GF Special Vol 05 Issue 03

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Special supplement | Volume 05 | Issue 03 2011

A GLOBAL FOCUS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

Excellence in Practice 2011 Outstanding and impactful partnerships between businesses and educational organisations

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Special supplement | Global Focus Vol 05 | Issue 03 2011

The Excellence in Practice Award Introduction

Corporate Learning and Development (L&D) organisations have consistently matured into effective actors in the realm of investing in people and organisation development. And this shows in critical times such as these where only those practices and projects having a proven impact on business get resourced.

The projects documented in this special supplement to Global Focus demonstrate just that: investing in people is not a luxury; it is a key asset for business success if professionally structured and deployed.

These cases also pay tribute to the integrator role of L&D departments: aligning with multiple internal stakeholders (from HR to Strategy) and deploying a large variety of development approaches (such as coaching, action learning, large group interventions and so on but, above all, mobilising all required expertise to implement the solution typically in a multi-country multi-business environment.

EFMD’s Excellence in Practice Award puts the spotlights on those projects and interventions that excel in this double partnering challenge of L&D departments: partnering with the business in tackling key business challenges as well as partnering with an eco-system of suppliers in providing solutions that come up to expectations.

And as all jury members to EFMD’s 2011 Excellence in Practice Award will confirm, this year’s applications were of exceptional quality, successfully generating trust and credibility as true learning business partners by tackling business challenges through impactful people and organisation interventions.

Hence, we decided not just to share the winning cases with you but also a number of commendable projects that can add to your inspiration and the credibility of our profession.

Enjoy the reading!

The projects documented here demonstrate that investing in people is not a luxury, it is key

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2011 WINNERS Arcelor Mittal Center for Creative Leadership Emerging World ING Bank INSEAD Microsoft Royal Bank of Scotland

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Royal Philips Electronics

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the world we work in TMA World Wharton School

Featuring reviews of the 2011 EFMD Excellence in Practice Award Winning Papers, Volume 27, Issue 11 of Strategic Direction will be available for three months from the 23rd October 2011.

Strategic Direction is an essential management information resource for today’s strategic thinkers. As a unique service, we scan through the best 400 management journals in the world and distil the most topical management issues and relevant implications for senior managers out of the cutting-edge research. We regularly present case study reviews of the Fortune 500 companies.

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Excellence in Practice Awards 2011 Observations and Trends

EIP Case Studies The EFMD Excellence in Practice Award attracts case studies describing an effective and impactful Leadership and Development (L&D) intervention. These programmes can be deployed by an organisation – company, public sector, charity etc – either together with their in-house L&D organisation or with an external L&D provider.

The specific Learning and Development domain in which the intervention is situated can be: – Leadership Development – Professional Development – Talent Development – Organisation Development The winners and highly commended cases demonstrate: – Operational excellence in their sustainable partnership and effective learning environment – Excellent programme management in design, delivery, evaluation and so on – Strong business impact through alignment with corporate strategy This special supplement of Global Focus includes profiles of the winning cases, executive summaries of the highly commended cases and observations from Martine Plompen on the main trends from all of the cases submitted in 2011.

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Main trends — Involvement of senior management and sponsors from the client company in design and delivery and evaluation becomes increasingly sophisticated.

— Flexibility, speed and commitment, especially at the provider side of the partnership, are key.

— Partnerships with the participants allow building on the existing strengths of individuals and of the organisation as a whole. Active involvement in design and delivery ensure engagement and commitment. Additionally, dealing with issues owned by the participants ensures relevance.

— Learning is an ongoing journey, over months if not years, and the blurring of lines between a specific learning intervention and pre and post activities continues, especially with technological advances.

— When comparing provider profiles of the 2007 and the 2011 cases, the increased diversity of learning and development providers is very obvious.

— All companies involved in the 2011 cases operate a set of specified core competencies that translate in a variety of terms and terminologies, but which evolve around growth and sustainability in the broadest possible sense.

— Face-to-face interaction and project work are the most common components in the cases submitted in the 2011 awards. Also, involvement of top management and strategic dialogue and engagement are key.

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Excellence in Practice Awards 2011 Observations and Trends

Strategic alignment

Impact

From the EIP cases, it can be observed that connection to corporate strategy is enhanced through conducting pilot sessions for business units, nomination of participants by line management, programme sponsors from the board participating in design and delivery and involvement of human resources and talent management people in the pre and post programme activities. In the stronger cases, board-level involvement goes well beyond programme participation or availability for strategic discussions and, for instance, translates itself into supervising formal learning agreements or agreeing on the action learning/ improvement projects. For enhanced strategic alignment, a common approach is to have the learning and development needs identified by the CEO or the Executive Committee of the client company. Increasingly, the jury members observe a broadening role for participants, especially in the capacity of launching new initiatives or for debating current and future strategy. Often, the learning intervention is treated as a strategic investment, with an overall objective of driving innovation and creating a substantial financial contribution.

Achieving business impact is greatly facilitated through a palette of approaches such as working with client company data; having managers as instructors; dealing with real business challenges and involving the broadest possible range of stakeholders. In some cases, very specific objectives are set – and met – such as a 20% increase in internal promotions and a comparable reduction in recruitment costs.

Achieving the desired impact can also mean implementing a systematic approach to leadership development or the creation of a pool of change agents; other more difficult to measure indicators include increased overall co-operation and knowledge sharing or feedback on strategy to top management.

More examples of monetary and non-monetary impact include financial indicators, overall productivity, customer satisfaction, sense of belonging and personal development. Jury panel observations furthermore include the interlinked perspectives of improvement in management competencies and improvement in companywide engagement with mechanisms focused on individual development combined with interventions around strategy, vision and cultural convergence.

Additionally, there is the clear trend towards broader societal partnerships and impact that has been noted and discussed in the jury sessions.

There is the clear trend towards broader societal partnerships and impact that has been noted and discussed in the jury sessions

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Partnerships

Learning environment

Successful partnerships in learning and development – as anywhere else – are synonyms of trust and professional relationship management. The 2011 cases, moreover, confirm the width and depth of the investment required by providers to be fully immersed in the culture and the learning needs of the organisation and to be able to incorporate the client company values and competency requirements.

In the context of the EFMD Excellence in Practice Awards, an optimal learning environment is related to achieving maximum effectiveness and breadth of learning options in the intervention.

Through the nearly 100 cases submitted in the 2010 and 2011 awards, the growing role of participants can be observed. A first dimension is making people brilliant in their strong areas while developing the weaker points through personal development. The involvement of participants in designing and delivering learning interventions runs in parallel with personalised approaches to performance; a universal set of behavioural changes will usually not suffice to meet complex development challenges.

To have a true partnership, a broad range of “owners” is needed in the client organisation including business line management, subject specialists, head of the corporate university, human resources and talent management people. Pilot runs of the learning intervention are an example of a true partnership mode.

The jury panel observes that selection criteria for providers are related to the ability and the desire to partner as well as content, level of customisation and intangible elements such as values and fit.

Moreover, successful partnerships equal a permanent joint effort of the partners through a process of engagement, based on consultation and continuous improvement. A communications plan with daily, weekly and quarterly interactions proves to be a key tool in this context.

Additionally, flexibility is required to reflect and integrate an ever-changing reality, inside the organisation as well as environmental issues; specific local challenges are yet an additional dimension in the partnership.

Keeping the intervention relevant is an ongoing challenge in a learning journey. From the EIP cases jury members detect the extended learning intervention with pre and post reading, facilitated discussions, master classes and coaching or mentoring. An additional dimension here are line managers and business unit heads in their capacity to create space and encourage participants to apply learning and to implement changes, thus creating a greater readiness and openness both at individual and organisational level. Through ongoing involvement with current and past participants, learning is embedded and change is entrenched in the organisation. At the same time, flexibility – again – is required for dealing with emerging leadership requirements.

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Observations and Trends

Design and delivery In essence, learning interventions in the EIP cases are about developing competent people and ensuring strategic alignment. Moreover, several of the cases are perfect illustrations of initiatives designed and managed globally and delivered and supported regionally. The jury members observe that main recurring components are residential sessions with formal learning inputs and networking, exchanges with top executives, real-life projects and ongoing alumni-type services. It can be concluded that an overall iterative process putting the learning experience first will ensure a true developmental experience. The optimal learning processes in the 2011 EIP cases build on existing strengths and processes and showcase sophisticated approaches in diagnostic and development approaches.

Underpinning or overarching are an overall openness and willingness by the client company to test the waters and by the providers to re-design and re-focus the intervention, which then leads to an exceptional level of integration and alignment.

Programme management in practice also encapsulates the process of creating understanding, excitement and commitment, often done through working on real and urgent problems. A rich palette of stakeholder inputs in programme design and delivery has been observed from the EIP cases. Conceptual models combine expertise in learning processes with the reality of a fast-changing context of management with specific efforts dedicated to the emotional aspects of individuals and teams in a high-pressure environment.

An overall design challenge is scalability of interventions and several of the cases offer tools to broaden audiences and impact while containing costs. Another overall observation from the jury members is the importance of pre-programme phase, going far beyond pre-reading, with assessments, individualised support and guidance on the selection of action learning projects.

An overall design challenge is scalability of interventions and several of the cases offer tools to broaden audiences and impact while containing costs

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Learning objectives and evaluation Objectives of the learning interventions in the cases that were submitted in the 2011 Excellence in Practice Awards are primarily focused on: – Development of talent, engagement of employees, better promotion and career opportunities – Strategic challenges around business growth, post-merger environment, emerging markets Improving skills, changing behaviour, strengthening global cohesion, enhancing strategic understanding, providing networking opportunities are a few examples of the mechanisms that learning providers offer. The above cannot be separated from the assessment and selection processes of participants and additionally there is the level of integration of a learning intervention with the overall people strategy and processes.

Evaluation – in some of the cases submitted – is translated into measureable elements such as increased market share, media coverage, career progression, successful completion of projects, cost savings from projects implemented, critical mass of leaders with new skills, reduction in recruitment costs, trainers being trained and participants becoming teachers, certifications delivered, improved speed and accuracy in processes.

The achievement of other objectives is indirect and longer term. for instance loyalty to the company, reputation and brand image, value of strategic discussions, exchange of experiences and building capacity, corporate common language, appreciation of soft skills, and changing perspectives on the individual or organisational role and responsibility.

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Special supplement | Global Focus Vol 05 | Issue 03 2011

Accelerating Strategy Execution and Professional Development ING and ‘the world we work in’ Jetske van Heusden, Kate Ng and Gert-Jan van Wijk describe how ING and ‘the world we work in’ co-created the High Impact Performance (HIP) programme. Designed for High Value Specialists (HVS), the HIP simultaneously accelerates strategy execution and HVS’ professional development from technical specialist to trusted advisor.

Challenge At the International Conference in June 2004, the former CEO of ING Group addressed his top 200 managers head on: What skills would the new strategy require? Did ING have these skills in sufficient supply? If not, how would they be developed?

Managerial decision-making, responded the top 200, was sound. It was in executing the outcomes of these decisions that the company could hugely benefit from becoming more adept. One particular group stood out – the High Value Specialists (HVS): the high-potential, nonmanagerial people who “get things done”. With no systematic approach to their development, their potential was significantly under-utilised.

This was just the sort of assignment that ING Business School (IBS) relishes: the mandate to deliver a programme that would be at the heart of the new strategy. The chosen partner for this initiative was ‘the world we work in’ (TWWWI), a global network of experienced faculty and facilitators who share the values of co-creation, business involvement and impact on both the business and the specialist community.

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Challenge linked to strategy and desired impact The team started by taking some critical design decisions, which connected the development initiative firmly to corporate strategy and secured the natural involvement of ING business line management and talent management in the design of each High Impact Performance (HIP). Since 2005 until today, these decisions have remained fundamental to its success.

1. Run the programme at a business line or functional level. While ING’s initial request was an open enrolment programme for ING Group, the design team quickly realised that the HVS could better impact corporate strategy through business/functional strategy rather than directly. This business line focus would also engage their motivations more effectively.

2. Request the commitment and participation of a management team (MT) member who acts as a business line sponsor for the programme.

This sponsor co-designs the programme and participates in a strategic dialogue with participants.

3. Focus participant nominations on the business line interest. Nominations are done by line and talent management, allowing participants to build a job-focused, informationrich network that has relevance back in the business.

The emergence of a model One of the benefits of a trusting partnership is that it facilitates learning and knowledge creation. Neither party to the partnership arrived with a model for the HIP. This took shape and evolved as we discovered the requirements of the business environment.

Next step was to interview potential participants, line managers and talent managers to understand more about HVS challenges. The outcomes were tested in five presentations, including the piloting business line. The challenges below were then agreed, along with the “three pillars” model of: strategy, client and personal impact.

– Work in more diverse virtual global teams as the business is becoming more international [impact].

– Be able to actively search for strategic direction through desk research and interviews internally and externally [strategy and impact] – Translate these directions to implications for their own value contribution [strategy and impact].

– Understand (internal) client needs from the perspective of the client, which is essentially multi-disciplinary and strategic [client and impact].

4. Customise each programme to the strategy and key challenges of the business line.

– Build a client relationship outside the technical domain of the HVS [impact].

5. Involve three [internal] clients – senior managers from the business line who each bring a live strategic problem to the programme.

– Craft a workshop instead of a presentation, to influence others effectively through interaction and dialogue [impact].

6. Involve talent management in nomination, pre-programme phase, re-entry session and post-programme follow up.

– Understand their own personal styles better and how their preferred styles impact their interactions with others [impact].

– Use their personal differences and signature presence in presenting and influencing others [impact].

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ING and ‘the world we work in’

The four-day programme itself is made up of a series of well-timed and sequenced action learning assignments based upon the challenges above, interspersed with theory and skills workshops.

For example, virtual teams are required to investigate part of the business line strategy starting four weeks prior to the programme.

Each team presents the outcomes through an interactive workshop in which they must engage and effectively influence their fellow participants and strategy sponsor. They are supported by theoretical inputs and skills practices in areas such as dialogue, influence, team working and presentation.

After 15 iterations of the programme across different business lines and functions a second model emerged – a generic career track for specialists, similar to the career development described by Sharan and Drotter (2001) in “The Leadership Pipeline”.

Three stages were identified: technical expert, trusted advisor and strategic business partner.

The HIP helps technical experts make the transition to trusted advisors. Gert-Jan van Wijk describes “The specialist career track” in a separate article, which is also included in the EFMD EiP case study (appendix 5).

Virtual teams, are required to investigate part of the business line strategy starting four weeks prior to the programme

Ongoing customisation As each business line or group function differs and individual learning needs change, the design changes accordingly. This is accomplished through a series of design steps for each programme: – Initial conversation between lead faculty and talent manager about the participant group, strategy sponsor and senior managers joining the HIP. – Design meeting with strategy sponsor to design the virtual team assignment – Briefing meeting with strategy sponsor and senior managers.

– 30-minute participant briefing calls to start the learning process and understand participants’ needs. Faculty fine-tunes the programme based on these.

– Letter to participants’ line managers, inspiring them to support the development of their report, prior and post programme.

– Conference call for all participants to kick off the VT assignment.

– Faculty team meeting to discuss the detailed programme and its customised elements and assign roles.

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Impact Since 2005, 65 programmes have been run successfully within nine business lines and group functions, in Europe, the US and Asia.

Over 1,300 participants plus 250 senior managers and strategy sponsors have been involved.

Post-programme evaluations show consistent average ratings of 4.5 on a 5-point scale.

Recently, however, both partners felt the need to review the impact of the programme on a deeper level. An impact study was conducted four to six months post-programme, among 100 HIP alumni and 15 strategy sponsors and senior managers. The key findings showed the impact was experienced as “strong” although less so (score 4.0) than in immediate post programme evaluations. Participants felt the HIP’s greatest impact was personal.

Strategy sponsors and senior managers, however, emphasised the business impact: “Personally, I was impressed with the workshops they ran during the HIP session; their views on potential steps to take in the light of revising our strategy in this changing environment were relevant and refreshing. I’m confident that these learning initiatives are strong engagement drivers and powerful enablers of our 5-year strategy.” (CFO & Strategy sponsor).

The study concluded the HIP programme really is a leadership programme for HVS in the context of their relevant strategy and client environment.

It highlighted opportunities to enhance faculty capability and post programme follow-up. As ING splits its insurance and banking businesses, the programme continues to support both.

65

Since 2005, 65 programmes have been run successfully within nine business lines and group functions, in Europe, the US and Asia

4.5

Post-programme evaluations show consistent average ratings of 4.5 on a 5-point scale

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jetske van Heusden is Senior Consultant Leadership & Talent Development, ING Group Insurance jetske.van.heusden@mail.ing.nl Kate Ng is a network partner of ‘the world we work in’ KateNg3388@aol.com Gert-Jan van Wijk is initiator at ‘the world we work in’ gj@theworldweworkin.com

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Nerves of steel in ‘glocal’ challenge ArcelorMittal’s push and pull strategy

New global giant mobilises and sustains enterprisewide training: Creating the biggest steel company in the world is quite an achievement. Helping the businesses within it restructure and merge into one coherent enterprise is a daunting task. When Arcelor and Mittal Steel merged in 2006, ArcelorMittal found itself with a genuinely global reach, with large workforces located in both mature and emerging markets.

The challenges of successfully managing such a large-scale business were made more complex by the cultural diversity at national / corporate / functional levels; linguistic diversity (37 different languages); a large and geographically dispersed workforce; business units operating at different stages of the economic cycle; and sites with different levels of technological sophistication and production capability. In some countries there had never been any formal or structured management training or leadership development.

Strategy of convergence and up-skilling Senior executives from different parts of the business took part in a consultation exercise in 2006. Their comments highlighted the challenges and opportunities ahead and the most recurrent were: – It feels like a multinational “start-up” – Businesses around the world are operating at entirely different levels of maturity, sophistication and development – Values have been defined, but are lived very inconsistently across the operating companies – Need to shift from an “engineering mindset” to a “value creation mindset” – Crossroads in terms of leadership; what worked in the past will not necessarily work in the future – Common identity but little sense of affinity at this stage – Many people have yet to feel part of the wider organisation A strategy of workforce convergence and up-skilling was needed to realign the 300,000-strong employees around a common purpose, brand identity, value system and competency framework.

Under the direct ownership of Chairman and CEO Lakshmi N Mittal and the Group Management Board, an enterprise-wide training

37 37 different languages spoken across the new business

300k 300,000 employees worldwide, after the merger

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initiative was established, the central purpose of which was to address the two key strategic organisational needs of up-skilling (while supporting the motivation and retention of managers) and promoting greater global cohesion.

Partnership navigates volatile economic conditions The ArcelorMittal University entered a partnership with training company TMA World, which has helped many of the world’s largest organisations become globally collaborative and competitive through enterprise-wide training solutions.

TMA World worked with the Management Academy of the ArcelorMittal University to support enterprise-wide learning and development.

A comprehensive curriculum of Core Leadership and Management Skills programmes (CLMS) was established, capable of being delivered across multiple cultures and languages.

The ArcelorMittal University / TMA World partnership has been sustained for more than five years, navigating the 2009 global financial crisis, while continuing to develop new, regionally oriented solutions that are delivered in local businesses.

Steven Pritchard, Director, Global Accounts for TMA World, commented that “in order to ensure the alignment of content to key corporate messages around ArcelorMittal brand values and competencies, we mobilised an initial team of 36 consultants in 26 countries to act as ‘brand ambassadors’, as well as deliverers of training”.

During the initial “push” phase of deploying training through the University, a set of 12 CLMS solutions were designed to address the challenges. Solutions were deployed in business units following a further global training needs analysis, conducted country by country.

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Nerves of steel in ‘glocal’ challenge

Sapna Arora, Head of the Management Academy and Functional Academy at the ArcelorMittal University, stressed that “this initiative was able to meet specific local needs through the close co-ordination of our extensive global Learning and Development network”. The CLMS programmes focused on three primary themes: developing myself, developing others and developing teams.

Environmental issues which can influence the effectiveness of training For learning to have impact, TMA World needed to manage a wide variety of cultural and environmental issues at different delivery locations.

Flexibility is essential when working in countries as diverse as Costa Rica, Bosnia, Brazil, Kazakhstan or India. Environmental issues can influence the effectiveness of training if not actively acknowledged and factored in beforehand.

Examples of environmental challenges include: – Local myopia: in many locations, little exposure to the demands of working in a more globally integrated enterprise, together with the associated skills sets required – Management culture: reluctance in some countries with traditionally hierarchical cultures to develop middle management cadres who tend to thrive in flatter structures where senior managers may be challenged – Poor working relations: industrial unrest and/or lack of trust between the workforce and local managers limiting the extent to which delegates feel free to express their views openly on daily management concerns during training – Workforce quantity vs quality: scepticism concerning the need for workforce reductions to improve cost efficiency while investing in learning and development to improve management capability – Linguistic equivalence: ensuring that translations of learning material have equivalency of meaning when delivered enterprise-wide – Under-developed leadership and development infrastructure: lack of a well-developed HR infrastructure in some countries to organise, target and exploit the full benefits of training before during and after delivery Currently, these challenges are overcome using a variety of approaches such as integrating training within local change initiatives rather than delivering programmes in isolation. Personal development plans identify an individual manager’s specific learning needs to then target the right training accurately.

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Shifting the gravitational energy of training In terms of shifting the gravitational energy of training from global (push) to local (pull), the work of the ArcelorMittal University has directly impacted the following key areas: –L ocalisation: offering training programmes that are differentiated by their global perspective, exceptional quality and the ArcelorMittal brand mark. They compete with the local training providers but are increasingly preferred despite being slightly more expensive –C ost efficiency: having reliable, high-quality global training provision substantially reduces the time and cost of searching for and appointing local training suppliers –S ystematic focus: increasing numbers of managers engaged in the Global Executive Development Programme (GEDP) bringing sharper focus to specific individual improvements in competence and targeting training needs – Locally driven projects (pull): Special projects involving CLMS delivery are increasingly facilitated by ArcelorMittal University around local and functional business needs. These are a further endorsement of the success of an integrated “glocal” approach

96% Over 17,000 delegates have participated in the programmes with a satisfaction rate of 96%

The successful collaboration between ArcelorMittal University and TMA World has demonstrated that training is a powerful tool for behavioural change and organisational alignment and assists the process of global integration.

Brian Callaghan, Vice President Global Leadership and Development at ArcelorMittal,says that “despite the challenges posed by such a large and diverse enterprise, the speed of organisational change combined with improvements in individual performance through training are very positive. The fact that over 17,000 delegates have participated in programmes with a satisfaction rate of 96% globally is testimony to the perceived value of the initiative”.

This review is based on Global push...local pull: Mobilising and sustaining enterprise-wide training globally in ArcelorMittal by Sapna Arora (ArcelorMittal) and Steven Pritchard (TMA World).

The paper – a winning submission to the European Foundation for Management Development’s Excellence in Practice Awards – describes the collaboration between steel giant ArcelorMittal and global training partner TMA World.

The case study describes the evolution and sustainability of consistent enterprise-wide training to support management development and organisational alignment. The case demonstrates the successful migration from corporately financed training (push) towards the fulfilment of regionally driven training needs funded by local businesses (pull) while maintaining the global brand mark.

REFERENCE Arora, S. and Pritchard, S. (2011), Global push...local pull: Mobilising and sustaining enterprise-wide training globally in ArcelorMittal, European Foundation for Management Development Excellence in Practice Awards winning submission 2011, Special Cases category.

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Building the new RBS Leadership development at the heart of the group’s long-term recovery plan Recovering the group’s business and reputation In February 2009, RBS announced the details of a Strategic Plan that would allow the bank to recover from its crisis, making the group safer, stronger, more efficient and profitable on a long-term basis.

RBS was in an extraordinarily vulnerable position at that time. The UK government had to rescue it so it could stay in business, the share price fell to 10p and it reported a £24 billion loss to the stock market.

Morale among senior managers and executives was diminished; there was a culture of single-minded pursuit of targets and goals; poor business decisions had been taken and consequently a better approach to understanding and managing risk was vital.

And significantly, the leaders had relied on decisions being made at the very top of the organisation. But if you’re not leading you won’t make the right decisions.

The Strategic Plan focused on three main principles: “creating value” and “reducing risk” underpinned by a distinct cultural change in leadership style, enabling a more open and thoughtful approach to decision-making.

Building the development plan that would deliver the Strategic Plan Development programmes are all too often cut at times of crisis but RBS put great weight and energy into its development plan becoming a central element of one of the most significant recovery plans in corporate history.

The primary objectives of the Leadership Development Programme (LDP) were: – Equip our leaders to understand, execute and sustain the strategic business plan at both group and divisional levels – Provide an opportunity to challenge the business plan and build ownership of, and accountability for, the delivery of the strategic business plan – Develop leaders’ analytical skills and their ability to think strategically – Promote disciplined and effective collaborative working across the group to improve business performance.

– Establish and reinforce common leadership language and behaviours.

There was agreement between all parties that the LDP lent itself primarily to a workshop approach. However, the two modules required quite different approaches due to the contrasting levels of insight around the topics.

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Managing for Value Creation involved reasonably high-level theories and concepts – INSEAD’s faculty demonstrated how to create value and, perhaps more importantly, how to avoid destroying value.

Meanwhile Wharton found that there was already strength, process and focus given to traditional risk management in the bank – such as credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and reputational risk. They needed to help RBS leaders to question what was missing, to see how those risks were systemically interconnected and to help them understand that managing risk is everyone’s responsibility, not just people with “risk” in their job title.

11,00

By the end of July 2011, 1,100 executives were expected to have completed the LDP involving 33 cohorts, 66 core 2.5 day modules

Partner helps to question what was missing By late 2009 RBS had run four pilot programmes, identified its preferred academic partners and was refining content ready for full rollout in early 2010. By the start of 2011 almost 700 participants had completed the programme, creating momentum within the organisation for significant cultural change. The February 2011 full-year results also indicated that the business was ahead of schedule on its recovery plan.

By the end of July 2011, 1,100 executives were expected to have completed the LDP involving 33 cohorts, 66 core 2.5 day modules mainly at the RBS Business School in Edinburgh.

RBS’s academic partners, two of the world’s leading business schools, also delivered modules – at the INSEAD campus in Singapore and at Wharton Executive Education in Pennsylvania to accommodate global leadership populations cost effectively.

Leaders are applying what they have learned More than three-quarters of LDP alumni reported that they are applying key concepts from the programme. An independent evaluation also scored the LDP at the top end or above the benchmark indicators for “relevancy”,

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Building the new RBS

“personal impact” and “likelihood to recommend”. In fact, 84% or more of the LDP alumni reported a change in their ability in line with the goals of the program.

These findings indicate that the programme has changed participants’ perspectives of their role as leaders within RBS and, importantly, it has equipped RBS leaders with new skills that were directly linked to the group’s longer-term recovery plan.

Beyond the key elements of the programme’s content and the importance its impact has to play on the business’s recovery plan, notable features of the LDP that make it stand out are: – The commitment to a major leadership programme at such a critical and unprecedented moment in the business’s history – The sheer size of the programme is impressive – to get the top 1,100 executives in a global organisation to participate in the LDP is not an easy task; the logistical requirements of getting busy people to take six days out of their schedule cannot be understated; the ability of the academic providers to get their key faculty in place to support such a rate of modules is equally challenging. But the real importance of the participation size is that it enables change in the organisation – The speed at which the programme was conceived, designed and implemented. It has taken less than two years for the LDP to be first proposed, the key elements identified, pilots run, academic partners engaged, content refined and 700-plus senior leaders participating. This can only be achieved through powerful sponsorship from the highest level, excellent administration and finally…

The recovery of RBS will undoubtedly be one of the biggest and most complex transformations ever seen

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– Extraordinary collaboration and trust and transparency between the client and academic partners. Wharton Client Director, Eric Weiner, says he “got ‘religion’ on what a real trusted advisor relationship is….when problems arose…volcanic ash…faculty in hospital…they were addressed head-on in a collaborative way…they treated us as a partner and not a vendor…their success was ours”

Development programmes are all too often cut at times of crisis, but RBS put great weight and energy into their development plan becoming a central element of one of the most significant recovery plans in corporate history

The recovery of RBS will undoubtedly be one of the biggest and most complex transformations ever seen. Halfway into its five-year plan, RBS has made good progress rebuilding itself, but the real value of the programme may only really become apparent some years from now when the impact of the content and delivery are absorbed into the RBS culture.

Comment This edited review by Emerald Publishing is based on “RBS Leadership Development Programme” by Peter McGrath, Eric Weiner and Mark Roberts. The paper – a winning submission to the European Foundation for Management Development’s Excellence in Practice Awards – describes the design and implementation of a development programme for Royal Bank of Scotland leaders at a critical point in the global financial institution’s history – the bank’s rescue by the UK government and its CEO Sir Fred Goodwin’s fall from grace.

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Philips Octagon A Partnership for Leadership Excellence and Innovation Philips, Center for Creative Leadership and Wharton combined to develop a pool of senior management talent and foster innovation.

How can a €25 billion global organisation develop a strong and sustainable pool of top-talent leaders while also fostering innovation that brings significant revenue growth to the firm?

That was the challenge that Philips’ Learning & Organizational Effectiveness team took on in the early 1970s when they launched the first Octagon programme. The challenge became even greater as the pace of technology accelerated in the early years of the new millennium, and innovation became essential to the company’s ongoing success.

By 2005 Philips knew it had to grow beyond its in-house training programme to get the expertise in business strategy and leadership that it needed to maintain competitive advantage. CEO Gerard Kleisterlee tasked the Learning & Organizational Effectiveness team to search for the needed expertise.

Philips’ history shows why fast-paced innovation leadership is crucial.

Anton and Gerard Philips founded Philips & Co in 1891 in Eindhoven, Netherlands, to produce carbon filament lamps.

Since then, research and continuous innovation have been at the core of Philips’ success in all of its markets. Over its 120-year history, Philips has led the invention and innovation of light bulbs, medical X-ray and imaging machines, television, electric shavers, the audio compact cassette, compact discs (CDs), DVDs and Blu-ray discs worldwide. Philips is also a leader in energy-efficient lighting solutions using LED technology.

The Philips brand is now recognised around the world but maintaining a market-leading position requires innovation across a wide range of product lines and consumer cultures. Instead of a sole provider for talent development, Philips chose a “best of the best” solution, asking the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL® ) and Wharton to work in partnership to meet the company’s needs.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania—founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school—is recognised globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. Wharton Executive Education programmes offer a supportive and challenging context from which participants gain the skills necessary for their next level of executive development.

The Philips brand is recognised around the world, but maintaining a market-leading position requires innovation across a wide range of product lines and consumer cultures

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CCL is a top-ranked global provider of executive education that accelerates strategy and business results by unlocking the leadership potential of individuals and organizations. Founded in 1970 as a non-profit educational institution focused exclusively on leadership education and research, CCL annually serves more than 20,000 individuals and 2,000 organisations around the world.

Wharton’s contribution to the revamped Octagon programme was on business impact, the “what” of leadership, that gave the leaders strategic business skills. CCL’s contribution focused on developing the “how” of leadership – those essential behavioural qualities that leaders need to apply every day in their dealings inside and outside the organisation.

To ensure that the programme and its impact were deeply connected to Philips’ strategy, Wharton and CCL faculty worked closely with Philips’ senior leaders to understand each business unit’s specific strategic needs and to find the threads that linked them all. These needs were aligned with the company’s six leadership competencies and this became the foundation for the programme content.

The partners agreed on a framework of three interactive classroom modules combined with team-based action learning projects, defined by the participants themselves, to drive innovation within Philips. Participants would be expected to apply their new skills as they worked on the team project as well as in their daily jobs.

Wharton and CCL faculty provided the necessary knowledge and skills to enable the participants to tackle their projects during the three on-site modules. Using this “toolkit”, the participant teams planned and executed an innovation project between modules.

At the end of the programme the teams reported their results (including recommendations for carrying the project forward in the future) to

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Philips Octagon

FACTORS IN OCTAGON’S SUCCESS: Strong alignment with Philips’ Strategy and Leadership Agenda A corporate culture willing to invest in innovation and strongly supportive of leadership development Active sponsorship and participation from senior business leaders as programme speakers, project sponsors and coaches Programme content and dynamics open to adaptation in response to evaluation data and feedback.

Careful composition of Octagon teams to be diverse and global, and to utilise all team members’ talent and expertise Establishment of a global network of Octagon alumni Seamless, flexible and dedicated partnership

a panel of Philips senior executive and Management Board sponsors.

Each project was assessed to see if it would receive further funding and become part of the innovation pipeline of a Philips business unit.

The three-way partnership established in 2005 by Philips, Wharton and CCL for the Octagon programme required a strong commitment to collaborate. CCL and Wharton agreed to adapt their standard working styles to allow for a seamless experience for Philips. This included an openness about each partner’s contents, strengths and objectives so that responsibilities could be allocated to match each partner’s expertise.

A key element of the collaboration—and a significant factor in the programme’s success—is the direct support and participation of Philips’ senior executives, including CEO Gerard Kleisterlee, CFO Pierre Jean Sivignon, Group Human Resources Director Hayko Kroese, and Head of Learning & Organisational Effectiveness Jef Pauwels.

Members of the Philips Board of Management provide mentoring conversations for participants during the programme and dozens of senior executives serve as project sponsors, including financial sponsorship.

Overview of the Octagon Learning Journey Module 1 was a seven-day intensive session in Philadelphia that equipped participants with the skills, knowledge, frameworks and tools to dive into their Octagon project groups.

Module 2 followed four months later and involved a four-day learning journey in an emerging market (such as Shanghai or Delhi). Home, market and hospital visits gave the participants a first-hand feel of an emerging market. This module also provided deeper insights into business growth strategies, assessment and guidance on their action learning projects and feedback on their people leadership skills from Octagon team members.

Module 3 was a three-and-a-half-day module at Philips’ corporate headquarters in Amsterdam, completing the overall learning journey.

On the final day, Octagon teams presented reports on their projects (including recommendations for carrying the project forward in the future) to a panel of Philips’ Management Board and senior executive sponsors. Each project was assessed for its future business potential to Philips.

The impact Because Philips has dual goals for Octagon – to develop a strong pool of top-talent leaders and to foster innovation that brings significant financial gain to the firm - the impact of the programme is assessed in several ways:

50%

Of the 13 projects undertaken by Octagon teams from 2009-2010, more than 50% have been incorporated into the business

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Octagon Programme Overview: MODULE 1

PHILIDELPHIA

MODULE 2 DELHI / SHANGHAI

MODULE 3

AMSTERDAM

ACADEMIC TRACK BLENDED WITH PHILIPS INPUT ON STRATEGY AND INNOVATION

LEADERSHIP TRACK (ASSESSMENT, EXERCISES, REFLECTIONS, COACHING)

ACTION LEARNING PROJECT IN OCTAGON GROUPS

PRE-WORK: 360 degree assessment, personality assessment, readings

INTER-MODULE SUPPORT: Individual Leadership coaching, Project Team meetings, Project Sponsor meetings

INTER-MODULE SUPPORT: Individual Leadership coaching, Project Team meetings, Project Sponsor meetings

POSTPROGRAMME SUPPORT: Individual Leadership coaching; possibly project continuation

ABOVE: JUBILANT OCTAGON GRADUATES AFTER SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATIONS TO THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT

– Participant surveys at the end of each module –T rainers’ reports of what worked well and what could be enhanced –N umber, quality and impact of Octagon projects completed by participants –O ctagon alumni promoted into executive roles in the company Of the 13 projects undertaken by Octagon teams from 2009-2010, more than 50% have been incorporated into the business, adding to Philips’ innovation pipeline. Others have helped Philips avoid costly forays into undesirable markets or risky product categories, ultimately saving the company money.

Perhaps the ultimate measure of Octagon’s value to Philips is reflected in the career paths of the programme’s alumni. Octagon alumni receive a majority of internal promotions to executive positions at Philips globally. The cost of outside hiring for executive-level positions is extremely high, both financially and in terms of on-boarding time.

By increasing the percentage of internal promotions, Octagon is helping Philips’ Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness team reduce costs and gain efficiency. The programme is building a strong cohort of like-minded leaders, resulting in a cohesive global leadership team and effective succession planning.

AUTHORS:

Padmaja Korde, Director Leadership Development Programs - Royal Philips Electronics Regina Eckert, Senior Research Associate Center for Creative Leadership Paula Nielsen-Lazo, Solution Architect Center for Creative Leadership Deb Giffen Director, Innovative Learning Solutions The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

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Special supplement | Global Focus Vol 05 | Issue 03 2011

Global Impact Submission Front Lines –Partnership between Microsoft and Emerging World Shannon Banks and Matthew Farmer explain how the partnership between Microsoft and Emerging World is helping to build leadership potential in the global software company During times of economic turbulence, many companies stop investing in leadership development. The uncertainty in the market and demands of the immediate situation overpower the longer-term importance of developing people. So when the 2008 credit crunch hit we thought we might have to scrap our plans.

For nearly a year prior to the economic decline, we were establishing the early vision for Front Lines, a new and highly immersive executive development programme. The goal was to deliver effective, businessaligned leadership development and simultaneously create value for the emerging world, supporting Microsoft’s citizenship goals.

When faced with the economic downturn, we asked ourselves the hard questions we knew we would be asked by the Microsoft executives sponsoring the work. We believed in the goals of the programme but was this still the right area of focus given the demands of the marketplace?

Would the return on investment be great enough?

With these questions in mind, we drew up a new business plan – one that addressed issues of scalability and resourcing as well as the time investment of participants. Senior leadership ultimately approved this plan, giving the green light to move forward.

The Front Lines programme is now an established part of Microsoft’s high-potential executive development experience. In Front Lines, Microsoft executives come together for an immersive three- to four-day workshop in a developing country. Small teams of senior executives work together with representatives from local organisations – such as NGOs and multi-lateral agencies – that are already strategic partners to Microsoft and doing valuable work in the emerging world. Together, the teams work on real business challenges brought by the partners.

Partnership In the early days of its research around this effort, Microsoft kicked off a lengthy external benchmarking process, looking at similar programmes run by other companies globally. Not only did this benchmarking surface many great learnings from other organisations around programme design, it also introduced the software company to the Emerging World group (known then as Adopt a Business).

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It was clear early on that the two organisations shared an interest in deep partnership and collaboration, which has continued as Emerging World and Microsoft evolve the Front Lines programme

Established in 2003, Emerging World specialises in providing experiential opportunities in the emerging world as a means for developing leadership capability. A key feature of Emerging World’s programmes is that participants develop leadership skills while simultaneously supporting partner organisations in developing countries to address their own challenges.

From the outset it was clear that Emerging World was the right partner for Microsoft in their joint ideas for leadership development. Not only did this approach align closely with Microsoft’s goals but the expertise Emerging World had running programmes in emerging markets helped answer questions that were being asked

by Microsoft stakeholders, complementing expertise Microsoft had in house.

It was also clear from early conversations that the two organisations shared an interest in deep partnership and collaboration. The partnership has continued to evolve as Emerging World and Microsoft continue to evolve the Front Lines programme.

Programme details Over the two years since the programme’s inception Front Lines has been held in Kenya and Peru, exposing Microsoft executives to the diverse opportunities and challenges in these markets. Regardless of specific location, which is expected to move to other emerging markets in future years, the programme has three key elements: Immersion The initiative kicks-off with a day-and-a-half immersion experience in which participants are grounded in issues affecting local people and organisations.

In 2010, leaders visited an education project in the Mukuru slums, heard from local non-profit leaders and toured a flower farm in Naivasha outside Nairobi.

In 2011 the programme was held in Lima, Peru,

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Global Impact Submission

and participants were engaged in similar perspective-building activities in Latin America: visiting a school in the shantytown community of Pachacutec, engaging with local micro-entrepreneurs and discussing economic issues with politicians.

These thought-provoking and emotionally engaging experiences build team cohesion and encourage participants to open up before they begin action learning and work on partner challenges.

Action learning For the rest of the in-person workshop and through follow-up work undertaken virtually, participants are engaged in action learning.

This experiential, “learning through doing” approach gives participants the framework and methodologies to advance their leadership skills and build internal networks as they work together to solve a real business challenge.

While there are many definitions of action learning, the method used in Front Lines is one developed by the World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL). In this method, participants work on real challenges in small groups using an interactive process that leads to new skills, growth and impact as thinkers, problem solvers and leaders.

Guided reflection Through skilled facilitation and planned exercises, guided reflection is also a key part of the Front Lines programme. The reflection process helps participants to consider and make sense of the varied inputs experienced during the programme. It also enables the programme management team to shape the learning in the moment to meet specific leadership learning objectives.

Objectives For leaders who participate in Front Lines, the benefits are clear. The powerful combination of immersion, interaction, action learning and

reflection has a profound impact on participants, helping to build competencies that directly address the broader business needs of the organisation. Not only do leaders hone transferable skills vital for senior leadership roles, such as coaching, strategic thinking and problem solving, they also develop several key skills relating to their exposure to the emerging markets: Global perspective: Microsoft’s senior executives need to cultivate an awareness of the needs, opportunities and innovations in markets worldwide. Leaders are given an opportunity to see how Microsoft’s business is growing in the developing world and what types of initiatives and partnerships create that success.

National competitiveness: As the leaders move into more senior roles, they are increasingly asked to partner with political leaders and government officials, understanding the local agendas for the markets in which they work and helping to shape national policy when it comes to IT strategy. The exposure provided through Front Lines helps to begin to build competency in this area.

Corporate citizenship: Strategic corporate social responsibility initiatives actively align contributions to the welfare of society with the strategic goals and core capabilities of the organisation. In so doing, contributions have strong and lasting benefits for both sides. The Front Lines experience gives leaders first-hand exposure to Strategic CSR. Leading in turbulent times: Finally, participants develop skills in leading during times of turbulence through their exposure to local partner organisations that must constantly deal with the resource constraints and unpredictability that typify developing countries.

In addition to these leadership development objectives, Front Lines directly aligns with Microsoft’s business strategy. The strategic

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partners receive valuable consulting from Microsoft executives on challenges facing their organisations – and they also enhance their own leadership development. The whole programme deepens the strategic relationships between Microsoft and the participating partner organisations. Finally the work undertaken supports the development of the emerging markets, thus supporting Microsoft’s broader corporate citizenship goals.

Impact Especially in light of the current economic climate, impact assessment was a priority from early on in the design of the programme.

Because of the various “stakeholder” groups, there was a need to measure impact not only on the executive participants from Microsoft but also on the partners and the programme’s broader Microsoft community. Taken together, these figures illustrate the extent to which the collaboration between Microsoft and Emerging World met Microsoft’s business and leadership development goals.

Through skilled facilitation and planned exercises, guided reflection is also a key part of the Front Lines programme

AUTHORS:

Shannon Banks Worldwide Leadership Development Consultant, Microsoft Corporation shannonb@microsoft.com Matthew Farmer Managing Director, Emerging World – a UK-based specialist leadership development consultancy matthew@emergingworld.com

Highlights from Front Lines 2011:

100%

...of Microsoft participants said they have a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Microsoft in doing business in emerging markets

81%

...of Microsoft participants now consider the issues of national competitiveness to be relevant within the context of their work

88%

...of participants feel more prepared for interactions with government officials

100%

...of strategic external partners said their relationship with Microsoft has improved because of their participation

40%

...of our strategic partners said they felt confident in achieving a successful outcome on their challenge prior to participating in Front Lines. This increased to 100% after their participation in Front Lines

100%

...of relationship managers said that as a result of Front Lines, Microsoft’s relationship with the partner organisations was stronger

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Highly Commended Brief executive summaries of the eight Highly Commended cases

Highly Commended Case: Organisational Development Partnership in design, development and delivery of the IMpact programme Deutsche Lufthansa / CoachingOurselves International / Lancaster University Management School / McGill University The Challenge: How can learning be carried from personal development in a management programme into the organisation for its own development, especially in difficult economic times?

This is a long-standing problem, where the innovative solution discussed could have a huge impact on developmental programmes everywhere.

The Programme Partnership: – The International Masters in Practicing Management (impm.org), an unusual programme that for 15 years has been dedicated to developing managers in the context of their own jobs and companies by having them focus on reflecting on their own experiences and sharing the resulting insights with each other.

– CoachingOurselves.com, another unusual programme, in which teams of managers develop themselves at work.

– Lufthansa School of Business, the corporate University of the LH Group, driven by the “Increase Innovative Impact Initiative” – The Impact Programme, a programme created at the interface of these three.

The Commitment: The IMPM has resulted in what is probably unprecedented in management training – several companies have been sending teams of their managers for almost all of the 15 years.

That partnership has been most evident with Lufthansa, which has not only been sending teams all these years (having missed only the one after 9/11) with the learning being passed back and forth continuously between programme and company but has also led to an innovative product development process, a natural commitment and

a smooth joint execution of IMpact in a close collaboration of business and academics, carrying management development straight into organisation development.

The Impact Programme: Each manager in the programme establishes a team of high-potentials back home through whom he or she carries the learning of the programme into the organisation with the help of CoachingOurselves.com.

In effect, instead of a changed person returning to an unchanged organisation, he or she returns to a team of colleagues eager to share the learning and, more importantly, help the manager carry it into action. That is the “pact.”

For a company with a tight training budget, this means that for every manager sent on the programme five to ten more are developed, not to mention engaged in driving change. As its execution in Lufthansa is discussed in the text, this has the potential to revolutionize developmental programmes of all kinds.

Highly Commended Case: Executive Development Thomson Reuters Global Executive Programme Thomson Reuters / Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth / IE Business School ln April 2008, the new organization Thomson Reuters was created when Thomson acquired Reuters, an organisation more than half its size. The resulting integration was of significant scale and complexity, creating a global organisation of more than 50,000 employees.

For the CEO and his Executive Committee an early priority was to deliver shareholder value from the integration, to accelerate the cultural integration and to develop a cadre of senior leaders able to drive the organisation’s strategic priorities of organic growth and globalisation.

After considering a range of options, Thomson Reuters developed a custom executive development programme in collaboration with two business schools, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in the US and IE Business School

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in Spain. Formal approval for the programme was given late 2008 at the time of one of the world’s worst economic collapses, a clear indication of the new organisation’s commitment to the development of its executives.

– I nstil a culture of innovation, focused on delivering exceptional customer value

The three parties collaborated to develop GEP (Global Executive Program), a programme that consists of two modules – one in the US and one in Spain that are tightly integrated into one seamless learning experience. GEP’s three core themes – “Smart” Growth, Globalisation and Personal Leadership directly supported the organisation’s strategy.

– Develop board-level potential

Engagement of the CEO and the Executive Committee at every stage has been a defining feature of GEP.

As a result, despite facing the worst market conditions in living memory, Towergate’s revenues have continued to grow year on year and staff morale is extremely high. This has been achieved in perfect-storm conditions for the insurance industry – with rock-bottom rates, downsizing or disappearing clients, competitors fighting tooth and claw for survival, banks applying the credit squeeze and insurers cutting costs to the bone.

On every dimension, GEP has exceeded expectations.

Participants have revised Thomson Reuters strategy in key areas, including the organisation’s approach to rapidly developing economies and to government and regulatory affairs and have broken down organisational boundaries to create powerful collaborative relationships.

“Management development courses are often viewed as the soft, touchy/feely pet projects of the HR department; however, for me GEP is a vital strategic lever in achieving our business goals.“ Tom Glocer, CEO, Thomson Reuters

Highly Commended Case: Executive Development

– Achieve growth despite adverse market conditions – Attract investment Overall impact The programme has helped Towergate’s key people make the “quantum leap into Ieadership”, allowing them to take the organisation forward in line with its strategic objectives.

The group has also attracted €200 million in investment, with private investors impressed and reassured by the calibre of the Towergate succession pool emerging from the ELP. Towergate is on course to achieve its 2007 strategic goal of floatation on the London Stock Exchange within the next two years. It has a strong pool of people ready for succession vacancies, who are highly skilled in leading projects to grow the Towergate business.

How to thrive when the economy crashes around you

Towergate has also achieved its goal of identifying a number of individuals who stand out as board-level executive leaders.

Towergate Insurance / Ashridge Business School

As CEO Andy Homer comments:

Ashridge Business School and Towergate Insurance have been working in partnership since 2007 when Ashridge won the competitive pitch to deliver the Towergate Executive Leadership Programme (ELP). To date, over 80 of Towergate Insurance’s leaders have been through the programme.

Programme objectives The programme inspires and empowers Towergate’s high potentials, giving them the skills to lead, not just to manage.

Specifically, it has improved Towergate’s capacity to:

“As a direct consequence of our strength in so many insurance markets, we remain a very attractive destination for talented people and our staff retention levels remain high.

Those who join us at Towergate quickly identify with the ‘can do’ culture, the potential to learn and grow with the business and, perhaps above all, they can see the difference they make to the group as a whole. To ensure this continues, we once again bucked the trend in 2010 and increased our investment in the Towergate Business School and our partnerships with organisations such as Ashridge.”

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Highly Commended case summaries

Highly Commended Case: Professional Development The journey to world class operations: optimising and sustaining asset management capability Rio Tinto / The University of Western Australia Business School The challenge for the learning & development programme is to improve asset management competency and align asset management activities across the Rio Tinto Group.

Rio Tinto, one of the premier global mining companies, manages $25 billion of plant and equipment (physical assets) through five mineral commodity-based business units. How these physical assets are managed (asset management) is crucial to unlocking value from each mineral resource for the benefit of all stakeholders.

In 2004 Rio Tinto launched a strategy to ensure optimal value creation through improved collaboration in key areas of the business. Elements of this strategy focused on aligning asset management processes to best practice through collaboration, improving competences, increasing asset reliability and developing new asset systems. By 2010 it was evident that improved organisational discipline in asset management and the focus on asset reliability had contributed to improvements in Rio Tinto’s operating performance.

The purchase, installation, use, maintenance and disposal of plant and equipment involves many of Rio Tinto’s 72,000 employees. A critical aspect in changing how assets are managed across the life cycle involves influencing these employees to change behaviour and practice.

programme also engages senior Rio Tinto executives, global practice leaders and the local senior management team.

The programme is a partnership between Rio Tinto’s Technology & Innovation Asset Management Centre and AIM—UWA Business School Executive Education team (Executive Education). Content development and delivery is managed through a team of Rio Tinto staff (internal faculty) and academics engaged through Executive Education (external faculty). The external faculty are globally recognised engineering professors and subject experts who provide exposure to cutting-edge asset management developments and can challenge entrenched views. E-tools are leveraged to support development and delivery across the different time zones.

The programme develops individual competencies in five asset management (AM) dimensions, builds collaborative networks and establishes AM leadership expectations.

In the last three years the program has also delivered value of $27 million in short-term savings through AM improvement projects initiated, developed and approved as a core part of the AMPDP. This focus on demonstrating value was critical in ensuring that the AMPDP was the only global learning and development programme in Rio Tinto to continue delivery through the global financial crisis of 2008-09.

Highly Commended Case: Talent Development Ernst & Young’s EMEIA Women’s Leadership Programme Ernst&Young / Cranfield School of Management

Rio Tinto has approached this through a multidimensional learning and development strategy coordinated by the Asset Management Centre. The first programme, launched in 2007, was the Asset Management Professional Development Program (AMPDP).

In the autumn of 2007, Mike Cullen, (then the UK People Leader of Ernst & Young) felt frustrated by the lack of progress with the UK’s diversity and inclusion strategy. One key objective was to increase the number of female Partners in the UK from 13% to 20% by 2011.

The AMPDP is a global learning and development programme for engineers, managers and superintendents in production, maintenance and technical-support roles. Delivery of the

He was aware of the growing body of evidence that showed that companies with more women in leadership positions were more likely to outperform their competitors

and a key objective for E&Y was to do just that to achieve market leadership.

He met with his heads of Leadership & Development and Diversity and Inclusion to brainstorm how to raise the profile of their female high potentials and tasked the two of them to work together to identify an approach that would;

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experience of the small coaching groups that harnesses both the expertise of the coach and the rich E&Y background of the delegates. To participants expecting a traditional “training intervention” the emphasis on working through real personal issues in a confidential and supportive environment comes as a surprise.

The impact of this programme includes an increase in the number of women being promoted to Partner; an increase in the number of Partners in the UK from 13% to 18% (the 2) help the organisation better understand what it needed original objective); ongoing business networking across to do better or differently to support their women in achieving the area; organisational learning about processes and their full potential. This was not, however, about “fixing micro inequities that derail high potentials; access to role the women”. models; an increase in the number of female Partners promoted to leadership roles; the development of a cadre A single framed gender strategy was developed and one of change agents; and a healthy retention rate for this objective of this strategy was to identify a women’s Partner track group of women. leadership programme that would initially target women within three years of being considered for Partnership.

Cranfield School of Management was invited to design, Highly Commended Case: develop and deliver this two-day programme with the key objectives to: Professional Development 1) make a visible and tangible commitment to supporting the career development and retention of their women, and

– Build participants’ confidence to make a difference, both internally and externally, in a way which is wholly authentic – Support participants in identifying the key challenges which they face in navigating their career at E&Y and developing appropriate strategies for success – Create a space in which participants could explore a diverse range of effective leadership styles and understand the inherent differences in typical male / female strategies – Equip participants to assess their current state and identify the appropriate focus for their future development

Partnership in design, development and delivery of the Certified Client Adviser Programme Deutsche Bank / ESMT Deutsche Bank and ESMT European School of Management and Technology have jointly developed a professional development programme to train approximately 400 Deutsche Bank corporate banking relationship-managers, covering the highly important midcap segment in Germany.

The programme has been designed as a flagship programme of Deutsche Bank, training corporate bankers to change – Facilitate the establishment of a collegiate peer network from traditional banking product specialists to trusted to provide ongoing support and strategic challenge advisors. It is based on extensive interviews with senior To date, 149 women have attended the programme and the executives and potential programme participants as well feedback has been consistently high. It is a mix of plenaries as workshops with executives of the business lines and HR development at Deutsche Bank. and small coaching groups, opened on the first night by a member of the leadership team with a more informal session As a result, a seven-module Certified Client Advisor on the second night with three female Partner role models.

Programme covering 21 programme days was created and One of the key differentiators of the programme is the kicked-off in June 2009.

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Highly Commended case summaries

The programme’s focus is to change the perspective of the relationship-managers by exposing them to the challenges of CEOs of midcap corporations. Our approach is both academic and practical but a significant part of the programme is reserved for discussions with CEOs and owners of midcap corporations. Senior executives of all business lines of Deutsche Bank are invited to share their experience when dealing with high-profile clients.

The first programme cycle was completed in May 2010 and praised as an outstanding success both by participants and senior corporate managers of Deutsche Bank. All participants have formed a strong network through the programme. While the second cycle will be completed in May 2011, Deutsche Bank and ESMT started the third cycle in March 2011. In addition, the programme has led to a joint publication of Deutsche Bank and ESMT; a book on client commitment (Die Wiederentdeckung des Kunden) to be published in fall 2011.

Highly Commended Case: Special cases High-impact learning in a mid-sized company serving international markets KAEFER Isoliertechnik / Metier Academy / Coverdale Team Management / Henley Business School Insulation is one of the most important techniques to increase energy efficiency. As the threat of climate change becomes real and growing global competition forces businesses in all industries to preserve energy in order to cut costs, KAEFERs services in the field of insulation are in great demand all over the world.

For a family-owned, tradition-oriented company over 90 years old, rapid growth across various continents constitutes a significant challenge. Being a service company, KAEFER does not own any production facilities and therefore the qualification and performance of employees is its main asset. Smooth communication and cooperation across border, company units and ethnic backgrounds is essential for KAEFER.

– the KAEFER Academy. Not one, but three partners were selected for this task, each contributing their individual strengths that best fit KAEFER’s needs: Henley Business School, Coverdale and Metier Academy. The scope of this effort is highly unusual for a mid-size company like KAEFER, but it has already paid significant dividends.

Almost 350 employees have participated in the programmes, raising the bar at all leadership levels while also adding significant know-how in the field of project management, one of KAEFER’s core competences.

The programmes have not only increased skill levels among KAEFER leaders and employees. They have also supported international cohesion within the group, as many employees from diverse parts of the world and personal backgrounds have met and worked on business-relevant assignments together.

In addition, the KAEFER Academy projects have already had an impact. The results have been discussed at the top-management level and led to improvements in many business processes. These early success stories show that the KAEFER Academy is an excellent investment in the company’s future: it secures a steady development of highly skilled employees and managers. It also helps to spread a common company culture in a highly decentralised group.

Highly Commended Case: Special cases The Sheffield City Region Leaders Programme Sheffield City Council / University of Sheffield / Sheffield Hallam University This postgraduate certificate in leadership was designed and developed in partnership between the two Sheffield universities and five public-sector organisations, whose representatives were fully involved in specifying its format, style and timing.

It has three ambitious targets: to make a real difference to the participants; to kick-start a self-sustaining growth Faced with these enormous requirements, KAEFER decided cycle for a regional “leadership academy” and to show-case to establish an elaborate personnel development system excellence, innovation and partnership in potential

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contributions of higher education to the knowledge economy.

The programme comprises four sequential modules together with a parallel track leadership module combining individual coaching, master-classes and project work.

Individual modules involve an initial two days of workshops presenting and exploring key theoretical ideas and skills.

These are expanded with “learning sets”, which identify and plan workplace-based projects.

Participants undertake this research over the next six weeks, submitting both group and individual reports for assessment.

Learning sets mix participants across organisations, thereby guaranteeing a range of approaches and a rich network of contacts.

The programme is already a success in all its aims.

The partnership between universities led to a unique learning innovation – “Deliberate Action Learning”. This is a blend of the major contrasting approaches to organisational development: systematic “deliberate practice” from the skills-based tradition; and the experiential, self-directed group approach from the engagement-based tradition.

Read more online:

The winning case studies and the highly commended case studies are available to read on the EFMD website. You can also find details on how to enter the 2012 Excellence in Practice Awards.

Systematic evaluations for the current units reveal outstanding participant satisfaction and progression. Participants’ ratings of their competence in core skills doubled from 35.5% to 76.1% and reports were of exceptional quality (the majority in the distinction range).

Three projects alone produced predicted £400,000 annual savings, providing a return on investment (for the entire cohort) of 750%. These results reflect the value of an authentic partnership at all levels – between different learning traditions, universities and organisations.

A UK national assessment of local government interventions identified the programme as an example of good practice, concluding: “On the basis of the evidence that we have collected, we have concluded that the greater the focus on organisational and place development and the stronger the practical focus, the more evident the longer term impact will ultimately prove to be”.

This innovative, collaborative, stimulating, enjoyable and successful initiative provides a blueprint for constructive partnership between higher education and public, private and third sector organisations.

Visit: www.efmd.org/eip

35 www.efmd.org/globalfocus

Special supplement | Global Focus Vol 05 | Issue 03 2011

EFMD Excellence in Practice Award Impactful Partnerships in Learning & Development

EFMD aisbl Rue Gachard 88 – Box 3 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Excellence in Practice Award 2011 Winning cases webinars

Award winning interventions demonstrate: – Strong Business Impact (alignment with corporate strategy, impact for company, integration in HR processes etc) – Excellent Programme Management (design, delivery, evaluation, selection of participants etc) – Operational Excellence (sustainable partnership, effective learning & development environment etc)

By ArcelorMittal & TMA World

The jury-panel is composed of representatives from EFMD member Companies, Business Schools and Executive Development Centres, as well as representatives from Emerald Group Publishing.

The names of the 2012 winning cases will be announced in July and the authors will be invited to the Excellence in Practice award ceremony in the fall of 2012.

Their interventions will get extensive international coverage and will be published in one of Emerald’s magazines.

Deadline for submission 1 May 2012 How to participate in this award Please visit www.efmd.org/eip Expression of interest: Mrs Florence Grégoire florence.gregoire@efmd.org | Tel: +32.2.629.08.37 In partnership with:

Global Push...Local Pull: Mobilising and Sustaining Enterprise-wide Training Globally in ArcelorMittal 17 November 2011, at 12:00pm (CET) RBS Leadership Development Programme

By RBS & Wharton & INSEAD 22 November 2011, at 4:00pm (CET) Innovation through Partnership: Creating a Global Leadership Program at Microsoft Benefitting Leaders, the Business and Society

By Microsoft & Emerging World 28 November 2011, at 2:00pm (CET) Philips Octagon – A Partnership for Leadership Excellence and Innovation

By Royal Philips Electronics & CCL & Wharton 29 November 2011, at 12:00pm (CET) Accelerating Professional Development and Strategy Execution: The ING Group High Impact Performance Program for Specialists

By ING & ‘the world we work in’ 2 December 2011, at 10:00am (CET) Free participation.

Registration required.

More info: http://www.efmd.org/events

Phone: +32 2 629 08 10 Fax: +32 2 629 08 11 Email: info@efmd.org

The EFMD Excellence in Practice Award recognises effective and impactful Learning and Development (L&D) interventions in the domains of Leadership, Professional, Talent and Organisation Development. These programmes can be deployed by an organisation either together with its in-house L&D unit or with external L&D providers.