Leadership Development

Challenge:

A family-owned business with one location and 200 employees desired to grow to be a major presence in the market. Their constraint was not financial, it was human capital.  The company lacked a culture of leadership but had rather a “command and control” approach. There had been no investment in individual development except for required technical and safety training. Under these circumstances. growth was hindered.

Solution:

Utilizing a customized approach, CCI designed a leadership development program to identify, recognize and train managers with potential to be leaders in the new culture. We also worked with senior leadership to reframe the culture from one of management of resources to one of leveraging people. We provided training to almost 30 leaders over a three year period, reinforcing their leadership skills and helping them understand and shape the new culture.

Results:

Participants gained a clear understanding of the difference between a leader and a manager. The company expanded to its current state of 14 locations and 2,500 employees and plans to add three more locations and 500 employees in the next three years. Five of the six top senior leaders are graduates of the program. CCI now runs an annual training program for all leaders in the company, as well as a new leader assimilation program that works to imbue new leaders with skills and values needed to be successful.

Challenge:

The executive leadership team of a privately-held family of companies in residential real estate wanted to ensure the next generation of leaders was adequately prepared to step into senior leadership roles. Each leader had previously engaged with CCI for executive coaching services and identified the leadership competencies required for the future success of the organization. To support the developmental efforts of their leaders, the leadership team recognized that they needed to broaden the learning opportunities for their high-potentials and prepare them to assume more responsibility by stepping into an executive leadership role.

Solution:

CCI’s Talent Development consultants designed a High-Potential Leadership Development Program anchored in the identified leadership competencies to help the rising leaders increase their self-awareness and build critical skills to prepare them for more senior roles and expanded responsibilities. Program participants were selected using identified criteria by the company presidents. To ensure equitable distribution of participant slots, the number of participants for each company was based on proportional size. The six-session, multifaceted leadership development program occurred over an eight-month period and consisted of:

• A self-assessment to increase their self-awareness around critical leadership competencies needed for operating at more senior levels
• Six facilitated workshops that were identified as skill gaps by the senior leadership team
• A team action learning project that created the mechanism for applying newly found knowledge and skills to real-world strategic problems. The topics were selected by the senior leadership team

The project culminated with group presentations of their projects to the Senior Leadership Team.

Results:

The program’s success was measured in two ways: Participant response via session evaluations and participants elevated into more senior roles or expanded responsibility. In aggregate, 91% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that they would be a stronger performer as a result of attending the workshops. Additionally, of the 16 participants, four were promoted into a more senior role within a year of attending the program. One of the participants was made a company President and another was promoted to Chief Information Officer. The organization is currently planning follow-up activities for the original group and efforts are under way to create the next cohort.

Challenge:

Senior leaders of a mid-size, multi-site regional food manufacturer recognized that they needed to develop the leadership skills of frontline supervisors and managers in operations and sales. This group needed targeted and focused development to ensure that they had the skills necessary to be more effective. Training was an important component of the company’s growth strategy, as frontline supervisors and managers needed to move quickly and effectively from doing tasks themselves to teaching and managing others to get the tasks done.

Solution:

An online needs assessment was created and administered by CCI. CCI then analyzed the results and developed a recommended approach. CCI administered DiSC, a self- assessment of behavioral style, to 100 leaders, then facilitated small group sessions to share DiSC results and help people understand leadership styles. A customized program was designed by CCI to facilitate 14 sessions, delivered in 4 states, to help frontline leaders communicate and work more effectively with others, and to improve their performance management skills.

Results:

A clearer understanding was gained by Frontline leaders concerning their leadership styles and how their style impacts others, enabling them to better communicate with their direct reports. Frontline leaders recognized the need to manage performance to achieve planned growth and they committed to create action plans, evaluate direct report performance and follow up with feedback to reports. Frontline leaders are now skilled in giving both positive and constructive feedback and are prepared for difficult conversations related to performance.