Pepperdine University Flash Consulting® Project:

Manager Development Assessment

Prepared for Mersen

by Pepperdine University, Master of Science in Organization Development Students:
Grace Amos
Grace Chen
Jeff Hottinger
Danny Howell
Hannah Jones
Sammi Phillips

® Registered Trademark to Miriam Lacey, Ph.D.

Pepperdine University Flash Consulting® Project: Manager Development Assessment
Additional Resources

Overview of Development Maturity Model 3

Best Practices 8
Learning and Development Lessons from Industry-Relevant Organizations 21
Additional Resources for Further Research 21

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Overview of Development Maturity Model
Maturity models present a useful way of thinking of progression through levels of complexity in
an organization. The development maturity model used here was developed to provide a
framework for these recommendations, and is supported by many similar models used in the
industry. When using maturity models it is important to remember that the progression of a
maturity model indicates increasing levels of complexity, and that higher levels in the model are
not inherently better than others. What is most important that you choose the level of maturity
that best matches your business needs.

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Core Task-Focused Training
This level of the model is focused on task-related, ad hoc training, with the goal of standardizing
core capabilities and processes across the organization.

Key Characteristics
• Ad hoc job support is provided
• Content is focused on administrative and technical training
• Designed by and focused on subject matter experts
• Virtual platforms are used to centralize training
Best Practices of Organizations Using Incidental Training
• Provide comprehensive training content on all relevant business process to all
employees
• Use multi-channel delivery systems that include various content formats, i.e..
video, case studies, text, etc.
• Use a format that centralizes content, i.e. online learning portal, corporate
university program

Integrated Training and Development

This level integrates task-related learning with key organizational characteristics, functions and
needs. It is predominantly manager-driven and is highly structured.

Key Characteristics
• Enterprise learning management systems integrate processes
• Content, framework and process are defined and managed centrally
• Task, process and culture-based content is connected intentionally
• There is a clear source of instruction
• Learning and development process are improved regularly
Best Practices of Organizations Using Training and Development Excellence
• Develop clear framework that connects development to core business goals and
organizational culture
• Invest in manager development and training
• Provide comprehensive on boarding process for all employees that includes
organization-level strategy with functionally-specific training
• Begin to target high-performing employees with meaningful development
opportunities

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Dynamic Development Approach
This level takes organizationally integrated development process makes more dynamic, allowing
individual flexibility and customization. It is self-driven and strategic across the organization.

Key Characteristics
• Integrated with organizational talent strategies and performance
management
• Universally understood connections with business strategy and future goals
• Alignment between HR and business functions on the role of development
• Leverages external partnerships to build cutting-edge content
• Customizable and flexible for individual employee needs and interests
Best Practices of Organizations Using Talent Performance and Improvement
• Develop a strong and consistent career mapping process that connects individual
development to growth goals
• Establish communities where employees can learn from one another
• Use mentorship to connect senior or more experience leaders to new managers
• Establish and develop meaningful external partnerships

Culture of Learning
This level transforms development programs and approaches into ways of being, where
development happens in the context of an employee’s job and is inherent in the organizational
culture. It is executive driven and is consistent across the organization.

Key Characteristics
• Focused around learning agility and constant change
• Autonomous and semi-autonomous teams are common
• Personal mastery is encouraged among employees
Best Practices of Organizations Using Operational Capability and Culture
• Leaders and managers are supported to place an emphasis on employee
development and growth
• Developmental exercises and opportunities are deeply embedded in work
processes
• Work processes are used to create and sustain a high-trust environment
• Reflection time is valued as part of the development experience, and is built into
all development interventions and processes

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 Amount per Employee (USD)

1200
1600

0
400
800
Customer & Industrial Manufacturing

$912.00
Energy & Resources

$842.00
Federal Government
$1,091.00

Financial Services
$1,111.00

Life Sciences and Health Care

$1,505.00

Public Sector
$630.00
Total L&D Spending per Employee by Industry

Technology, Media, Communications

$940.00
 L&D Spending in the Consumer and
Industrial Manufacturing Industry
Compliance Training Executive Development Sales
Training

IT Training

10% 11%
5%
Management
Soft Skills Training
9%
20%

Process 5%
Training

11% 7%
Customer Services Leadership
Training 10% 13% Development

Product Training Sales Training

As organizations advance in their developmental maturity they spend less on tactical training
and more on leadership and executive development. Organizations in the Culture of
Learning phase are spending the largest percentage of their development budgets on other
categories of development beyond functionally-specific training.
 Best Practices
Core Task-Focused Training

Manufacturing and Energy

Hilcorp
Oil and Gas, HQ in Texas, USA, no multinational presence, 1,500 employees
Hilcorp 101 Training
Hilcorp launched their “Hilcorp 101” training series in 2009. Each class is taught by a senior leader
and classes are offered throughout the year providing information in Hilcorp’s financial structure, what
different departments do, leadership skills and the basics of oil, gas and geology. Employees are able to
attend these classes to learn more about how Hilcorp operates. The classes are particularly interesting to
the non-technical staff or their long-tenured employees who are interested to learn how their business
and financial structure have evolved through the years.

Devon Energy
Petrochemicals, HQ in Oklahoma, USA, no multinational presence, 4,000 employees
Industry Acumen Certification Program
Devon Energy, knows that it is important for employees to have a basic understanding of the core
functions of the company's business and strategy. The Industry Acumen Certificate Program is designed
for employees who would like to learn the basic processes, functions and decisions made in
Exploration, Land, Drilling, Midstream and Production. Some corporate support teams have made this
program mandatory so that employees have a better understanding of Devon's industry. The certificate
is made up of a “Fundamentals” series of courses, a field trip, and a capstone oil simulation project.
Fundamentals of Exploration & Drilling, Fundamentals of Natural Gas, Fundamentals of Land, and
Fundamentals of Production Operations Field trips are also offered outside of the industry acumen
program so that office employees may learn more about Devon's field operations. These trips also help
facilitate relationships between field and office employees.

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Other Industries
Camden Property Trust
Real Estate Investment, HQ in Texas, USA, no multinational presence, 2,500 employees
Camden University Degree Program
Camden University provides internal certifications aligned with each of onsite positions. Encouraging
employees to enroll in Camden University is a commitment managers make to support employees’
growth and development. Each degree program has core courses that focus on job-specific skills, from
hands-on maintenance to leadership and communication skills. On average, degree programs are
completed in two to three years, but some determined individuals complete the program in less than a
year. As an acknowledgement of the advanced skills the university graduates bring to the table, each
receives a 3.5% pay increase upon graduation. New graduates are also listed Camden’s employee
magazine, and receive a diploma at a company-wide event at the end of the year.

Accenture
Professional Services, HQ in New York, NY, global company, 400,000 employees
Connected Online Learning
Accenture, a consulting firm, is leveraging truly cutting-edge technologies to connect more of their
people to a broader network of world-class subject matter experts within and outside of the company.
Equipped with sophisticated video, audio, chat and instant desktop sharing, Accenture Connected
Learning classrooms can bring together employees and faculty in multiple locations—from Bangalore
to New York—with rich, real interaction and collaboration. Multiple high-definition video cameras
enable different views of the instructor and learners in different classrooms; in all newer classrooms,
voice recognition technology automatically switches the room level video to whoever is speaking and
zooms in on them. Any learner can display their content on the main screens in the room, across tables
within the room, or across all locations. The availability of Accenture Connected Learning classrooms
is especially important for employees in smaller offices that often lack critical mass to run training
sessions. Reducing the need to travel to a larger office or training center also makes it easier for both
internal faculty and students to integrate learning into their work schedules, while shrinking Accenture’s
carbon footprint. Through a substantial financial investment, Accenture will have 50 classrooms up and
running by 2016. As of 2015, they had already reached more than 4,000 people and delivered 60,000
training hours.

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 Integrated Training and Development

Manufacturing and Energy

Stryker
Medical Device Manufacturing, HQ in Michigan, no multinational presence, 30,000 employees
Global Management Series for Middle Managers
Stryker, a global medical device development and manufacturing company, places a strong value on
consistent development of their employees around the world. To ensure this, they began the Stryker
Global Management Series (SGMS) is a global management development program that consists of four
integrated modules targeted to meet the development needs of their middle managers. Senior leaders
actively participate in SGMS, including sitting on panels to offer real-life examples of challenges and
successes they have faced so that other managers might learn from them. We design and facilitate
SGMS internally, which enables us to adapt and tailor content to topics the audience finds most critical.
Facilitators leverage technology throughout the program, including gamification, to reinforce learning
topics. So far we have rolled out SGMS to over 700 managers.

Arthrex
Medical Device Manufacturing, HQ in Naples, FL, multinational presence, 4,000 employees
Leadership Development Program
Arthrex Leadership and Development Program provides a general education series for employees and
managers alike that covers topics such as communication, time management, goal setting, listening
skills and more. One of the most special opportunities that’s offered to all employees company-wide is
the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Signature Program, a two-day session facilitated by
FranklinCovey veterans, which incorporates videos, case studies and exercises that can applied to
employees’ immediate and long-term professional and personal needs. Employees learn to improve
performance and results by first building a foundation of personal effectiveness, then by working
successfully with and through others. For employees with scheduling challenges, Arthrex also offers
two-hour “Executive Briefing” sessions to provide a foundation overview of the 7 Habits principles and
practices – the goal is that everyone participates in this worthwhile program and shares a common
language throughout the organization.

TDIndustries
Construction Materials Manufacturing, HQ in Dallas, TX, no multinational presence, 2,500
employees
Manager Assimilation Tool
Our manager assimilation tool helps kick-start strong working relationships between new managers and
their teams. First, the team members compile a list of "burning questions" that they want to know about
the new manager. These questions range from "what are your key areas of focus" to "what are you

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 excited about in your new role" to "boxers or briefs." (We really have seen a team ask this question, and
the team's intent was to find out whether the new manager was more relaxed or uptight.) The new
manager reviews his team's questions, then with the help of a facilitator, answers the questions in a
group setting. The discussion helps new leaders get to know their teams, share issues, address concerns,
clarify gray areas and develop action plans to address challenges. In another manager assimilation tool,
the new manager provides questions to the team members, then reviews their answers with the help of
an objective third person, such as an HR business partner. This structured tool creates a safe setting for
employees to give feedback to new managers who may be new hires, supervisors promoted to their first
leadership assignments, or experienced managers assuming a new role on a different team. Employees
appreciate these candid, early discussions with new managers. Feedback has been universally strong.

Other Industries
Allianz Life
Insurance/Financial Services, HQ in Munich, Germany, global company, 142,600 employees
My Career Online Library
My Career is an online library of development resources offered to all employees at Allianz. It’s
designed to help employees improve performance in their current position, develop talents for the next
position, and set benchmarks to land their perfect job within Allianz Life. My Career covers all of these
areas:

Career planning: Using an interactive career tool, employees can map out their career paths. To
develop their long-term career at Allianz Life, employees can access job descriptions for every position,
allowing them to see the projected career path, required competencies, and skills for each position.
Development opportunities: Using our Online Learning Center, employees can review and sign up for
training classes and seminars, including a wide variety of online and instructor-led courses. The courses
range from business acumen and product knowledge to career development. One popular career
development course is “Career Navigation: How to Prepare, Advocate, and Negotiate,” in which
participants learn the fundamentals of self-advocacy and the art of negotiating without overstepping
political boundaries.
Rotational Assignments: Employees can also access other development opportunities such as rotational
assignments, step-ins (a two- to three-hour meeting to learn about another job, area, and/or skill within
the company), international assignments, mentoring partnerships, networking guides, Toastmasters
Club, self-assessment tools, and tuition and designation assistance.
Job opportunities: My Career serves up a weekly snapshot of open positions as well as résumé
templates and job aids for our online application system. We also encourage employees to develop in
their own roles. As an example, a senior communications specialist has had the opportunity to develop
skills in video strategy to support video development for the organization at large.

Allianz Life encourages employees to focus at least 70% of their development via experience, 20% via
exposure, and 10% on classroom education. In the past year, they added new functionality to the Online
Learning Center – Connect, a social learning tool that’s meant to accompany other courses as a to

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 enhance the learner’s experience after they’ve completed a program or course. Through Connect,
learners can interact with others (similar to Facebook), post comments, set up polls, upload content, and
more. Performance reviews and goal-setting:
Our performance management system helps employees actively track their progress in meeting/
exceeding their performance goals in their current role. It provides tools to help employees set goals
and write an effective self-assessment. They also give managers additional tools to strengthen their
effectiveness in writing and delivering performance reviews, as well as delivering clear and focused
feedback.

Whole Foods Market

Retail, HQ in Austin,TX, multinational presence, 91,000 employees
Academy of Conscious Leadership
Whole Food Market, a natural foods store, has an Academy of Conscious Leadership. The intent behind
the Academy is to create “cultural warriors” by ensuring that leaders understand and exemplify the
Whole Foods Market philosophy around conscious leadership, thereby perpetuating and deepening the
culture that defines their company even while they experience unprecedented growth. In its short
lifespan, the Academy has proven itself to be an important investment in both the leadership and their
philosophy. As stated in its mission statement, the Academy “prepares leaders to lead from a place of
service by guiding them through experiences that identify their higher purpose and create cultures of
meaning.” To do this, faculty comprised of Whole Foods Market Team Members, thought leaders and
fellow travelers expose participants to ideas that challenge their perspectives, allowing them to consider
a new reality. Led by a facilitator, the four-day Academy features sessions, talks, storytelling and
presentations by an ever-evolving faculty made up of company leadership and other inspiring
professionals and individuals from inside and outside the company, as well as thought-provoking
videos. Other activities include experimenting with movement, role-playing, improvisation, centering
exercises, self-reflection and small-group breakout discussions. One of the major concepts explored is
developing the different "intelligences" – i.e., those beyond IQ, for example "EQ" or emotional
intelligence, systems intelligence and spiritual intelligence – as a way to become a better, more
conscious leader.

Goldman Sachs
Financial Services, HQ in New York, USA, global organization, 34,400 employees
Manager Effectiveness Evaluation
The firm launched the Manager Effectiveness evaluation globally in 2014, where managing directors
and vice presidents with at least three direct reports received upward feedback from their reports.
Employees used a nine-point scale to evaluate their managers on criteria including ability to
communicate a strategic vision and drive execution, being accessible and demonstrating a commitment
to developing a diverse team, among others. 94 percent of all employees had the opportunity to provide
manager effectiveness feedback, which was provided to over two-thirds of all managers (over 4,500
employees). Of the remaining managers that did not receive an Manager Effectiveness review, 77
percent still received feedback from reports via the 360° Performance Review. The information
collected on manager effectiveness was leveraged as a performance metric for informal feedback

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 discussions, talent assessment, nomination programs and compensation discussions, with the overall
objective of improving the quality of our managers and helping them have a greater impact on
motivating, retaining and increasing the productivity of their teams, and by extension, enhancing the
firm’s culture and commercial success. The feedback received through these assessments also helped to
identify new ways to strengthen the firm’s leadership pipeline via online resources and in-person
training.

Dynamic Development Approach

Manufacturing and Energy

NuStar Energy
Petrochemical Company, HQ in Texas, 1,300 employees in US, 400 globally
NuStar University for Supervisors and Upper Management
NuStar University, a unique leadership development program for front-line supervisors and upper
management alike, has been a particularly popular program. Over the course of four years, participants
commit to spend three days annually focused on strengthening their leadership skills. This program is
designed to assist in the mastery of leadership fundamentals that promote the early success of
supervisors as well as their direct reports. As an example, topics from the freshman-year curriculum
include: Building Personal Credibility Activating Workgroup Commitment Engaging Management
Support Providing Constructive Feedback Managing Conflict Developing Others Organizing and
Prioritizing Work Giving Recognition In addition to presentations by the training leader and a member
of senior management, this interactive program includes work sessions and fun activities that allow
participants to break into groups, share their ideas and collaborate.

NuStar’s Training Department has also created a course to help all employees understand their feelings
when changes occur and deal with those situations in a more positive and productive manner. The
curriculum covers the change process, recent events when changes occurred and the different stages of
emotion that come with change. Most importantly, it includes an exercise in which participants develop
the action steps necessary to move everyone toward acceptance and integration of the change. This
course is made available outside of the University program because it was a need recognized across the
business.

General Mills
Manufacturing, HQ in Minneapolis, MN, multinational presence, 39,000 employees
Great Manager Individual Development Plans
General Mills food company created and formalized a culture of great managers across the company. In

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 2011, a Great Manager “push” was introduced as part of the annual IDP process. The company also
rolled out new tools available on a new Great Manager IDP website to support managers in performing
at their best. The website features quotes by employees talking about the impact great managers had on
their career as well as quotes by those who report directly to the CEO talking about why the Great
Manager program is an important focus for the company. There is also a separate Quarterly
Conversations tool specifically developed to help team leaders be great managers with their production
employees. Complementing the Great Manager effort, the General Mills Institute incorporated its
teaching points in its Managing People program for first-time managers. Website tools include a self-
assessment consisting of 20 Great Manager behaviors with questions to help managers identify which
behavior they want to improve as part of their IDP focus. The goal is to help managers explore
behaviors that would help them improve in their managerial role. They are encouraged to discuss their
findings directly with employees. The Great Manager IDP website also provides managers with tools
to improve their identified behavior, articles and videos to spur reflection, and an online module that
explores the topic more fully. The manager can incorporate these learning resources into IDP action
steps. There are also templates on the website to use as “thought starters” for creating an action step that
incorporates their learning resources into their IDP.

Mars Inc
Manufacturing, HQ in McLean, VA, multinational presence, 80,000 employees
Mars University, Mars University Leadership Challenge and Individual Development Plans
Mars University is a virtual learning curriculum for Associates that pools together all of the available
training and support resources to help them on their development journey toward improving their
Functional and Leadership capabilities. Mars University also provides access to Global Induction
Programs (i.e. Essence of Mars) where new team members can learn the foundations of the company,
including the values and core principles. Mars University consists of: 10 Functional Colleges that aim
to design and deliver trainings that address specific needs linked to the function One Leadership
College, which is responsible for designing and delivering programs for the development of our
managers and leaders. All Associates have access to Mars University training and courses and can
enroll in any courses on any topic they are interested in, regardless of their current function. Mars
University also provides a wide range of training formats such as E-Learning modules, competencies
booklets, reading resources and classroom learning. Additionally, Mars University Colleges organize
“Competency Weeks,” which are hands-on, in person learning opportunities. Competency Weeks bring
together Associates from the same functions and same regions to be trained on new programs, tools and
resources linked to the business strategy and helps build a community around learning.

In addition to providing relevant training and development resources to employees, Mars University
promised the business that it would ensure that every associate at Mars has a world-class line manager.
Beginning in 2011 Mars University introduced Leadership@Mars, a series of iconic programs for all
managers from frontline to senior leader. The three-part learning opportunity helps managers develop
the skills they need at different times in their leadership journey. The program simplifies and
standardizes the leadership curriculum, which allows Mars to ensure that all line managers are
introduced to the same, critical content that will help them build a corporate culture where line
managers are fully committed to making "development of their people" their primary responsibility.

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The programs are designed to equip line managers with the insight, training and support needed to
successfully manage, engage and develop their teams. The duration of each program is six months
(three months of pre-work with coaching and E-learning, one week of classroom and three months of
follow-up and practice with coaching and feedback loops). In 2015, Mars had 389 Line Managers
attend Leadership@Mars 1 and 139 in the first six months of 2016, which ultimately impacts thousands
of Associates’ lives and careers by having better line managers.

For Senior Leaders or those who are successors to Senior Leaders, Mars University offers several
training programs throughout different parts of the senior leadership journeys:
Senior Leadership @ Mars - Provides Associates an introduction to key expectations, critical messages,
and vital perspectives, as well as trainings on relationships that enable success in senior roles and
ensures the continuity of the organizational values and culture
Mars Leadership at the Peak (Center for Creative Leadership) - Provides Associates an opportunity to
discover their leadership strengths and weaknesses, thereby understanding and developing their unique
leadership styles. Fosters healthy and productive workplace relationships that deliver business
objectives.
General Managers School I & II - Provides General Managers a platform for understanding GM
expectations, key messaging from the Mars Leadership Team and developing strategies for enabling
breakthrough thinking in their businesses. A key component is peer coaching among GMs, which helps
ease the transition for new GMs into their roles.
Global Business Consortium - Helps Associates develop Perspective by getting exposure to Consortium
companies, critically questioning business orthodoxies, and individual assumptions. Associates take on
significant business challenge for Mars.
President’s Leadership Program - Provides Associates a chance to interact with leading external experts,
work through tough challenges and develop relationships with the Mars Leadership Team (who make
up Mars’ highest leadership roles) in order to increase our number of successors to the senior most roles
in the business.
Mars Accelerated Leadership Program - Provides high potential Associates with the exposure and
experiences that will help them progress quickly into senior leadership roles and increase our number of
“ready now” leaders for senior mission critical roles.

For those Associates who are not in management roles, development is still essential at Mars. To meet
this need Mars uses an Individual Development Plan (IDP). Supported with Functional and Leadership
Capabilities frameworks, Mars Associates are able to identify and build their own IDPs. All Associates
create an IDP that is reviewed with their Line Manager quarterly. IDPs allow Associates to identify
areas in which they want to focus their development efforts for the coming year. To ensure Associate
IDPs are robust and impactful, Mars follows a 70/20/10 framework:
70% - Learning by Doing: 70% of development and learning is based on experiment and
practice
20% - Learning from Others: 20% of development and learning comes from benefiting from
the experience/ advice/ support of others
10% - Learning Event: 10% of development comes from structured learning. This can take

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 different forms: classroom learning, readings, webinars, networking events, etc.
To support Associates in creating great development plans, Mars offers training annually on their
Development Toolkit. The toolkit and training explains the four step process to the Mars Development
Process: REFLECT, ASSESS, PLAN, and DO. The four step process is outlined for Associates as
follows:
REFLECT: It is important to take time to reflect on your career aspirations. This will give you
the perspective and understanding to move forward with your development. Take time to reflect
on: Your Career Goals Your Current Role Your Desired Future Role Business Needs Personal
Strengths and Areas for Development
ASSESS: Evaluate your skill set against the Functional and Mars Leadership Capabilities and
supporting competencies for your role. In partnership with your Line Manager, prioritize the
most important development needs to focus on for your development.
PLAN: Create your 70/20/10 development plan to grow and master the required skills and
identified opportunities for development.
DO: Take actionable steps toward achieving your development goals throughout the year.
Continue to use the Functional and Mars Leadership Capability Frameworks in your ongoing
PDP discussions about development at the beginning, middle and end of the year with your
Line Manager.

Other Industries
Cisco
Information Technology, HQ in San Jose, CA, 70,000 employees globally
Stretch Assignment Marketplace and Innovation Academy
Cisco, a leading IT networking company, provides the Stretch Assignment Marketplace (SAM) where
employees can search for opportunities that will push them past their comfort zones in a positive way. A
“stretch assignment” is a project or task that is beyond an employee’s current knowledge or skills level
and thus “stretches” an employee developmentally. The stretch assignment challenges employees by
placing them in uncomfortable situations in order to learn and grow. They can broaden their expertise
by taking on assignments that expose them to new experiences and skills, while still supporting Cisco’s
business goals. SAM not only provides employees with greater mobility, but also allows the
organization to tap into talent across the company.

Cisco believes that better innovation can be developed through specific training and intentional
learning. That’s why they launched their online Innovation Academy in 2014. It helps people
understand, learn and practice innovation in very concrete, practical ways. Just like a ‘real’ campus,
there’s a:
Classroom where they can ‘attend’ lectures Theater, where they can hear from guest speakers
Assessment Centre where they can test themselves
Library where they can read more
Lab where they can experiment
Gym where they can do exercises

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 Celebration Hall where they can be inspired by others
Over 24,000 people visited the Academy in the first 18 months. And almost 500 completed a course in
the first year. Here is what one participant said about the experience: “Each team did an excellent job,
which made it difficult to select a winner. I’ve encouraged each of the teams to continue developing
their concepts, since all have the potential to be of value to Cisco. This program is a reminder to all of
us that innovation isn’t limited to just a select few but is key to our culture as a company, and important
for all of us to focus on and foster it in all that we do." - Doug Webster, VP Marketing, who participated
and sent his teams to the Innovation Academy courses.

Baptist Health South Florida

Healthcare, Miami, FL, no multi-national presence, 16,000 employees
Frontline Leader Program and Baptist Health Leadership Experience
The Frontline Leader program at Baptist Health, a network of five hospitals, is geared toward all
supervisors, combining group and individual learning experiences through 90-minute sessions, called
“Power Hours,” and web-based resources. Each workshop addresses current business trends with at
least 45% of the time devoted to real-time leadership challenges. The program takes place over the
course of nine months, with a session held every three weeks, and includes 10 days of individual work,
involving preparation, assignments and reading. During each Power Hour, a facilitator chooses a
thought-provoking topic and challenges participants to critically examine it. The facilitator’s goal is to
create an atmosphere where thoughts, ideas and questions flow freely. This atmosphere gives new
leaders the opportunity to discuss challenges they’re facing and gain insight from other group members.

Chief Operating Officer of Baptist Health’s Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, recognizes the
importance of the Frontline Leader program. “In healthcare, we often promote individuals who have
demonstrated outstanding clinical expertise with a focus on processes and techniques, rather than other
skills we might equate with leadership. When they move into leadership, our goal is not to simply train
them, but to coach, mentor and develop them. Development must focus on the person, be
transformational, expand influence and free them from inside the box thinking. We are seeking
innovators and critical thinkers. As an organization, we want to continue to grow and, without
leadership development, there will be no growth.”

For higher level leaders the Baptist Health Leadership Experience (BHLE) is launched every year with
a different system-wide cohort. The BHLE addresses participant developmental needs while at the same
time meeting organizational needs. Development occurs as the participants work together on projects to
resolve complex business challenges. Thus, the program is a win for both the leaders and the
organization. Each BHLE cohort is divided into cross-functional and cross-entity project teams. Each
team has a champion and an executive sponsor who utilize the Six-Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure,
Analyze, Improve, Control) process to manage their project. The program focuses on improving leader
proficiency in these areas: (1) business acumen, (2) strategic agility, (3) dealing with ambiguity, (4)
conflict management and (5) comfort around higher management. The structure of the program gives
leaders extensive networking opportunities as well as exposure to senior leaders and other colleagues
who they can partner with in the future. The hospital CEOs participate as BHLE executive sponsors,
with COO Wayne Brackin serving as the overall BHLE Executive Sponsor. This backing from senior-

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 most leaders demonstrates the importance of the strategic projects and lends credibility to the entire
program. Over 91 percent of participants from the initial BHLE cohort have made improvements in
their leadership capabilities, as measured through a survey of their leaders. 40 leaders who completed
BHLE have since been promoted to roles including Director, VP and EVP.

Adobe Systems
Software, HQ in California, USA, global organization, 15,700 employees
Leadership Speaker Series
At Adobe, external partnerships with thought leaders are an essential component of organizational
learning and helps the company to stay on the leading edge of innovation. The Leadership Speaker
Series is designed in a TED Talk format with content aligned to the organizational leadership
capabilities. The sessions are inspirational and also have practical takeaways that can be applied
immediately. Depending on the topic, the audience can vary from all employees to frontline managers
to senior leaders. However, after the event, a recording of the session as well as a short highlight video
and overview document are available to all employees. Here are some examples of topics and
distinguished speakers they have hosted recently:
Future of Leadership: Dr. Homa Bahrami, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business
Unconscious Bias - Breaking Bias at Work: Heidi Grant Halvorson PhD, Assoc.
Director, Columbia Business School
Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less: Greg McKeown, Author, Speaker
EQ: It All Begins With You: Mike Robbins, Author, Speaker, Coach
Scaling Up Excellence: Huggy Rao, Professor, Stanford University
Leading Change Through Risk: Jeff Ma, MIT Blackjack Team, CEO tenXer

Aflac Inc.
Insurance, HQ in Florida USA, Multinational Presence, 9,200 employees
High-Potential Development Program
Aflac’s High-Potential Program is designed to pull employees with specialized skills onto a short-term
team to serve as in-house consultants who make recommendations to executive management. High-
potential employees are identified by managers during their annual reviews as likely to be promoted
beyond their current positions or move laterally into leadership functions across divisions. The program
gives participating employees exposure to a diverse group of managers, functionalities and talented
employees, stretches their capabilities to increase their professional value and fills a role otherwise
served by an outside contractor.

!18
 Culture of Learning

Manufacturing and Energy

Roche Diagnostics
Medical Device Manufacturing, HQ in Basel, Switzerland, global company, 4,500 employees
Development Marketplace
One of the most exciting and impactful initiatives at Roche, a Swiss multinational health-care company,
is the Development Marketplace, a program born from employees’ desire to gain insight and exposure
to different areas of the organization and a chance to stretch their skills. Through project creation, any
team that needs extra help on a specific project may formally request to advertise for temporary “jobs”
to be filled by employees within Roche. Once approved, each posting includes information about the
function, skill set, development opportunity, and time commitment that will be involved. Interested
employees interview with the project team and participants are “hired.” As an expansion of the
program, three to four “Market Day” events are scheduled each year and feature an open house setting
where employees can drop by and learn more about the hosting departments. This is a unique
opportunity to network and interact personally with all levels of the organization, while learning more
about unfamiliar functions and work groups. In 2015, more than 800 employees at the Market Day
events and helped to fill more than 25 projects.

Favi
Automotive Manufacturing, HQ in Hallencourt, France, multinational presence, 400 employees
Mini-Factory Management System
Favi manufactures specific automotive parts for major brands around the world. They are structured as
a collection of mini-factories. A typical mini-factory consists of 20 to 35 operators and its leader. The
mini-factory solely focuses on one client or one specific product. Each mini-factory is painted in his
own color and sometimes even features the logo of its particular client. The team of every mini-factory
elects its own leader, who is always an operator who has been working for several years within the
factory and is regarded as an experienced and recognized leader. The leaders take up all the
responsibilities for managing the mini-factory, keeping everyone in the team in mind. The leaders are
the ones that are in direct contact with the clients and enjoy complete independence in this process. The
autonomous nature of the mini-factories encourages mastery in skills among employees in each factory,
and leaders are focused on creating collaborative, high-performing and responsive teams. The high
levels of interpersonal accountability within the mini factory facilitates more openness among
employees, so individual and team development become one in the same.

!19
Other Industries
Bridgewater Associates
Insurance, HQ in Connecticut, USA, Multinational Presence, 1,700 employees
Digital Baseball Cards
At Bridgewater, each employee has a digital baseball card, that is used as a tool for employees to
identify and work with their own limitations. The baseball cards integrate data on each employee,
including personality assessments, peer feedback, performance data, certifications, etc. This
comprehensive presentation of an individual’s skills, capabilities and tendencies is available to all other
employees in an online library of baseball cards. Everyone, from a new hire to the CEO has a card
available. The cards identify an individual's strengths, which others can easily rely on them for, and
their weaknesses, where they tend to struggle and have lower performance. This tool helps employees
to actively share their progress and areas of development with one another, so that they can grow
together and consistently improve their performance, both as teams and as individuals.

Next Jump Partners

eCommerce, HQ in New York, USA, global company, 200 employees
Weekly Situational Workshops
At Next Jump, weekly meetings occur between one mentor and four employees. During these meetings
the groups discuss a challenge at work, and how they have handled it, or why they are avoiding it. The
coach provides feedback on how the employee handled the situation, and what other options they could
have considered. The coach is trained to pose thought-provoking questions to the employees to help
them think about their situation differently. These sessions are designed to be reflective and help
employees see where they might do things differently in the future. Often, the challenges are rooted in
an employee’s weakness or limitation, so the exercise can be a powerful and supportive development
tool. The focus is not on problem solving, but on elevating one’s judgement in problematic situations.
Coaches are known to ask “What does how you responded to this situation tell you about yourself?” In
most cases, traditional manager 1:1 meetings have been replaced with these situational meetings. From
a developmental perspective these meetings have many benefits. First, they help to build the relational
focus and skills of the organization, where employees learn to express themselves and listen to others
effectively. Second, because the examples come from real problems, employees are able to connect to
them more effectively than they would with basic case studies or examples. And third, the exercise
creates a strong sense of community within the organization and helps to foster a developmental culture
across the business.

!20
Learning and Development Lessons from Industry-Relevant
Organizations

Additional Resources for Further Research

The following articles can be found in the resources folder on the USB Drive we provided.

1. Creating a Learning Technology Roadmap: Maximizing Efficiency While Boosting Effectiveness - Published by
Cognizant
2. How to Design and Scale Digital and Blended Learning Programs to Improve Employment and Entrepreneurship
Outcomes - Published by Accenture
3. 10 Steps to Creating a Corporate University - Published by Training and Development Magazine
4. Prioritizing and Maximizing the Impact of Corporate Universities - Published by ADT
5. System Development of Leadership: Action Research in an Indian Manufacturing Organization - Published online in
the Journal of System Practices and Action Research
6. Identifying Your Future Leaders - Published by Industry Week
7. Developing First Level Leaders - Published by Harvard Business Review
8. A Fully Developed Strategy is the Linchpin to Effective Leadership Development - Published by CrossKnowledge
9. Learning to Innovate: Exploring Learing’s Critical Role in Fostering Innovation - Published by the American Society
for Training and Development

!21
 Name/Title Themes
Janet Pamment, ● The top 100 leaders receive access to our creative programs:
o Creative programs for the highest leaders have a more modular approach with a
HR Director
menu of options.
o Leadership development programs are designed to get leaders and potential
leaders out of the office, away from their daily jobs, and together with other
leaders.
● The next level of leaders (400-500) go through programs which are modified from year to
year, by the cohort of senior leaders who have previously attended the program so that it
grows, changes, and develops over time.
o These are executed as offline group programs:
▪ The program starts with getting to know yourself
▪ Then a few months later, they get together again and work on case
studies/challenges
▪ We use this program to drive the culture that we want in the organization;
we encourage our leaders to role model the behaviours and values that
we want throughout the business.
● Our existing training offerings are okay for now, but will not suffice for the future; we have to
be transformative as an organization to be able to manage change.

● Innovation
● We wanted to become more innovative, but people were saying that we weren’t being
innovative enough. In order to develop a culture of innovation within our organization, we
took several actions:
o We launched the “Year of Innovation” campaign, which started to add “innovation”
into the corporate lexicon.
o We began running competitions where third-party organizations could pitch
innovative ideas to us, and we would involve many people from our organization
in the review.
o We encouraged people to go back to their teams and share the information they
have learned from the innovation activities.

● We are tapping into our trade unions for support in helping our employees to manage
change within the organization. We are building on the trusting relationships with our people
and with our unions by getting them involved in what we’re trying to do.
● There is a small in-house team which partners with Columbia University for leadership
development training.
● We use third-party vendors for our training in a limited capacity; when we do, we remain the
responsible designer of the projects, and we are responsible for the success of it, but much
of the work is executed by external parties. We develop lifelong relationships with some of
these vendors.

● Manager and Leadership Development

● We use a fairly universal way to identify top talent; we select, then assess to confirm, then
categorize them and check-in with them from time to time as they grow and develop within
the organization.
● If the manager is young, they won’t yet be added to succession plans because it may be
years before the are eligible for some of the roles.

!23
Chris Worley, ●In order to be truly innovative, you have to be much more open to outside influences.
o Ask yourself/organization: How can I get my top 1000 employees exposed to
Professor
different ways of thinking about innovation?
o There needs to be an overarching model or process; something like a stage-gate
process or something similar.
●With corporate universities, you have to worry about being too programmatic; studying the
classes, evaluating the professors, and so on.
●A innovation board, made up of front line managers, to filter ideas through is a good process
to put in place
o These people can be involved in coming up with new ideas for new markets, new
products, and new ideas.
o Since these people are on the ground they are often internally focused; get them
involved in looking above and outside the organization to expand ideas.
●For leadership development; potential employees should be attending conferences, meeting
with others like them that they admire in different industries, throughout the world.
o They should come together for a summit from time-to-time, with 60-75 people like
them to connect to the external environment outside their organization.
●The capability of the corporate university is to have relationships and develop opportunities
to meet with others in the field that are at the same role levels.
●It’s important to remember that 70% of learning is in the field learning in a controlled chaos
type of model.

●Corporate/Academic Partnerships
●Innovation is messy and a corporate university is in charge of the chaotic mess that is
controlled and buffered in the learning environment.
●Corporate universities can and should be connected with local and global universities, such
as MIT, Columbia, etc. to bring the outside skills and techniques into the organization.

●Agility
●For an organization, where core functions such as human resources, procurement, supply
chain, etc. are centralized, some of these functions can be moved down into the field to allow
cross-functional unleashing of innovation at the local level.
o Innovation is less about control and more about creativity, messiness, and
sloppiness. It’s about controlled sloppiness.
●Consider a different approach: Two organizations within one and it’s about doing both at the
same time;
o Core organization - generates cash
o Corporate university organization
▪ This organization has a different culture and says, How do we innovate?
Can we use our existing knowledge and knowhow to leverage ourselves
into some other products or industries?
o Both organizations require simultaneous legitimacy.
o It’s important to consider that the core organization will want to crush the newer
university organization and this needs to be avoided.
o The new business needs to be able to morph into the older business so there
needs to be shared resources among them, such as R&D. It should be something
that is able to move between the new organization and the old organization.
▪ The agility factor is the idea of moving an idea into the organization
design phase.
●In France, human resources tends to be somewhat weak in that the code is thick and nearly
impossible to change.
o To be really innovative, this is where you should go. A good model to base some
research on would be Dannon yogurt. They are best in agility mindset and are
more flexible in how they deal with people.

!24
Jeff Smith, Why did BP pursue a Corporate University model?
● They had a lot of fragmentation and duplication and when they looked at current state
BP University / in 2014, they found ‘a lot of cost and not a lot of value. They had a huge number of
Strategy / PMO & 3rd parties not being utilized
Insights / PM

How did BP pursue building a Corporate University?

● Surveyed current landscape
● Benchmarked against other organizations (GE) and ATD.org
● Compared current state and where they wanted to go
● Got on the executive’s agenda to help them understand where BP was and where
they could be

How did BP obtain executive buy-in for the Corporate University?

● Started by helping them understand what others were doing and our current state
● Compared our current state to benchmarks
● It was about identifying where they were and what was possible

Once executive buy-in was obtained, what next?

● A unified governance board was put together to meet quarterly
● A steering committee was put together to meet once per month

What does the Corporate University look like now?

● Using a house metaphor
○ Roof - Governance Board
○ Body - 6 Academies focused on 3 business segments and 3 cross-
departmental functions:
■ Leadership
■ Cross-Departmental Skills
■ Safety & Risk
○ Foundations - operations, global learning management system (GLMS), best
practices (e.g. learning on-demand model), standard intranet, learning &
talent management
● Blended learning. 75% virtual training. “We’re thinking much more carefully about the
way people are learning and these are delivered at different cost points, as well.”

What is included in the Leadership Development Academy?

● Differentiate development between:
○ Leaders in transition
○ Leaders in-role
● Graduates, First-Level Leaders, Senior Level Leaders, Group Leaders
● Flagship offerings
○ Coaching
○ Change Management
○ Culture
○ Diversity & Inclusion
○ Personal Bias
○ Personal Effectiveness
● Revisiting policy on External
How is the Corporate University financed? How has the investment paid off?
● Shared cost model
● Cut the cost of learning almost in half over 3 years, while extending offerings


How does BP balance the tension between standardization and innovation?

● Standardize 80% and Customize 20% of Leadership Development Content
● Leverage technology
● Build innovation into the model
● Forum with new offerings
● Bring in internal/external experts


!25
Sabrina Mhy, ● Leadership development at Goodyear is young; having only been established about 12
months ago.
HR Director, Talent ○ The entire company took on this new human resources direction which
and Organisation implemented the new leadership development program.
Capability, Asia- ■ It began with frontline managers and followed with middle managers.
Pacific
○ The company is implementing a culture of leadership.
● Corporate university has been on the market for years but building this was a huge
project; consider it like a very large ship - you don’t want to sink the ship, and it is very
difficult to move it forward.
○ The idea was always to be completely virtual with the university; we had
different academies divided by functional areas; operations, supply chain,
leadership, and more.
○ The challenges for this were; cost, to have the number of domain experts
needed to support the corporate university was expensive.
■ Even after two years, we are still seeing challenges with attracting
people. It’s difficult to get people intrigued and engaged.
■ Subject matter experts will need to be involved throughout the
development of any trainings of a technical nature.
● With the leadership side of the academy, we involved different types of programs which
can provide learning in various areas.
○ Working internationally, it’s helpful to build this common platform, language,
and culture across the organization.
○ Challenges with this is that there is tension between global and local learning.
■ Push back for too much standardization and not enough
customization.
■ Difficulties working with language barriers.
● We arranged to train the frontline managers by first training the middle level managers
with the front line manager training and allowed these middle managers to train the
frontline managers at their local sites.
○ This saved time and money in training expenses.
■ This combined the must-learn e-module as pre-requisites for
attending the classroom training
● We also collaborated with business schools to develop leadership programs
● It’s important to consider that ways to deliver the program will vary by culture
● The definition of “innovation” will vary in big ways, so this is an important consideration.

!26
 Mersen Benchmark Contacts
Company Position Subjects Contact Details
EDF Energy UK Chief People Officer Learning Strategy
Corporate University
Innovation +44 7711731758
Organisation Design
Janet.hogben@edfenergy.com

NEOMA Business Professor of Strategy Capability Strategy,

School and Strategy Director, Corporate University, +33 83 90 39 55
CLEO Innovation
christopher.worley@neoma-bs.fr

BP Head of BP University - Corporate University

Strategy, PMO & Leadership Development +44 (0)7887832440
Insights
geoff.smith2@uk.bp.com

Goodyear Tire and HR Director, Talent and Corporate University

Rubber Organisation Capability Leadership Development +86 18616394488

sabrinamhy@hotmail.com