders and constraints into new and innovative frontiers for organizations today."

 

 

[About the Author: Mike Prokopeak is editorial director for Chief Learning Officer magazine.]

 

Global Leadership Development: Why It's Important to Your Business

Global Leadership Development: Why It's Important to Your Business by Bettina Chang | Talent Management   A recent study by the American Management Association (AMA) showed that global leadership development programs are correlated with success at companies around the world. Competition was the main driver behind these programs, and almost half of the companies surveyed said that they had already implemented such programs or were currently developing them.   The survey included more than 900 organizations, 40 percent of which are headquartered outside the U.S.   "Whether or not you are only located in one country, you're competing all over the world with your products and services," said Sandi Edwards, senior vice president of AMA Corporate Learning Solutions. "[It's important] to have people all over the globe who understand what the [business] is about and how to compete successfully."   These leadership competencies, though not completely different from typical domestic leadership programs, emphasize certain global nuances. Important aspects include branding in other parts of the world, being agile and understanding cultures, and effectively working across cultures and remotely.   To implement an effective global leadership development program, an organization must first set business goals and determine the metrics through which they will be measured. "The most effective global leadership initiatives are tightly linked to the achievement of critical business goals," Edwards said.   Once the business goals are developed, it's imperative for senior-level executives to communicate why being a strong global leader has important business impact on the organization. "That can be stressed most effectively by senior leaders," Edwards said. "[The initiatives] are not successful if there isn't some component of executive sponsorship and senior leadership involvement."   Other ways for senior leaders to be involved are to be a part of the program and to contribute by co-teaching. They must also monitor the metrics to determine the return on investment of the program.   The study showed that organizations with successful programs can expect to see increased revenue, shareholder value and customer satisfaction. These programs also improve the bench strength of an organization. Of the targeted employees who participate in these programs, about 20 to 25 percent are upwardly mobile and able to take on higher positions. After the training, up to 40 percent will have the capability to take on higher positions and more responsibility.   "That's vital to the strength of the organization, to have a healthy leadership pipeline," Edwards said.   As with most leadership programs, global leadership development can increase engagement and retention, especially among high performers at a company.   "Top talent are high-value assets in every organization, there's no doubt about that - and the best performers always have options," Edwards said. "In the companies we studied, correlation was high between those organizations that were high performers and those that had developed and implemented global leadership curriculums."   Another finding was that almost 10 percent of companies said that they open their global leadership programs to everyone in their organization. Edwards said that this was unexpected, since scarce budgets for development programs typically limit the number of employees who are able to participate in them.   For the companies that do limit the employees who enter these programs, they often offer other development opportunities for all employees. Coaching programs, on-the-job learning, job shadowing and rotations can give an individual more exposure to the different parts and people in an organization. An employee's performance during these opportunities may qualify him or her for further development training.   Edwards stressed that while companies can do many things to ensure employees are engaged, there must be a consistent thread of logic that links every development program to competency expectations within the organization.     [About the Author: Bettina Chang is an editorial intern at Talent Management magazine.]