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 small group (12-16) of high potential managers work in teams to envision, 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 managers through practical application to:

Be more innovative, have a big-picture view of the organization, and create a more motivating work environment.
Take action, implement effectively, and get results.

Individuals receive training, supervision, and coaching to develop leadership skills as they work through the process of initiating and implementing a significant “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

We selected LSA Global over 5 other companies to help our key executives improve their overall communication and executive presentation capabilities. LSA exceeded our expectations.

I highly recommend LSA to any executive team looking to better organize and more effectively deliver key executive-level messages — especially when the stakes are high.

Todd Power
Office of the CEO

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

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

LSA helped us with leadership development by designing a solution to match our unique needs and culture.

It was a huge success. I would highly recommend LSA to help take leaders and managers to the next level.

Karen King, SPHR
Manager, Human Resources

Thank you for a great leadership development session today. The facilitator was brilliant. The team got a lot out of it (as did I).

I believe it will help us create an even higher performance culture by ensuring we have a common understanding of how to create higher performance and work toward clear and common strategic goals.

Simon Jefferson
Managing Director

We contacted LSA to help us design and deliver customized management development programs. LSA worked with us to meet our exact needs. We started at the top with our executive team. It was such a great success that we rolled it out company-wide. We look forward to a long-term partnership with LSA Global and their team of experts.

Barry L. Byrd, SPHR
Human Resources Manager

LSA helped us design and deliver blended leadership solutions for our key leaders to help drive our growth plans in a way that aligned with our unique culture and values.

LSA understood our business, had deep expertise in the content areas, customized the leadership development programs to fit our specific needs, and delivered great results in alignment with our strategic priorities, culture, and performance management systems.

I highly recommend them to anyone looking to take their leaders and the performance of their teams to the next level.

Beth A. Taylor
Vice President of Human Resources

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 focused and relevant management training course 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 Global has been a great partner in helping us move toward being “the leading developer of talent in the service performance management industry.”

I have engaged LSA to help develop best-in-class programs in the areas of: Executive On-boarding, Manager Training, Sales Training and Coaching, Employee Engagement, and Instructional Design.

They have consistently met or exceeded my (very) high expectations and are always responsive to my needs to increase performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales growth.

Mike Normant
Senior Director, Training & Development

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

We greatly value our relationship with LSA Global.

They focused on understanding our unique culture and helping us to move our strategic priorities forward.

LSA continues to deliver top quality executive coaching, consulting, and leadership development solutions that are highly customized for our unique situation.

I highly recommend LSA Global to anyone looking to greatly improve their leadership, management, and project capabilities.

Bonnie S. Olson
Vice President of Human Resources

At a time of change in our marketplace, LSA Global did an exceptional job helping our executive team create strategic clarity by helping us to define, clarify, and prioritize our corporate vision, mission, values, differentiation, target clients, strategic priorities, success metrics and key roles.

They beautifully navigated a very difficult and fuzzy situation, respectfully cleared out all of the cultural elephants, and shared impactful insights and leadership development theories along the way. They have transformed our business.

Laurie Sewell
President & CEO

I’ve been associated with LSA for the last 8 years and have found them to be extremely professional and client-focused.

I’ve participated in a number of solutions ranging from Performance Management to Leadership Training. I’ve found the quality to be superior.

They are always well prepared and have definitely done a considerable amount of pre-work in order to customize to our unique culture and goals.

Duane Schroeder
Human Resource Manager

You have become our premier change leadership strategic partner. Your expertise in the human side of change is unparalleled and enabled our company to successfully implement our ERP Solution under challenging and ever-changing circumstances.

Thank you for your practical and outcome-oriented approach.

Ted Ramlet
CIO & SVP

LSA’s executive coach based his approach on understanding our business circumstances and strategy, as well as our leadership aspirations. The customized coaching covered all aspects of leadership; it was not simply a touchy-feely endeavor.

In fact, the focus on clear business outcomes and real life circumstances challenged me as a senior leader to develop my thinking and actions related to leading the business.”

Janet Pagano
Managing Director