Leadership Academy for High Tech, High Growth Business

The situation

A healthcare technology firm wanted a program to develop leaders at the Vice President and Director level to support its rapid growth and drive a sustainable commitment to leadership development.

The CEO and other members of the senior team indicated several priorities.  Among them was the need to introduce the company’s new leadership requirements and provide a means for leaders to receive feedback relative to these requirements and begin a personal development process.  The CEO also wanted to establish a common foundation of tools and practices for leaders to use in effectively managing the business and people.

The CEO and CHRO asked us to build and deliver a program supporting these priorities, reflect the company’s entrepreneurial spirit and incorporate topics supporting expectations for organizational growth.

What we did

Working closely with the senior team, we developed a six session action learning program for a select group of participants.  The learning design included three key elements.  First, we provided each participant with multi-rater feedback relative to organizational requirements and individual coaching to create and implement a personal development plan.  We introduced peer coaching as a process for supporting the feedback and development process as well as for building skills in giving and receiving feedback.

Second, we developed and facilitated a curriculum which introduced tools and processes which would serve as the company’s leadership toolbox.  These sessions were designed in an action learning format and incorporated leader led discussion.

Third, partnering with the CEO, COO and CHRO, we identified several enterprise level business initiatives to challenge the academy participants, reinforce learning and accomplish real work.  Working in cross functional teams, participants used tools and practices from Leadership Academy sessions, and, outside the classroom, conducted research and formulated recommendations to prepare and present an implementation plan for their assigned project to the senior executive team.

The impact

The Leadership Academy has established a common language and models around a set of tools and practices for the company’s leaders to use in managing the business and people in a dynamic environment, enabled a new mindset for seeking and giving developmental feedback, and realized several ready to implement plans on real business initiatives.  The Leadership Academy has now successfully completed three cohorts.