Table of Contents
Praise for Experience-Driven Leader Development
About This Book
Why Is This Topic Important?
What Can You Achieve with This Book?
How Is This Book Organized?
Title page
Copyright page
List of Exhibits, Figures, and Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Research Catalyst
Sharing the Practice
Section 1: Developmental Experiences: More Intentional for More People
Section Introduction
Equipping Employees to Pursue Developmental Experiences
1: Intensity and Stretch: The Drivers of On-the-Job Development
The FrameBreaking Leadership Development Process
Additional Applications of the FrameBreaking Model
2: A Leadership Experience Framework
The Leadership Experience Framework
Experiences Across Organizational Levels
Conclusion
3: Identifying Development-in-Place Opportunities
4: Leadership Maps: Identifying Developmental Experiences in Any Organization
Interviewing Senior Executives
Conducting Leadership Workshops
Mapping the Linkage
Building the Toolkit
Lessons Learned
5: Building Organization-Specific Knowledge About Key Developmental Experiences
Creating the Model of Key Developmental Experiences
Information Contained in the Book
Converting the Book to Podcasts
How the Book and Podcasts Are Being Used
Lessons Learned
6: Expression of Interest: Making Sought-After Roles Visible
The Approach
Benefits and Challenges
7: Designing Part-Time Cross-Functional Experiences
Lessons Learned
8: Creating Project Marketplaces
Leveraging Existing Experiences for Learning
9: Leveraging the Developmental Power of Core Organizational Work
Context
The Practice
Accelerating Leader Development
Applying This Approach to Your Organization
10: Learning Transferable Skills Through Event Planning
11: Pinpointing: Matching Job Assignments to Employees
Pinpointing Steps
Making Pinpointing an Engaging and Valuable Experience for Senior Leaders
Follow Up
12: Learning from Personal Life Experiences
A Reflective Exercise
Connecting to On-the-Job Development
Creating New Developmental Experience
13: Strategic Corporate Assignments to Develop Emerging Market Leaders
The Approach
Impact
Lessons Learned
14: Full-Time Strategic Projects for High Potentials
The Process
A Highly Selective Process
Benefits and Return on Investment
Continued Experimentation
Keys to Success
15: A Personalized Rotation Program to Develop Future Leaders
Context
Program Design
Integrated with the Business
Initial Insights
16: Corporate Volunteerism as an Avenue for Leadership Development
Identifying and Selecting Partners
Conclusion
17: Developing Socially Responsible Global Leaders Through Service Projects
Program Design
Benefits
Advice for Others
18: Stretch Assignments to Develop First-Time Supervisors
Stretch Assignments
19: Executive Shadowing
Lessons Learned
20: Leadership Fitness Challenge: Daily Exercise of the Leadership Muscle
Lessons Learned
21: Using a Video-Case-Based Collaborative Approach in Leader Development
Conclusion
22: Cross-Company Consortiums: Tackling Business Challenges and Developing Leaders Together
Cross-Company Consortium Objectives and Benefits
What to Consider When Starting a Consortium
The Future of Self-Managed Cross-Company Consortiums
Section 2: Leaders: Better Equipped to Learn from Experience
Section Introduction
Organizing Frameworks
23: Mindful Engagement: Learning to Learn from Experience
Approach
Action
Reflection
Concluding Thoughts
24: PARR: A Learning Model for Managers
The PARR Model
Implementing PARR at Kelly Services
Potential Risks, Roadblocks, and Unintended Consequences
Why PARR?
25: GPS•R: A Tool for Assessing Learning Readiness
The GPS•R Profile
GPS•R Interview
Lessons Learned
Learning Strategies and Tactics
26: Asking Questions to Foster Learning from Experience
Phase 1: Before the Experience
Phase 2: During the Experience
Phase 3: After the Experience
The Tool Development Process
Application of the Tool
27: Using the Classroom to Create a Learning Orientation
The Idea
The Approach
Preparation
The Experience
Lessons Learned
Conclusion
28: Establishing a Learning Mindset
29: Tactics for Learning from Experience
Background
30: Narrating Emotions to Enhance Learning
The Who and What of Managing Emotions
Self-Narration
An Example of Self-Narration
Final Insights
31: Proactive Feedback Seeking: The Power of Seeing Yourself as Others See You
The Problem of Feedback Flow in Organizations
The Value of Feedback Seeking
Why Don't Leaders Seek More Feedback More Often?
Promoting the Seeking of Feedback Among Leaders
Tools to Promote the Seeking of Feedback
32: Feedback: Who, When, and How to Ask
Who to Ask
When to Ask
How to Ask
Some Final Observations
33: Micro-Feedback: A Tool for Real-Time Learning
Keys to Success
Reflection and Retention
34: Leadership Journeys: Intentional Reflection Experiences
Initial Impact
Three Key Factors
Applying These Principles to Your Organization
Questions We're Still Trying to Answer
35: After-Event Reviews: How to Structure Reflection Conversations
AERs: A Four-Step Process of Structured Reflection
Instructions for Conducting an AER
36: Scaffolding Reflection: What, So What, Now What?
“What? So What? Now What?” Model
Action Learning Case Story
Individual Coaching Case Story
Final Words
37: Life Journeys: Developing for the Future by Looking at the Past
Phase One: Introduction, Preparation, and Getting Started (45 to 60 Minutes)
Phase Two: Sharing (45 to 60 Minutes)
38: Strategies for Facilitating Learning from Experience
Strategy 1: Transactional Facilitation
Strategy 2: Socratic Facilitation
Strategy 3: Dialogic Facilitation
Key Differences Among Facilitation Strategies
39: Teachable Point of View: Learning to Lead by Teaching Others
Elements of the Leadership Teachable Point of View
Developing the Leadership Teachable Point of View
Delivering the Leadership Teachable Point of View
Challenges in Implementing the LTPOV Process
40: Implementation Intention: A Refinement to Leadership Development Goal Setting
Implementation Intentions
Leadership Development Implementation Intentions
Implementation Intentions Research
Conclusion
41: Twelve Questions for More Strategic Work and Learning
Learning Communities and Support
42: Building a Board of Learning Advisors
Activity 1: Designing a Developmental Network
Activity 2: Creating a Board of Advisors
Lessons Learned
43: Building a Learning Community Through Reflection and Experimentation
Designing RLIx: Building a Foundation for Reflection
Identifying the Participants and Groups
Implementing RLIx
Lessons Learned
Building Your Own RLIx
44: Using Communities of Practice to Cultivate Leaders of Integrity
Cultivating Leaders of Integrity Through Communities of Practice
45: CompanyCommand: A Peer-to-Peer Learning Forum
If They Build It, They Will Come
Create a Core Team
Forum Core Purpose = Practitioner Effectiveness
Practice the Three Cs of Forum Facilitation: Connection, Conversations, and Content
Focus on Continuously Developing the Three Architectures
Identity Is the Pathway to Vibrant Participation
Blend Virtual and Face to Face
Establish a Rhythm
46: Virtual Roundtables: Using Technology to Build Learning Communities
How the Process Works
Three Phases of the Virtual Roundtable Conversation
Successes
Lessons Learned
Section 3: Human Resource Systems: Designed for Experience-Driven Development
Section Introduction
47: Integrated Talent Management and Experience-Based Development
Where to Start
Talent Management at the Grameen Foundation
Lessons Learned
Final Thoughts
Acknowledgments
Selection and On-Boarding
48: Identifying and Assessing for Learning Ability
Assessing Leaders' Learning Ability
Lessons Learned
49: On-the-Job Development That Starts on Day One
Partnering to Craft a Development Plan
Post-Experience Learning Transfer
50: New Leader Assimilation
51: Virtual On-Boarding
Managers as Developers
52: Leaders Coaching Leaders: Cascading Leadership Development Through the Organization
Underlying Concepts
From “Captains to Coaches” in the Tata Group
Institutionalizing Coaching at National Grid
Conclusion
53: An Exercise for Managers: Developing Talent Through Assignments
Steps in Using the Case
A Final Note
54: Performance and Development Through Conversation
Practical Solution 1: Talk About the Conversation Gap
Practical Solution 2: Provide a Simple Structure for a Conversation
Bringing It All Together
Performance Management
55: Performance Management and Leadership Development: Paradox or Potential?
The Natural Tension
The Impact of Tension on Processes
Managing Polarities
Development and Performance: Creating a Both/And Culture
56: Performance Management Catalysts for Experience-Driven Development
Performance Management Systems That Drive Development
Lessons Learned
Training, Development, and Beyond
57: Training and Experience-Driven Development
58: Bringing the Real World into the Classroom
Four Steps to Experiential Activity Design
Leadership Experiences in the Classroom
Conclusion
59: Cultivating Learning Agility: Lessons from the Microfinance Sector
The Need
The Approach
Tools
Lessons Learned
60: HoTspots (HubsOfTraining): A Blended Group Learning Solution to Extend Traditional Training
61: Building Experience into Simulations
Leadership Development
Key Design Principles
The Evolution of Our Thinking
62: Mentoring: Building Leaders in Powerful Developmental Relationships
The Problem with Just Hoping It Will Happen
How to Craft and Implement a Mentoring Program
Building a Structured Mentoring Program
What If Our Resources Are Insufficient to Build a Structured Mentoring Program?
Final Thoughts
Action Learning
63: Business-Driven Action Learning
Crafting the Business Challenge
Identifying Personal Challenges
Some Things That Could Go Wrong
BDAL Success Factors and Lessons Learned
64: Action Learning with Community-Based Nonprofits
Our Approach
Lessons Learned
Summary
65: Better Together: Building Learning Coalitions Across Organizations
Developing the Consortium
Design Considerations
Action Learning
What the Participants Learned
What the Developers Learned
66: Communities of Practice: Building and Sustaining Global Learning Communities
Origins
Structure and Operating Guidelines
Content and Format
Post–Global Forum Community Collaboration and Cooperation
Succession Management
67: Succession Planning: Developing General Managers Through Experience
Create Taxonomy of Critical Experiences
Develop a Talent Review Template
Lessons Learned
68: Building Breadth and Depth Through Experience
Building Breadth
Building Depth
69: Profiles for Success: Building a Framework for Internal Transitions
70: Hot Jobs-Hot People: Sharing Leadership Talent Across Organizations
How It Works
Emphasizing Some Tips
71: Multicultural Women in the Pipeline: Finding Hidden Treasure
Causes for the Pipeline Void
The Hidden Jewels: Multicultural Women
Creating a More Inclusive Pipeline
Section 4: The Organization: Enabler of Experience-Driven Development
Section Introduction
Frameworks for Assessing Organizations
72: Organizational Climate for Development
73: Creating the “and” Organization: Seeing Leadership Development as a Key Strategic Issue
Three Vital Components
Assess Your Organization
Designing Tools for Widespread Use
74: Leading from Where You Are
Strategic
Systemic
Simple
Sneeze-Able
Sustainable
Final Thoughts
75: My Needs, Their Needs: Designing High-Value Development Tools
Who Owns My Information?
Where and How Am I Learning?
How Much Is Too Much?
From Questions to Strategies
Business Implications
Individual Implications
Lessons Learned
76: Built to Last: Sustainable On-the-Job Development Interventions for the Entire Organization
Organizational Characteristics
Intervention Characteristics
Leader Characteristics
Final Thoughts
Influencing Organizational Leaders
77: Building Support for Experience-Based Development
One Leader at a Time: The Chance Encounter
Succession Planning as an EBD Opportunity
78: The Power of Stories in Leadership Development
The Power of Stories and Quotes
How to Use Stories and Quotes
79: Assessing Learning's Impact on Careers
Internal Labor Markets
Case Example: Learning in an ILM Framework
Conclusion
80: Teaching Senior Leaders the Dynamics of Derailment
The Dynamics of Derailment
Getting the Attention of Senior Leaders
Solutions to Specific Obstacles
81: Strengthening Executive Mobility
The Benefits and Current Use of Mobility
Barriers to Mobility
Options for Increasing Mobility
Conclusion
82: Talent Ecosystems: Building Talent Through Strategic Partnerships
Conclusion
Contributing Authors
About the Center for Creative Leadership
Index
Praise for Experience-Driven Leader Development
“There is a wealth of experience presented in this volume that is both cutting edge and grounded in leader development research and theory. It is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in state-of-the-science leader development.”
David Day, Ph.D., Woodside Chair of Leadership and Management, The University of Western Australia Business School
“CCL pioneered research on experience-based leadership development, and now this book showcases a wealth of tried-and-true practices that transform research into reality. Leadership developers can access and adapt tested advice, models, organizational practices, and tools to their unique circumstances. Finally—some ready-to-use answers to how informal experience-based learning can be developed, designed, and supported in ways that boost performance for leaders and their organizations!”
Victoria J. Marsick, Ph.D., Department of Organization & Leadership, Columbia University, Teachers College
“Experience-Driven Leader Development is a comprehensive resource rich in examples, models and practical advice. This is a must read for anyone interested in developing leaders to achieve personal or organizational goals.”
Marcia J. Avedon, Ph.D., senior vice president, Human Resources and Communications Ingersoll Rand, Board of Governors., Center for Creative Leadership
About This Book
Learning from experience is the number one way that leaders develop. If you are reading this book, you probably already know this. It's evident in the research you follow. It's plain from your own observations and experiences in organizations. Despite the overwhelming evidence, however, experience-driven leader development receives considerably less attention and organizational resources compared to formal education, training, and coaching. Thus, there are untapped opportunities to optimize the value of experience for leader development.
For the greatest impact, you want to harness the power of experience for leadership development. The way to do this doesn't lie in a formula or a step-by-step process. Rather, you can find different ways to answer that challenge using the array of tools, techniques, interventions, initiatives, and models collected in this volume. These are not simply ideas that ought to work. They come from practitioners like you, people who are enhancing experience-driven development in organizations and communities, in many different ways and with a wide variety of audiences. Whatever your approach, you can find in this book the tools and practices that will help you develop the best possible talent in organizations while having a positive and powerful effect on people's lives.
The book is organized into four sections, each targeting a critical element of experience-driven development.
In the first section, Developmental Experiences: More Intentional for More People, you will find ways to help more people access leadership experiences to target their particular development needs.
Section 2, Leaders: Better Equipped to Learn from Experience, addresses the fact that an experience does not guarantee learning. In these pages you will see how you can enhance leaders' ability to learn from their experiences so that they extract the maximum developmental value.
Section 3, Human Resource Systems: Designed for Experience-Driven Development, looks at the formal systems and processes for managing talent that many organizations have put into place. The contributions in this section describe how to build experience-driven development into those processes.
Section 4, The Organization: Enabler of Experience-Driven Development, takes on the shared values, the behaviors, and beliefs of employees, and processes and routines found in organizations. Rather than allowing those attributes to get in the way, you can use the knowledge in this section to influence an organization in ways that enable rather than inhibit experience-driven learning.
We have tagged each contribution based on whether it shares a tool (a specific activity or technique), an organizational practice (a formal process or initiative), a model (a conceptual framework that guides thinking and action), or advice (an overview of a topic with insights based on expertise or research).
Cover design: JPuda
Cover images: (model) © browndogstudios/istock; (wrench) © scottdunlap/istock; (checklist) © scottdunlap/istock; (info) © runeer/istock
Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Published by Wiley
One Montgomery Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94104-4594
www.wiley.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that Internet websites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
For additional copies/bulk purchases of this book in the U.S. please contact 800–274–4434.
Wiley books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Wiley directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-274-4434, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3985, fax 317-572-4002, or visit www.wiley.com
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
CIP data is available on file at the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-118-45807-5(hbk)
978-1-118-76765-8 (ebk)
978-1-118-76784-9 (ebk)
List of Exhibits, Figures, and Tables
Exhibit 1.1. Defining Intensity—THRIVE
Exhibit 1.2. Defining Stretch—REACH
Figure 1.1. The FrameBreaking Model
Exhibit 1.3. Evaluating Your Development Experience
Exhibit 2.1. Categories of Leadership Experience
Exhibit 3.1. The Leadership Challenges
Table 3.1. Examples of Three Development-in-Place Strategies
Exhibit 4.1. Senior Executive Interview Guide
Exhibit 4.2. Example of a Leadership Map
Exhibit 4.3. Examples of Definitions
Exhibit 4.4. Leadership Workshop Outline
Exhibit 4.5. Example of Coding Leadership Experiences
Figure 4.1. Key Experiences and the Lessons They Develop
Exhibit 4.6. What Is Your Learning Potential?
Exhibit 4.7. What Is Your Job Stretch?
Figure 5.1. Key Developmental Experiences
Figure 6.1. Sample Associate Profile
Figure 7.1. Process Step Summary Page
Exhibit 7.1. Investigative Summary
Exhibit 7.2. Action Plan Script
Figure 9.1. High Leverage Work Elements
Exhibit 9.1. Sample Integration Team Assignment Application
Exhibit 9.2. Sample After-Action Review Pre-Work
Exhibit 10.1. Focus of Planning Team Meetings
Figure 11.1. Job Learning Stages and Recommended Development Approach
Exhibit 11.1. Employee Assessment
Figure 11.2. Example of Sticky Notes for Pinpointing Exercise
Exhibit 12.1. Matching Experiences to Skills Development
Exhibit 13.1. Example of an Immersion Opportunity Profile
Exhibit 13.2. Benefits of Participation in SHIP
Exhibit 14.1. Examples of SAP Fellowships
Table 14.1. Fellows' Post-Fellowship Careers
Figure 15.1. Capability Matrix
Figure 16.1. Selecting a Target That Meets the Firm's Learning Goals
Exhibit 18.1. Possible Stretch Assignments
Exhibit 18.2. Stretch Assignment Project Forms
Exhibit 18.3. Evaluation from Manager
Exhibit 19.1. Checklist for Launching an Executive Shadowing Program
Exhibit 19.2. Sample Questions for Participants to Ask Executives
Exhibit 20.1. Sample Fitness Challenge Activities
Figure 21.1. Online Leader Challenge
Figure 23.1. A Model of Mindful Engagement
Figure 24.1. PARR Learning Model
Exhibit 25.1. The GPS•R Profile
Figure 26.1. The 3x3 Tool
Figure 28.1. Anatomy of a Learning Experience
Figure 28.2. Avoiding a Learning Experience
Exhibit 29.1. What Are Your Preferred Learning Tactics?
Table 29.1. Illustration of Tactics Overused
Exhibit 29.2. Strategies for Expanding Your Learning Tactics
Table 30.1. Emotional Landscape
Figure 30.1. Self-Narration Process
Exhibit 30.1. Self-Narration Template
Exhibit 31.1. Feedback Seeking Checklist
Exhibit 32.1. Evaluating Feedback
Table 33.1. Benefits and Challenges of Micro-Feedback
Exhibit 33.1. Sample Questions
Table 34.1. Participant Feelings Before and After the Leadership Journey Program
Exhibit 35.1. Form A: Reflecting on the Experience
Exhibit 35.2. Form B: Documenting the Critical Reflection Process
Exhibit 37.1. Participant Instructions for the Life Journey Activity
Table 38.1. Synthesis of Levels of Facilitation
Exhibit 39.1. Leadership Journey Line Exercise
Figure 39.1. Dynamic Organization Model
Exhibit 39.2. Values Exercise
Exhibit 40.1. Examples of General Goals, Behaviors, and If-Then Intentions
Table 41.1. Strategies 12 Questions
Table 42.1. Developmental Network Roles
Figure 42.1. Developmental Network Worksheet
Exhibit 42.1. Your Board of Advisors
Table 43.1. Sample Reflection Activities
Figure 43.1. RLIx Program Activities
Figure 43.2. RLIx Program Structure
Exhibit 44.1. Nancy's Ethical Challenges: Prompting Change Through a CoP
Exhibit 45.1. Who Are Company Commanders?
Figure 45.1. CompanyCommand Professional Forum
Figure 45.2. Targeting the Learning Curve
Exhibit 46.1. Sample Facilitator Script
Figure 46.1. Roundtable Diagram
Figure 47.1. Model for Talent Development
Table 47.1. People Development Strategy-Building Capability
Table 48.1. A Sample of Learning Ability Assessments
Exhibit 49.1. Development Plan Framework
Exhibit 49.2. Example of Experiences Generated to Support a Competency
Figure 50.1. New Leader Assimilation Process
Exhibit 50.1. Sample Letter to Participants
Exhibit 50.2. Tips for Facilitators
Exhibit 50.3. Optional Questions
Exhibit 51.1. New Hire Checklist
Exhibit 51.2. On-Boarding Manager Checklist
Figure 52.1. The C2C Workshop Framework
Exhibit 52.1. How Ready Are You to Coach?
Exhibit 52.2. How Leader-Coaches Can Reflect in Action
Table 53.1. Skills and Perspectives Developed from Various Job Challenges
Exhibit 53.1. Which Assignment for Christine?
Exhibit 54.1. What's Your Conversation Gap?
Figure 54.1. Linking Career Conversations to the GROW Model
Table 54.1. Conversation Model as Part of a Cascaded Manager Briefing
Table 54.2. Career Conversation Planner
Exhibit 54.2. Hints and Tips for Engaging Conversations
Figure 55.1. Performance Management and Employee Development
Table 55.1. Should 360 Feedback Be Used for Performance or Development?
Table 55.2. Should Succession Management Focus on Performance or Development?
Exhibit 55.1. Performance and Development: Creating a Both/And Culture
Exhibit 56.1. Developmental Activities Form That Points People Toward On-the-Job Development
Exhibit 56.2. Developmental Activities
Exhibit 56.3. A Development Plan Self-Assessment
Exhibit 56.4. Performance Management Audit
Figure 57.1. A Continuum of Training and On-the-Job Development
Figure 57.2. Training That Promotes More Learning Outside the Classroom Than Happens Inside It
Exhibit 58.1. Design Checklist
Figure 59.1. The Field Learning System
Figure 59.2. Design Grid
Exhibit 59.1. Life Journey Mapping
Figure 60.1. Sample Social Networking Learning Site
Exhibit 60.1. Tips for Pre-Work
Exhibit 61.1. Simulation Design Checklist
Table 61.1. Typical Program Designs
Exhibit 62.1. Crucial Questions to Ask
Exhibit 62.2. Sample Mentoring Plan
Figure 63.1. What Is Business Driven Action Learning?
Figure 63.2. BDAL: The Seven Key Components
Exhibit 63.1. Sharing Personal Challenges with Set Members
Figure 63.3. Preparation and Implementation of the “Outside-In” Conversations
Figure 63.4. The Seven Dimensions of Learning
Figure 64.1. Design of Ladder to Leadership Program
Exhibit 64.1. Module Content
Table 64.1. Successful Project Examples
Exhibit 64.2. Criteria for Selecting Appropriate Projects
Exhibit 65.1. Typical ICP Curriculum Outline
Exhibit 66.1. Retrospectives Exercises
Exhibit 67.1. Identifying Key Positions
Exhibit 67.2. Talent Review Template
Exhibit 67.3. Talent Review Discussion Questions
Figure 68.1. Building Breadth and Depth
Figure 68.2. Depth Through Apprenticeships
Exhibit 69.1. Sample Leadership Profile
Figure 69.1. Steps to Determining Experiences
Exhibit 69.2. Example of a Success Profile
Table 70.1. Example of a Hot Jobs-Hot People List
Exhibit 72.1. Evaluating Climate for Development
Exhibit 73.1. Strategic Leadership Development: A Best Practices Checklist
Table 74.1. Building Viral OJD Programs
Exhibit 74.1. Example of a Typical HR Tool
Exhibit 74.2. Example of a More Viral HR Tool
Exhibit 76.1. Built to Last: HR Initiative Critical Success Factors
Table 79.1. The Impact of Learning on Careers
Exhibit 80.1. Characteristics of Derailers
Foreword
A Quarter Century and Counting: Getting Serious About Using Experience to Develop Talent
LONGER AGO THAN I care to admit, my colleagues and I set out to understand how experience shaped leadership talent. Back in those days we talked about managers and executives, reserving the term leader for something else, though it is common today to use the terms interchangeably. Also back in those days, executive development referred almost exclusively to programs, usually training programs, in house or out of house, designed and delivered by human resource professionals or academics. To be sure, there were experience-based practices such as career paths (for example, IBM's famous two years line, two years staff), rotational assignments, and assistant to positions, but conversations about systematically using online experience for development seldom got past “throw them in the fire and see who comes out the other side.” Ironically, our effort to understand development through experience began in a place that, appropriate to the time, strove to be a premier leadership training center.
The product of our initial research into experience, The Lessons of Experience (McCall, Lombardo, & Morrison, 1988), almost never made it into print. We had interviewed and surveyed successful executives about their experiences and what they had learned from them, and we hoped that by analyzing their stories we would change how development was viewed. But the original contract was with a major publishing house that seemed intent on a book with titillating stories about celebrity executives. Although we had plenty of tales to tell, they weren't about people you would have heard of. They were the stories of talented but regular people educated in the metaphorical “school of hard knocks” and by “learning in the trenches.” Fortunately, a small publishing house picked up the book, which is still in print, and over time interest grew in using experience more systematically.
Fast-forward through the years as additional research accumulated on experience, what it can teach, and how it might be used more effectively to develop talent (see, for example, McCauley, Ruderman, Ohlott, & Morrow, 1994; McCall, 1998; McCall, 2010; McCall & Hollenbeck, 2002; Spreitzer, McCall, & Mahoney, 1997). But even though interest in the concepts increased, putting the ideas into practice stumbled forward in fits and starts. For the reasons so beautifully articulated in the introductory chapter of this book, the knowing-doing gap (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000) persists. True, the companies Fortune considers “most admired for their leaders” do more than others to use experience for development (Colvin, 2009), but experience-driven leadership development, despite some heroic efforts to implement it (see, for example, McCauley & McCall, in press), has not yet created a paradigm shift.
It is with delight that I discovered that there has been an insurgency building all along. Sung—but mostly unsung—heroes, operating in all kinds of organizations, quietly have developed tools and practices that make it possible to do experience-based talent development. Instead of trying to change the world, they have been trying to nudge, twist, cajole, prod, and otherwise influence practice. Not only that, these bricoleurs are willing to share the results of their efforts with anyone facing similar issues. But it took tenacity and insight to pull all of these pieces together and make them accessible, so hats off to McCauley, DeRue, Yost, and Taylor for providing this compendium of raw material.
Making experience-driven development work is not as easy as it sounds, and that's why the tools, practices, and advice found in this book are so important. At first glance using experience seems straightforward: identify someone with leadership potential, put her in a stretch assignment, repeat several times, and voila—a leader. Even if it were this simple, to actually do it one would still need some way to identify potential, a way to identify the stretch assignments and choose the appropriate one, and some way to assess and track development across repeated trials.
But it isn't that simple. How do you match people to experiences? What do you do to get the right person into the right experience at the right time—especially if the “right” assignment involves crossing an organizational boundary? Because people don't always learn what an experience offers, what can you do to increase the odds of actually learning the lessons in the experience? What can you do if the needed experience isn't available, either because it doesn't exist or because it is being blocked by a solid performer? What happens if you make a mistake and put someone in an assignment that is over his head? Perhaps even more daunting, how can effective use of experience be embedded in an organization's core so that it is a natural act rather than a peripheral one?
These are just a few of the practical questions that doing experience-based development raises, and for which answers will come only by trying things out and seeing how well they work for learning through experience. As Mary Catherine Bateson observed, “Insight, I believe, refers to that depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old, side by side, learning by letting them speak to one another” (Bateson, 1994, p. 14). And that's what this book is, at its heart: eighty or so experiments that will give you things to try out, to chew on, and that I hope will inspire others to follow suit in developing appropriate tools and sharing their accumulating wisdom.
References
Bateson, M. (1994). Peripheral visions. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Colvin, G. (2009, December 7). How to build great leaders. Fortune, 160(10), 70–72.
McCall, M.W., Jr. (1998). High flyers: Developing the next generation of leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
McCall, M.W., Jr., (2010). The experience conundrum. In N. Nohria & R. Khurana (Eds.), Handbook of leadership theory and practice (pp. 679–707). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
McCall, M.W., Jr., & Hollenbeck, G.P. (2002). Developing global executives: The lessons of international experience. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
McCall, M.W., Jr., Lombardo, M.M., & Morrison, A.M. (1988). The lessons of experience: How successful executives develop on the job. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
McCauley, C.D., & McCall, M.W., Jr. (Eds.) (in press). Using experience to develop leadership talent. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
McCauley, C.D., Ruderman, M.N., Ohlott, P.J., & Morrow, J. (1994). Assessing the developmental components of managerial jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(4), 544–560.
Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. (2000). The knowing-doing gap: How smart companies turn knowledge into action. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Spreitzer, G., McCall, M.W., Jr., & Mahoney, J. (1997). Early identification of international executive potential. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(1), 6–29.
Acknowledgments
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to name all the people who have played a role in developing and advancing experience-driven approaches to leader development. However, we want to acknowledge Morgan McCall, Mike Lombardo, and Bob Eichinger, each of whom has played a major role as thought leaders and champions of on-the-job leader development. The field owes much to their pioneering work.
This book would not have been possible without the many authors who joined us in this endeavor. We are enthusiastic about the models, tools, and practices they have crafted and grateful for the advice and lessons learned that they shared, as well as their willingness to respond to rounds of feedback and editing. We also appreciate the organizations that were open to having their tools and practices published as resources for others.
Finally, we want to thank Shaun Martin, Steve Rush, Peter Scisco, Taylor Scisco, and Martin Wilcox from the publication staff at the Center for Creative Leadership. Special thanks to Elaine Biech for sharing her expertise early in our process, and to Jill Pinto for helping to organize the disparate pieces of the book into an orderly manuscript (and doing it with a smile).
Introduction
INDIVIDUALS BROADEN AND deepen their leadership capabilities as they do leadership work. In fact, there are good reasons to believe that learning from experience is the number one way that leader development happens.
As a leader development practitioner you know this. You know it from the research-based professional knowledge you consume and from your own observations and experiences in organizations. Yet the field continues to focus considerable time, money, and resources on the other two major sources of growth and development for leaders: (1) education and training, and (2) relationships for learning. U.S. companies spend an estimated $13.6 billion annually on formal leader development (O'Leonard & Loew, 2012). The vast majority of this investment goes toward education and training. On average, another 20 percent or so of an organization's leader development solutions are relationship-based (for example, formal coaching or peer networks). In contrast, the average percent of experience-driven leader development solutions range from 9 percent for first-level supervisors to 14 percent for senior managers (O'Leonard & Loew). The number one driver of leader development gets the least attention in leader development systems.
How can organizations rectify this imbalance and better harness the power of experiences for leader development? In our search for answers to this question, we connected with practitioners who had taken up the challenge of enhancing experience-driven development in organizations and communities—in many different ways and with a wide variety of audiences. We did not discover a formula or a step-by-step process, but rather an array of tools, techniques, interventions, initiatives, and models. We invited these individuals to share their work. The result is a compendium of resources that you can use to jump-start, guide, and stimulate your own efforts to use experience more intentionally to develop leaders.
Let's first return to the imbalance and understand why it happens. A number of forces draw your attention and energy away from experience-driven development and toward coursework and relationship-based development:
But it's not as if the field has been devoid of experience-driven development practices. Job rotation programs are common at entry levels in organizations. Organizations often move high potential managers through a series of assignments to broaden their knowledge and skills in preparation for higher-level leadership responsibilities. Apprenticeship models of learning and development are standard in numerous professions. Action learning is in the toolkit of many practitioners.
Yet we sense a shift in the field. Not a shift away from coursework and relationships as important modes of learning, but rather a move to make learning from experience a more central part of the practice. What's the evidence for this shift?
This book is about how individuals in the field are making this shift happen. Before you jump in to learn directly from these individuals, we want to accomplish two things in this Introduction: (1) provide you with a brief overview of the stream of research that helped fuel the shift and (2) orient you to the content of this book.
A significant stimulus for the shift toward more focus on experience-driven leadership development happened in 1988 with the publication of The Lessons of Experience: How Successful Executives Develop on the Job, authored by Morgan W. McCall, Jr., Michael M. Lombardo, and Ann M. Morrison. The book became a catalyst, moving the focus away from what distinguishes effective leaders to how leaders are developed. As a result, experience-driven development emerged as a new focus for organizations and leader development professionals.
The book was based on qualitative data from 191 executives who were asked to reflect on their career and identify three key experiences that had led to a lasting change in the way they managed. The executives described their experiences in detail, including the skills and perspectives they gleaned from these experiences. The analysis of the executives' stories yielded five categories of key developmental experiences:
A majority of the experiences (56 percent) were challenging assignments, and for the most part, the other people and hardship experiences were also happening on the job.
That people learn a great deal from their experiences was certainly not a new discovery. Learning from cycles of action and reflection is a familiar concept in the field of adult learning. What was galvanizing about Lessons of Experience was threefold. First, it grounded this abstract concept of learning from experience in the vivid, real-world experiences of executives. It's like the idea of “seeing is believing”—the stories provided the depth and texture that compelled the reader to believe that the concept was significant. Second, it went beyond saying “people learn from their experiences.” The research pointed out what kinds of experiences developed executives, what drove the learning in these experiences, and which capabilities were most associated with which experiences. This more detailed examination of developmental experiences created knowledge that could more readily be used by practitioners. Finally, another piece of data from the study was eye-opening. Of the 616 key experiences described by executives in the study, only thirty-eight (6.2 percent) were coursework experiences. This small percentage made people in the program-centric leader development profession pause.
Lessons of Experience spawned a new stream of leader development research. Because the participants in the original study were almost entirely white American males in senior executive roles, the research was replicated in more diverse samples, including senior women executives, African-American executives, middle managers, global executives, and executives in each of several Asian countries (Douglas, 2003; McCall & Hollenbeck, 2002; Morrison, White, & Van Velsor, 1987; Yip & Wilson, 2010). In some of these studies, the percentages of other people or hardship experiences were higher than the original study (and the percentage of challenging assignment experiences was lower)—making it clear that 70–20–10 should not be understood as a one-size-fits-all solution. However, the same overall pattern was clear: On-the-job experiences are a significant driver of leader development, particularly experiences that challenge leaders to lead in novel and diverse environments, to create change in high stakes situations, and to work across organizational and cultural boundaries.
Researchers also began building evidence that leaders who have a broad range of challenging leadership experiences are more effective than those who do not, for example, they are more competent at strategic thinking and are rated by others in the organization as more promotable (De Pater, Van Vianen, Bechtoldt, & Klehe, 2009; Dragoni, Oh, Van Katwyk, & Tesluk, 2011). And they explored individual and situational factors that influence who learns the most from developmental experiences. The leader's level of learning orientation (for example, the motivation to gain new skills and master tasks) is one factor that influences the impact of developmental experiences, and access to feedback can offset the diminishing returns associated with high levels of developmental challenge (DeRue & Wellman, 2009; Dragoni, Tesluk, & Oh, 2009).
Lessons of Experience was more than a summary of a research study. It began to lay out a workable approach that organizations could use to better harness the power of experiences for developing management and leadership talent. This approach included identifying developmental jobs, creating a talent pool, helping people learn from experience, and clarifying line management's responsibility for the development process. It identified foundational building blocks necessary to make this approach work, for example, a strong corporate identity, the willingness to take risks, and a culture that supports learning. Practitioners began to find ways to make elements of this approach work in their organizations, themselves learning by trial and error and by sharing with and learning from their like-minded colleagues.