The Problem
O.C. TANNER wanted to create a dynamic development program to increase business impact, accelerate talent growth, and connect leaders to each other in an engaging experience.
Our Approach
We started by helping O.C. TANNER organize their leadership competencies into two categories: Business-Impact and People-Impact. We helped them create an internal brand identity called Influence. We implemented a Leader Equity(TM) video repository of short video segments from interviews with their executive team. We then worked with a vertically integrated leadership team to build an organic and sustainable leader development model where Leader Equity(TM) clips were featured and O.C. TANNER business issues were center-stage as leadership competencies were addressed.
Our organic model leveraged the talent of existing leaders to teach future leaders. Our organic implementation triggered action-learning where executives trained high potentials, and high potentials trained emerging leaders.
The heart of the program included a LEARN-DO-TEACH structure embedded with micro-learning techniques.
LEARN
Executive Direction. The executive team identifies a cluster and specific competencies to focus on for each quarter.
Power Start. All tracks attend a 90-minute PowerStart to introduce the cluster focus and identify action-learning to initiate.
Workshop. A 2-3 hour workshop, customized by track, to dive into more detail about the competencies. The goal is to provide an applied strategy to integrate skills in that competency into a leaders current work/environment.
Reassemble and Alignment. Coming out of a workshop there will be application – things to do. In the strategy example the “do” would be to implement a strategic plan. Prior to implementing, the workshop participant has to work with their leader to validate what they are going to do. After a period of time leaders reassemble to discuss successes, challenges, and next steps toward deepening their implementation.
DO
Put into Practice. The leader puts into practice the specific objective that came out of the workshop. To put an idea into practice and make it relevant the individual identifies the tasks and resources and then creates a schedule to implement.
Peer Accountability. We have found the most successful way to keep progress happening is to have participants identify a peer accountability partner, schedule 1-1s with that partner, and relate their progress to each other.
TEACH
Teach Your Team. Teach your team about what you’ve discovered through the process, the lessons you’ve learned, the results of implementation, and the principles behind this leadership cluster.
Develop Your People. Help your people learn how to use the skill you just implemented as part of the workshop.
Re-Assemble. The track will reassemble to discuss lessons learned, the applications made, and share insights.
Certification. Completion of the cycle will trigger a certification for the cluster training. Once a person has worked through all of the clusters they receive certification for that track.
Value Delivered
The Big Result
The result was strategic acceleration in business and a tight connection between people-impact skills and business-impact skills. The incorporation of business leaders to facilitate and deliver content assured a perpetuating alignment between leader skill development and business purpose.
Here is what O.C. TANNER people said about what we delivered:
“Immediately impactful, useful.”
“I’ve been wanting something like this for 20 years.”
The Director of People and Talent said this:
“The most fun I’ve ever had in my career, we are working on things that are revolutionary … Leaders247 is the first to take into account what leadership is at OC TANNER and incorporate the best articles and logic and put it into use for us.”
One More Big Benefit
We left behind a sustainable Leader EquityTM product and infrastructure. Leader Equity is one of our showcase innovations that allows leaders at all levels in the organization to leverage a virtual mentorship from top company leaders.
Participants can listen to what O.C. TANNER leaders think about topics on business, leadership, strategy, or how to thrive during the long exhilarating journey of leading people. They simply select a topic tag and listen to micro-segments or they can listen to the entire interview with their favorite executive.
The most visible benefits of this program at O.C. TANNER are:
- Authenticity and transparency with top leaders who genuinely share the lessons of their journey. They show themselves as real people and as being interested in the development and success of others in the organization.
- A virtual one-to-many mentoring experience.
- Participants have a more personable experience with top executives. When given opportunities to present or engage with that executive, the process is more effective because people know their leaders.