Case Study

DEVELOPING DIVERSE TALENT

CLIENT PROFILE

This pioneer communications technology company, valued at just over $7B with more than 8,000 employees in multiple countries, connects hundreds of millions of people to the content they love every day.

CHALLENGE AND ASK

This client wanted to reinvent their robust, targeted leadership development program intended to help upskill and support diverse cohorts of high-potential leaders. Their existing program had served them well, but required a greater time investment than was prudent considering the increasing pressure on the business, and was light on business savvy, which was emerging as a critical growth enabler across all functions.

APPROACH

We proposed we leverage key components of the existing program and transform others to focus more on exposure to business insights, facilitation of power networks, strategic thinking and communication, and organizational problem solving. We also condensed some of the modules to maximize time and money without sacrificing impact.

SOLUTION

We designed a four-month program comprised of four modules that each spanned two days. The experience was structured as a journey that included the following development:

Self-awareness (including a 360 survey and coaching)
Culture shaping and team leadership
Business understanding and insight with a real-time presentation deliverable on company challenges (to executives onsite)
Skill-building, such as time management, mobilizing others, and making tough calls

Critical success enablers that were incorporated into the experience included:

The opportunity to hear directly from and interact with executives on their priorities and concerns
Transparent sharing and practical support regarding the unique experiences of those who existed on dimensions of difference; complementary coaching on allyship in action
Community building among participants
Skill practice (not just teaching) and responsive feedback
Support processing real and present concerns

To supplement this work and ensure participants were adequately supported, we also taught our Waymakers Change Experience course plus a focused three-hour workshop on Giving Quality Feedback to the managers of the participants.

OUTCOMES

We successfully helped curate a “coalition of the willing” – a group of cross-difference employees who developed trusting relationships and learned to rely on one another for information, advice, access, and opportunity. Ultimately, we helped combat isolation, build employee confidence, facilitate greater comfort with key leadership skills such as communication, transparency, and courage, and opened channels of connection with senior executives that participants would go on to successfully nurture. Participants reported feeling more supported, more connected, more courageous, and more committed to lead at the company.