True cost of employee miscommunication? Billions ALSO
noel Tichy says let leaders do the teaching Treat presidential hopefuls like any new hire PubLished by astd
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Issue 3, 2008
GM’s chairman leads in classroom, too
World Class Leadership Strategies to deliver highpotential performers in sync with business goals will define tomorrow’s great organizations
Contents: Issue 3 2008
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ISSUE 3 2008
Leaders Digest 08 Ask the Candidates: A Reality Check 10 Malcolm gladwell on Patience and Leaders 11 vision of Work-Life Balance ____________________________________
Data point
12 C-Suite Still Soft on Diversity Succession planning and diversity seem to suffer as companies become more global, according to a recent survey ____________________________________
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24 Leadership is a Global Mission at General Motors vicky Jones, human resources director and dean at gM’s College of Leadership, describes the company’s global leadership vision and the programs that support it.
The Suite Life
29 all packed up and know Where to Go A little local knowledge, not to mention specific driving instructions can arm the road warrior with confidence when she finds herself in new surroundings. Enter the all-powerful gPS device. By Aparna Nancherla
p.34 inside Story
34 hong kong Restaurant Chain Goes unconventional Chef training at the ABC restaurant chain works to build consistency through a coaching approach and useful feedback, while turning successful chefs into great teachers. By Paula Ketter ____________________________________
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Mustn’t Miss
32 fulfillment, or Just full of it Finally, a book to justify those day dreams of quitting the corporate rat race and following your bliss to opening your own sandwich shop or parking lot striping business. But be careful what you wish for. By Rex Davenport
Back Talk
36 The Leader as Teacher Journey One thing I know is that the worst people to build leaders are professors, consultants, and training staff. Our job is to coach and teach the leaders of an organization to be teachers and to run their own workshops. By Noel Tichy
Issue 3, 2008
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First Person} Leadership is a Global Mission at General Motors Photographed by Glenn Triest
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Issue 3, 2008
No matter what part of the world they call home, nonexecutive leaders at GM follow the same path to become highly skilled, highly capable people who the company relies on to guarantee its future. Vicky Jones, human resources director and dean at the College of Leadership at General Motors University, sets the strategic direction for GM’s Global Leadership Program. She describes how it came about and how it works… Four years ago, GM’s chairman and CEO
Rick Wagoner posed a question to me: Do we have a common approach to develop leaders below the executive level inside GM? It was a rhetorical question because he knew the answer. And, the answer was: No, we did not. Each region had its own approach, and in some cases each country had its own ideas on how leaders should be developed within their respective part of the world. What we had for high-potential, future executives and current executives was highly acclaimed and well-developed. But we did not have a common, global program for supervisors and managers. Rick was really interested in having people understand the expectations of being a GM leader, no matter where they were located. He wanted them to have an awareness of GM strategies and the critical leadership competencies. Truly, Rick was the catalyst for the GM Global Leadership Program. Initially, we created a global council to work collaboratively to understand the needs around the world. We vetted those find-
ings with our senior leadership team to assure we were aligned with the company’s goals and business objectives. Then, the global council became involved with the design as well as the development of the Global Leadership Program. Our needs assessment uncovered at least 300 topics related to leadership development. To focus on all 300 topics would have been impossible mission. After the initial assessment, we looked at the recurring themes, which allowed us to categorize the topics into six areas. Those six areas turned into 16 modules that created the basis for the design of the program. Our global leadership council has stakeholders around the world who collaborate not only on the design and development of the program, but also serve as trainers. When we deliver the program on a regional basis, the region commits resources for a train-the-trainer process, which leads to certification. General Motors University serves as the lead facilitator, but every time we deliver the Global Leadership Program, we are training people in the region to take on the teaching responsibilities. Issue 3, 2008
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Why 16 modules? We chose our 16-module format to support our global manufacturing organization. We needed a program that allowed for great flexibility in format and time commitments. Clearly, it is not feasible to pull production supervisors off the line for four days but we are able to break up the modules and teach them individually over the course of a few weeks. However, for virtually every function at gM, we deliver the program in a four-day format. We have a blended approach to leadership development from a learning perspective. We have an extensive e-learning portfolio that precedes the classroom experience. The e-learning portfolio is available in nine languages. Leaders can engage with 40-plus hours of e-learning prior to the classroom experience. We use e-learning to build a base of knowledge. I am convinced that while you can build knowledge through e-learning, you cannot build skills. The learner needs an experience that allows for skills practice. We recognize that challenging job assignments represent the greatest opportunity to sharpen leadership skills and capabilities. When teaching in the classroom, we typically run through the modules in a specific order. The Expectations of a Leader module is taught first because it sets the stage for the rest of the program, and we engage a senior executive in that particular region to deliver this key module. Although the Problem Solving and Decision Making modules can be taken separately, they are highly integrated and dependent on each other. The learning principles you discover in the Problem Solving module reappear in the Decision Making module. This is also the case with other modules where an integration of learning principles reoccur—such as influence, motivation, empowerment, and understanding personalities.
face to face and local culture Our company does business around the globe so it is important to understand cultural differences. In fact, we include a module on those cultural differences and general Motors university provides an online resource that we use to better understand value systems, customs, and practices within the specific countries where we teach, work, and live. There is a big difference between Eastern and Western cultures in terms of classroom delivery. Directness is not always effective in Asia, so in that part of the world we invite a participant into the process; unlike in North America where we can directly call on a participant. 26
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Experience tells me that nothing replaces a face-to-face encounter, and that is a lesson I learned in the development of this program. For example, our global leadership council had significant input and influence on how this program was shaped. Even though we were meeting virtually on a bi-monthly basis and I was thinking that we were in agreement and aligned in our expectations, I didn’t discover that there were concerns until we had a face-to-face meeting. uncovering and addressing issues in person, as opposed to a conference call, allowed us to accelerate the process and identify issues before work had been assigned and completed. It would have been a much more expensive and much less effective leadership program if the global stakeholders had not met face-to-face.
You cannot duplicate people I don’t know of any other company that has attempted to do what gM is doing to drive a common approach to leadership development for people below the executive level. And the reason: it is not easy. Reaching global agreement takes time. The fact that the company is delivering leadership training to people who are early in their careers shows that gM is committed to their development, which plays a big role in retention. Because we are in a highly competitive market, in regard to talent, this program also serves as a major retention tool. Leadership programs, universally, focus on three areas: Can the person be strategic? Can the person get results? Can the person develop talent? The strategic advantage a company gains is through the development of its people. You can duplicate strategies and processes, but the one asset you cannot duplicate is people. I believe very strongly that when you develop a highly committed, highly capable workforce, you gain a competitive advantage, no matter what your market. Our global Leadership Program builds not only the future leaders of gM, it also builds sustainability. It is about building a capable workforce that can execute the strategy to keep us successfully moving forward. If we are not developing these leaders to assume greater responsibility, then we will not have the pipeline necessary to sustain the business. Companies that wait or delay development of their leaders will find they don’t have the skilled workforce available to assure their futures. Even when business is bad, companies cannot afford to delay the development of talent. It is that talent that will sustain the organization over time. ❚❚
“it is about building a capable workforce that can execute the strategy to keep us successfully moving forward. if we are not developing these leaders to assume greater responsibility, then we will not have the pipeline necessary to sustain the business.”