Bottom Line Learning Leaders In Action

“It was a challenge to find a consultant with an Bottom Line Learning approach to performance improvement that fit our unique culture and style.

They understood what we were trying to accomplish, helped us clarify our objectives, create a solid, refreshing approach that quickly got us moving with engaged people at all levels. They listened and made adaptations focused on our needs and business objectives. Overall, I couldn’t be happier that we found a partner in LSA.”
Doug Hansen | President and Director | Redwood Trust

Most organizations struggle with how to develop mid-managers to leadership roles. Though leadership as a discipline is abstract, inconsistent, and vague, expectations of leaders are crystal clear. We expect leaders to make decisions with an enterprise perspective — decisions that add value to the bottom line and inspire employees to achieve an aligned organizational.

Leaders in Action is a six-to-twelve month program in which a targeted group of high potential managers work in teams to envision new ways, to sell to senior executives, and to implement a real project that can increase revenue or decrease cost significantly.

We use real business projects that teach leaders and managers through practical application to:

Be more innovative.
Have a big-picture view of the organization.
Create a more motivating and high performing work environment.
Take action.
Implement effectively through teams.
Get measurable business results.

Individuals receive one-on-one and group training, supervision, and coaching to develop leadership skills as they work through the process of initiating and implementing a significant strategic initiative in their organization.

Approach
We don’t use the terms “leadership” or “development.” We refer to the program as “running the business,” and we approach it accordingly. We take an action-learning approach to teach leadership so that the program and learning integrates with a manager’s day-to-day work.

Small teams are created that select a project that has high potential value to the organization. The action learning teams meet monthly for a period ranging from six months to a year. Over the course of the initiative, the action learning teams:

Are supervised and coached as they build a business plan that they will present to the executive team.
Select a proposed project that directly adds revenue or decreases costs by an appropriate amount for the situation. (typically +/- $6m.)
Plan and implementation strategy, ROI, and forecast of how the project fits into the broader organizational objectives and vision.

Plans are evaluated by company executives and accepted or declined based on criteria and processes used to evaluate any other proposal. Once proposals are accepted, we work with the action learning teams on implementation, influencing for initiative support, and managing the politics of the project.

Content
During ongoing monthly sessions teams debrief, learn new tools and techniques, and learn from each other’s experiences. Management and business acumen content is modular and provided on a just-in-time basis to support teams at each step of their project. The innovative as-needed curriculum meets the immediate learning needs of teams and individuals.

To provide an internal support system, an executive mentor is assigned to each team to help them understand how the company really works and how to get things done in their particular organization.

Measurement
For the individual, a program-specific executive 360 degree assessment is used at the beginning, middle, and end of the program to assess participant needs and growth. The true measure of the team’s success is the completion of their team project and how well it met or exceeded initial proposal expectations.

Outcomes
As a result of this intense Bottom Line Learning program, participants will have applied “on the job” skills. They will be able to:

Identify opportunities that add real, bottom-line value to the business.
Develop, pitch, and sell their business plan to key stakeholders and decision makers.
Formulate audience-specific value propositions for their project.
Influence key players to work on their projects — even when there is no reporting relationship to them.
Navigate workplace politics effectively.
Perform risk management for their project and manage expectations for all those involved.
Deliver and maintain a positive communication process regarding their project to all levels of the organization.
Become adept at presenting project updates and adjusting for different audiences.
Drive the agreed-upon dollar amount in revenue increases or cost reductions.
Take the current project, identify other opportunities that rise from it, and replicate successes on future projects.

Target Audience:
Experienced managers and leaders.

To speak with an LSA Expert to learn about program customization and delivery options for Bottom Line Learning at your company, please contact us.

Related Information

Thank you to LSA Global for their partnership and support in helping us to design and roll-out highly needed and valuable leadership and management development programs that fit our unique situation.

I personally have partnered with LSA Global at four of my previous companies. It continues to be a delight.

We look forward to partnering with them for a long time to develop our managers and leaders.

Suzanne Kinner
VP Human Resources

For our go to training outsourcing partner, LSA provides exactly what we want and need – which is not an easy task.

As always, they design and deliver outstanding leadership development results and high quality management training programs that totally align with our unique business and talent strategies!

Elizabeth Siebert
Director, Organizational Excellence & Development

LSA worked with our Executive Leadership Team to help create strategic clarity and alignment as we look to increase our growth rate and unlock innovation. They masterfully handled very complex, challenging, and high stakes leaders, decisions, and cultural nuances to help us identify what matters most and move toward one unified direction.

Their practical, straightforward, and client-centric approach to strategy was refreshing. I highly recommend them to any executive team looking to get aligned to create even higher performance. They are lights out awesome!

Patrick Resk
Chief Financial Officer, Partner

We turned to LSA to help us custom design and deliver a action leadership and management development curriculum to help drive performance across the company.

They have done an excellent job diagnosing the business situation, designing an approach that fits our unique culture, and delivering first class solutions. Thank you!

Sally Buchannan
VP Human Resources

As a high growth agency with cutting edge talent, we hired LSA Global to help clarify our strategy and work with our executive leadership team to help implement strategic changes in a way that made sense for our unique culture.

The work was so successful that we also hired them to coach our key leaders. LSA has been instrumental in helping us transition to a new leadership team and triple revenue. In this age of useless consultants, I highly recommend their practical and business-oriented approach to strategy, culture, and talent.

David Bentley
General Manager

Great job in designing the Mergers and Acquisition strategy session for our global leadership team. The session was excellent.

I gained additional insight on the importance of the role of HR regarding strategy, culture, and people in Mergers and Acquisitions and would recommend LSA to anyone looking to align strategies and cultures.

Gloria Veon
Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Having tripled in size and recently merged, LSA helped our executive team to increase our level of strategic alignment, to solidify our new direction, and to push our agency forward.

As we look to rapidly scale, the clear, actionable, and critical few strategic moves combined with how we differentiate ourselves to our top accounts and target clients has really set us on a great path to success.

This is exactly what we needed to get to the next level. Thank you LSA!

Matt Britton
CEO

LSA exceeded all my expectations.

We interviewed 7 potential training and consulting partners and selected LSA due to their expertise, flexibility, and breadth and depth of leadership solutions.

We were able to design a highly customized, focused, and relevant management training program that fit our unique needs.

Our leaders and managers galvanized as a team and are better prepared for the rigors of a leading their teams in a very competitive and fast-changing market.

Mitch Mandich
CEO

LSA has been a tremendous asset at my current company and my past company.

As an HR leader, I am always looking for ways to find external resources that can provide impactful leadership and management development expertise. LSA consistently does that for me.

The tools and practices are crisp, business relevant, and easy to apply on the job.

Ken Boehm
VP of Human Resources

The strategy and alignment work with our leadership team was absolutely transformational. The decisions we made combined with the transparency, communication, and accountability were exactly what we needed. Thank you!

Dr. Raphael B. Merriman M.D
Medical Director, Liver Transplantation

Working on our HR Strategy was so eye opening. I feel so much better prepared to be successful as a leader individually and collectively.

Now the entire HR leadership team can drive our growth strategy forward in a way that makes sense.

Kristin Talastas
Director, HR Shared Services

Having taken on a new executive leadership role, one of my first calls was to LSA Global to help my leadership team to design, implement, and cascade clear strategic plans. First, LSA helped our leadership team identify the strategy, culture, and talent areas that mattered most to create organizational alignment.

Then they helped facilitate the design of a strategic growth plan that is clear, compelling, believable, and implementable. We now have 100% commitment from an aligned leadership team and key stakeholders going forward.

I would recommend LSA to anyone who wants to create high levels of strategic alignment, growth, and performance.

Erik Arvesen
Vice President, General Manager

I continue to be impressed by the depth and breadth of LSA’s expertise in leadership development, and management development.

What a smart and client-centric group of great people who really know how to help leaders attract, engage, develop and retain top talent in a practical and results-driven manner.

Thank you LSA!

Tracy Esposito
Director, HR Business Partner

We consider LSA Global the top outsourced learning and development partner.

We work closely with LSA to customize leadership and management development programs to meet our growing business needs.

I would highly recommend LSA to any company wanting to deliver high quality and practical learning solutions for their leaders and managers.

Terri Wright-Scheer
Vice President Human Resources

The customized leadership styles and coaching program was the best training that I have ever attended. The facilitators were phenomenal. They have a wealth of experience and knowledge coupled with compassionate and caring styles. I’d highly recommend this leadership training program to any manager, director, or executive looking for a life changing leadership program.

Shoaleh Ghaffari
Director, HR