Case Study: Leading Rapid Growth in the Right Direction
Business Issue
The CEO and the executive leadership team of a global technology and service organization faced an extremely rapid growth rate but lacked the leadership skills needed throughout the company to effectively manage the expansion. They needed a partner to help develop competent leaders at all levels. Right Management was selected to solve the challenge through two leadership development programs: one for frontline leaders and the other for senior leaders.
Solution
Right Management collaborated with the internal talent development team to complete the initial discovery and design phases. This ensured that the programs developed key skills, supported the business strategy, integrated with internal talent initiatives and used industry best practices. The approach focused on three core areas of transformation: developing a pool of leaders, shifting the culture and driving engagement to create results.
The senior leader program, for example, was designed to deliver a high-impact, engaging learning experience. In this program, participants and their managers attend a virtual program launch to set the tone, drive engagement and outline responsibilities. The kickoff is followed by a 4-day, highly interactive residential program that includes assessment debriefs, Harvard Business Review case study work, and action learning activities, along with small and large group-facilitated interaction.
The residential session includes executive presentations and dinner with the CEO to build connection and alignment with the client’s strategic goals. To reinforce and sustain learning, Right Management holds a post-program capstone meeting to review learnings and reflect on on-the-job application. Similarly, the frontline leader program was custom designed and delivered for that audience.
Right Management has delivered the frontline leader program for more than 10 years and the senior executive program for more than three years. Updates to the programs have kept pace with business growth. The most recent enhancement included an in-depth discovery process to reflect a significant shift in the business. The redesign involved stakeholder surveys of business leaders and 200 plus graduates; the aggregate data analysis formed the basis of strategic discussions with the talent development team to ensure that the redesigned content was both relevant to current business challenges and reflective of the client’s long-term strategic goals.
Results
The program has successfully developed leaders across the company for more than a decade, delivering the following results:
- More than 1,300 leaders have been developed through these programs and an additional 2,000 leaders globally will go through the program with deliveries planned for the upcoming years.
- Right Management shifted the culture from being command-and-control to collaborative, inclusive, and empowering and made significant progress toward building the necessary competencies in both the organization and the individual leaders.
- Right Management drove engagement, creating results. One business unit’s top line grew by 30 percent.
- Another team brought in savings of $4 million, 15-25 percent of which was attributed to the leadership program.
- Participants rated the program 4.4 out of 5.0 on dimensions such as effectiveness and expertise.
- The client retained key customers even when prices were rising.