Our impact
Rapidly accelerating managerial capability in a semi-government agency
Bespoke leadership development program accelerates Team Manager capability against a backdrop of significant organisational change.
The Challenge
When the State Government announced they planned to relocate an entire organisation to Geelong, the organisation faced an extraordinary leadership challenge. During a period of extensive consultation, it became apparent that nearly 50% of its critical Team Manager population would choose not to take up the new opportunities in the Geelong headquarters.
Recognising the critical need to quickly accelerate the development of Senior Coordinators and Team Leaders, we were engaged to design, develop and deliver a multi-faceted leadership development solution.
The Approach
Our work commenced with a thorough organisational discovery process, in terms of existing initiatives that this solution needed to connect with, understanding the needs at the Team Manager level as well as the current capabilities of the Senior Coordinator and Team Leader level. The end solution integrated a leadership development program (which was designed and delivered by us) with a management onboarding toolkit program which was designed and delivered by the in-house capability team. The end result was an integrated experience for participants over a 6 month period which covered the complementary skills of leadership and management.
Our leadership development solution was longitudinal to allow time for embedding and behaviour change and included 4 x face to face workshop days, individual Leadership Change Projects, small group coaching sessions and on-the-job structured learning activities.
The program was delivered over multiple years for nearly 15 cohorts. The client was keen to build their own in-house coaching capability and as a result we worked with them to upskill and supervise their internal coaches, some of which were in HR roles and others who were more senior leaders in the organisation. Through partnership with another provider who were working with senior leaders at the time we were able to connect and integrate the levels of leadership programs, leveraging senior leader program graduates as coaches into the Team Manager level program.
The Outcome
The impact of the program was significant resulting in the client renewing the contract with us for 2 successive terms. We were also re-engaged subsequently to tailor the program to be applicable to emerging leaders, who had not yet begun their leadership journey. In terms of the Team Manager program initial program evaluation was managed by the organisation. In subsequent cohorts we provided and managed the program evaluation methodology and process.
In the post program longitudinal survey results showed that that applicability and criticality of the learning for their role was rated by favourably by 70-80% of respondents. In addition, significant changes in individual leadership behaviour was observed by the participants themselves and their managers in areas such as adapting leadership style, leadership presence, feedback skills and influencing outcomes.
The testimonials below provide further evidence of the impact of the program on participants.
Participants
“This has had a huge impact on my development as I had moved to a TM role at the same time I started this program. Everything we learned just seemed to be happening for me in the workplace so I was able to apply my learnings straight away.”
“The program gave me an opportunity to revisit and build on concepts I was already familiar with, as well as be exposed to new and relevant strategies. I appreciated how open and honest all the participants were throughout the program and believe that contributed to the success and individual learnings. The facilitators were fantastic and there was a great balance of fun and seriousness. The content was absolutely relevant and timely to what I was experiencing at any given time, so I found it extremely useful and took away practical tools. I would (and have!) recommended it to my peers.”
“I feel confident in my ability to lead when the opportunity presents itself. I know I can be myself and am comfortable that my values are aligned with the organisation’s values so it is less likely I will be wedged.”
Line Managers
“I now see her put effort into asking open questions when others come to her in a ‘coaching’ role rather than providing the answer...”.
“There has been a noticeable improvement in her ability to self-reflect, slow down and consider others in her leadership approach.”
“A true change in career path has occurred for this participant. She has always been a leader within the Branch and with her clients, which we all could see. Now she can also see it in herself. It’s really great to have seen her take on this new perspective and thrive in it. Watch out [company name]!”
“She gained insight to the need to balance elements of resilience–mental, physical and emotional balance, being self-aware and having the ability to identify burnout points early and manage stress.”
Overall, the leadership development solution was able to play a critical role in accelerating speed to performance for a cadre of new Team Managers at a key point in the organisations’ evolution.
