Chief Learning Officer - August 2008 - (Page 24)

Hitting Speed Bumps Of course, there are challenges to accelerated development, as there are in any intensive programs. While there is common push-back from organizations, each concern can be met with effective mitigation strategies. • Speed Bump 1: It’s resource-intensive. • Mitigation Strategy 1: Manage expectations and focus on long-term gain. Both employees and managers must realize this may be a period of intense demands. As accelerated leadership development activities permeate the ranks and yield results, they can evolve into less resource-intensive development programs. formal application and selection process can reduce the likelihood of negative reactions. Also, we know from the rich body of adult-learning literature on life-stage development — as well as learning and leading readiness — that many potential leaders aren’t always ready to take the reins at the ﬁrst opportunity. Therefore, candidate selection should offer multiple opportunities for high-potential individuals to join the leadership pool so that readiness is well matched with opportunity. • Speed Bump 4: The investment is lost if the employee leaves. • Mitigation Strategy 4: View leadership development as a retention strategy. Employees who recognize organizational investment in their development are more likely to remain loyal to the organization. While attrition can’t be eliminated, accelerated development opportunities will improve attraction, reciprocal loyalty and retention of highpotential talent. Accelerating Toward the Future As new advances in learning technology emerge, organizations will be further able to increase employees’ speed to proﬁciency. As organizations create centralized administration tools, they can manage face-to-face, Web-based and experiential training using a single dashboard, allowing them to view and track hundreds of learners at once. Blended learning programs with such centralized administration enable organizations to stay in touch with learners, coaches and trainers. Simultaneously, they can host discussion forums and track completion of e-learning modules, on-the-job-training assignments and coaching/mentoring sessions, facilitating organizations’ understanding of what went right and how to repeat it. By making an investment in and commitment to accelerating leadership development, taking actions to mitigate challenges and setting up the technology to track and repeat successes, organizations reduce the risk and challenges in accelerated leadership development. Such initiative will effectively address a critical need: developing the next generation of organizational leaders. CLO Walt McFarland, a vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton, leads the firm’s learning strategy business. Brian Vander May is an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he specializes in leadership development, succession planning and performance management. Dr. Lori Zukin, a senior associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, provides human capital consulting in the areas of leadership development, succession planning, competency development and change management. They can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. Accelerated leadership development may be considered “just in time” succession planning because the need for it often results from lack of long-term and systematic succession planning. • Speed Bump 2: Leadership development takes employees away from mission-related tasks. • Mitigation Strategy 2: Ensure senior leadership engagement. Leadership development is, or should be, a mission for organizational leaders, and they need to champion its efforts. Since this is not always the case, designing and internally marketing leadership development programs to support organizational priorities will reduce the perception that they detract from the mission. • Speed Bump 3: Choosing some employees for leadership development may look like favoritism. • Mitigation Strategy 3: Establish an application process and clear criteria for acceptance. The tension around selecting high-performance employees includes ﬁnding ways to identify the best without alienating the rest. To prevent backlash and perceptions of unfairness, employee selection must be transparent with clear criteria. Making these criteria well-known and having a 24 Chief Learning Ofﬁcer • August 2008 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com

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Chief Learning Officer - August 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Connections Business Impact Trends Best Practices Effectiveness High-Octane Leadership Development Leadership and Personality CLO Profile Discussion Groups: Harvesting Value from Real-World Experiences Kimpton 2.0: Discussion on the Web Learning Olympics: Development Through Competition Bypassing the Obstacles to Change Listen Up: A How-To-Guide for Podcasting University of Toyota: A Success Story in Podcast Implementation What Stinks About Webinars? Webinars for Learning Professionals Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - August 2008

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