1. Developing effective leader capability in a UK Life Assurance Company
Synopsis
A group-wide programme to help operational managers in a FTSE100 company become more effective and support the strategic corporate objective of strengthening the leadership culture.
Click more or download the case study pdf (here)
The Context
In September 2007 Resolution plc, a highly ambitious player in the UK Life Assurance Sector, had grown rapidly through merger and acquisition with little emphasis on developing middle management.
The company decided to take a long-term view of its talent development and identified the need for a programme to help operational managers become more effective to support the corporate objective of developing a strong leadership culture.
Key issues
- There was no homogenous leadership culture in Resolution plc. Their middle management now consisted almost entirely of highly skilled professionals who were facing more complex challenges than they could solve by relying on individual functional competence.
- Resolution’s strategic goals demanded a wider distribution of effective leadership and middle managementneeded to be better prepared to cope with uncertainty and deliver results under pressure.
The solution
- We designed and delivered a 12-month leadership development programme (LDP) based on an accelerated learning cycle. Development was connected to the strategic challenges facing the business and individual participants.
- The LDP consisted of a core workshop, which formed the foundation for a support programme of elective modules; both are reinforced by regular review and coaching sessions.
- The workshop emphasised the need to experience the pressures of leadership and provided participants with an opportunity to practice and demonstrate new skills using experiential activities.
- Content modules included: behavioural preferences, the impact of leadership styles, motivation and effective leadership under pressure. In each of these areas we provided simple tools to help leaders to deliver effective results and supported participants with constant feedback to encourage them to get the most from the learning.
The results
- The first core programme launched in December 2007 with five further programmes during 2008/9. The support programme will start in Q1 2010.
- “Mark and his team delivered an excellent Leadership Development Programme for middle managers that people are still talking about now."
- Resolution plc was acquired by Pearl Group Limited during the programme. Managers acknowledged that it had added significant value to the acquisition/integration process as it equipped middle managers to deal with uncertainty and change, allowing the business’ operations to continue smoothly throughout.
- Our leader development template is being evaluated by Pearl Group for adoption to its new leader development programme.
2. Bringing a corporate management competency framework to life
Synopsis
In the middle of planning for a strategic acquisition a global company adopted new management competencies. There was considerable scepticism about how this programme would get traction during the organisational uncertainty caused by acquisition plans. Leading Change helped the European R&D business to bring this competency framework to life and ensured it had the impact necessary to bring about a change in leadership culture.
Click more or download the case study pdf (here)
The Context
- In the middle of planning for the acquisition of a major competitor (completed in October 2009) a global company adopted Lominger management competencies for managers at all levels.
- There was considerable scepticism about how a global programme would get traction with managers during the organisational uncertainty caused by acquisition plans.
- The European R&D organisation wanted to make the global manager competencies locally relevant and support the their Research mission.
Key issues
- Bringing the competency framework process to life, giving it the impact necessary to ensure that it resulted in sustainable leadership culture.
- To engage and enthuse 200+ change weary middle managers so that they understood and could demonstrate new leadership behaviour.
The solution
- We ran a workshop with research leaders to introduce the competencies and help them to identify those that were mission critical for development.
- We developed a series of one-day interactive workshops packed with experiential content to create energy around the competency framework, ‘localise’ its relevance, help engage with appropriate behaviours and understand how to use them with colleagues.
- We trained leadership team members to deliver all elements of the workshops so that they were led ‘by the business for the business’.
The results
- The programme engaged the first 100 managers (including a selection of partner lines and stakeholders) within one month; one month later a further 100 managers were engaged.
- The programme received universal acclaim for its variety and impact:
- “Excellent – well thought out and executed workshop with varied info and practical exercises to keep everyone engaged.”
- Over 90% agreed/strongly agreed that the programme had fully met its objective; “At last leader behaviours that make sense!”
- We documented extensive feedback on the workshop in general and the facilitators specifically: “Materials ace. Presenters awesome!”
- Variants on the original Lead to Succeed programme are being planned to rollout to partner lines and global research units. They combine customised programmes run with consultancy support and licensed content to enable trained business leaders to deliver the package in other business units.
