Situation
This regional Telecom Company developed a new market strategy and began the transition from a utility to a high-tech, communication service organization. In preparation for this strategic shift, IT leaders wanted to prepare their mid-level managers to take on a leading role in executing a new strategy that would double the size of the company and put it on a national scale. The goal for this Action Learning Leadership Development for Telecom initiative was to provide mid-level IT managers with executive management development skills, greater business perspective, and core leadership capabilities needed to take on critical new responsibilities, change initiatives, and new technologies.
Specific goals for emerging leaders included:
- Managing technology expansion programs with high levels of efficiency, effectiveness, and quality in a cost effective manner.
- Identifying non-IT opportunities that impact the company’s bottom line and increase managers’ enterprise-wide understanding.
- Balancing strategy execution with tactical challenges.
- Communicating IT’s value proposition at all levels and roles within the organization.
Complications
The Action Learning Leadership Development for Telecom has a few common challenges:
- Change
Managers had little reason to change the way they worked for a very long time; now they needed to innovate and drive value.
- Learning Expectations
Participants were only used to traditional training with little accountability to learn. Now they would be on the hook to not only apply their learning, but also to produce tangible business impact.
- Relevance
Provide an action learning leadership development experience that was relevant to participants’ current and future roles within the company.
- Executive Sponsorship
Get significant levels of senior executives’ participation to link action learning experiences to current and future IT initiatives.
- Risk-Taking
The company’s hierarchical organization structure discouraged mid-level managers from taking risks and innovating. This made it difficult to balance IT innovation with the rest of the company’s desire for IT to remain consistent and conservative.
Approach
The Action Learning Leadership Development for Telecom program combined traditional executive and leadership development approaches with an action learning format. Once a month for 4-hours, we provided targeted training on topics such as communication skills, problem solving, conflict management, motivating employees, risk management, and others. For the remainder of that day, and in between sessions, participants worked in cross-functional teams, with a goal of providing a significant contribution to the company’s bottom line or competitive position.
Teams progressed through the phases of a major project while they received just-in-time training, coaching, mentoring, and the tools necessary to succeed. Four teams of 4 participants went through the following steps over a twelve-month timeframe:
- Identify opportunities to either drive new revenue or decrease operational costs.
- Select one high potential opportunity and create a business case to present to senior executives for implementation approval.
- Lead the project implementation, engaging and influencing targeted areas within the company.
- Measure results from the project.
During the course of the project, each team received the following just-in-time support:
- An executive mentor who provided knowledge and input on project focus, company politics, and how to keep on track.
- A shared Executive Sponsor, the Chief Technology Officer, who met with teams between sessions to provide strategic guidance.
- A senior operations manager who helped provide subject matter expertise to the program, the facilitators, and the teams.
Results
In twelve to twenty four months:
- $150,000 in bottom line impact was realized in Year 1
- $500,000 in bottom line impact was realized in Year 2
- 25% of participants were promoted immediately following the program as a result of their performance and executive visibility.
- 12.5% of participants made lateral moves as a result of interest, performance, and new relationships with non-IT executives.
- The development of new critical processes and identification of marketing opportunities.
Related Information
