TWCHG Newsletter: Vol. II, Issue. 16
In The Waymakers book, I share how surprisingly frequent it is that employees don’t have the information they need to succeed in the workplace. And how, for those who aren’t part of the ingroup, lacking that insight causes significant professional harm.
Just last year, The Waymakers Change Group, helped one of our clients develop stronger leaders and teams and create better business outcomes for the organization—by making the pathway to success plain for everyone.
THE SITUATION
Our client has over 8,000 employees in multiple countries. Its products and services connect hundreds of millions of people to the content they love every day. But their leaders were ill-prepared to successfully lead across boundaries, and diverse groups of leaders felt more isolated and ill-informed than their counterparts. Executives realized their organization’s existing leadership development program was light on relationship building—especially across differences—AND business acumen, which is requisite for team success and organizational sustainability.
The client needed a new, more engaging and outcomes-focused way to develop new leaders and get them connected to the company, to each other, and to influential decision-makers. This was easier said than done, though, because they had neither the time nor the resources to scrap the existing program and start anew. They reached out to us to help them chart a path forward that would result in a more efficient development program and more effective, confident leaders.
OUR APPROACH
Seek Understanding
At The Waymakers Change Group, we believe the best practice is the one designed for the specific needs of our client. To best meet our client’s needs, we first analyzed the content of the existing leader development program and connected with team members to better understand expectations, desired outcomes, and potential barriers to success. We also listened to participant feedback on the prior experience, zeroing in on what was needed to accelerate progress for the organization and themselves. We determined how we would gauge and measure our success and identified existing program components that were no longer relevant for the business plus new elements to include.
Take Responsibility
Leaders don’t lead in a vacuum. Organizations can pour all the training and development into leaders that they can afford, but if all leaders do not take responsibility for their part in enabling employee success, then nothing will change. So, to ensure the success of all participating leaders and support culture change, we designed experiences for the managers of program participants as well.
OUR SOLUTION
Build Relationship
We proposed leveraging components of the existing leader development program, discarding others, and creating new elements to focus on business acuity, strategic thinking and communication, and organizational problem solving. The result was a four-month program comprised of four modules that each spanned two days. The program ensured behavioral expectations were clearly articulated for everyone and provided opportunities for safe learning and practice. The program we designed also leaned heavily into relationships—between diverse leaders and their peers, all leaders and their managers—e.g. Directors, VPs, C-suite leaders—and successfully formed new connections that led to greater belonging and increased opportunity for participants. Last, our workshop on Giving Quality Feedback for managers of participants helped enable more transparent, inclusive leadership in the places and spaces they occupied.
CLIENT OUTCOMES
The new program laid bare what skills and behaviors were expected of leaders at the organization and provided ample opportunities for putting those lessons into practice. Leaders learned how workplace culture impacts specific business outcomes along with the choices and behaviors required to build and shape it. Because executives were included, accountability was built into the program, supporting sustainability. Evaluations revealed leaders felt more prepared and confident in their leadership skills, and even more profoundly–more connected, more supported, and more committed to leading at the organization. For more specifics on our client’s unique journey, read the case study here.
Friends, all people cannot succeed if you don’t make the pathway to success clear for everyone—leaders included. As revealed in The Waymakers book, the more inclusive your leaders, the more inclusive your culture, the better your business outcomes. How can you ensure all leaders are prepared to lead all people well? What is the right path for you? Reach out. We can show you The Way.
