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Fast Growing Company Sees Need for Leadership Development

Enventure Global Technology, a world’s leading provider of solid expandable tubular (SET®) solutions for the energy industry, is a fast growing, global company.

Wanting a more scaleable and efficient program compared to off-sites, workshops or outside consultants, Enventure is using Ninth House’s leadership development solutions to help develop and grow its employees in preparation for continued growth.

Ninth House’s computer-based development solutions will enable us to develop our employees quickly, consistently and cost-effectively regardless of location. – Roger Blake

Retaining Talent from Ninth House Receives Four Stars!

Ninth House's newest course, Retaining Talent, received the highest rating from Training Media Review (TM Review), an independent reviewer of media based training! The four stars were bestowed for the course's interactivity, high-quality production quality, and content.

Check out the full press release issued today.  For the full review, go to the TM Review website and sign up for a free 24 hour trial.

Four Corners Discussion: The Learning Process - Are your managers involved?

On the first day of the Summit, we had a more organic discussion period. The idea was to have different topics situated at the four corners of the room; hence calling this the Four Corners Discussion. Based on attendee feedback, the main topics selected centered on manager-led training, generation Y, enterprise implementation, and engaging talent.

We will post summaries about each discussion and invite everyone to add your thoughts.

The topic for today – The Learning Process: Are your managers involved? The goal of this discussion was how organizations can involve managers into the learning process.

There were two perspectives shared:

1) If an organization truly wanted managers to be involved, then integrating involvement into the manager’s performance review and process would be key. The thought was if manager is measured on people development and held accountable to being involved in the learning and training process, then they would have a lot of success.

2) Conversely, if a company is unable to incorporate this into the performance management process, which was a concern from some attendees, then the solution would be to provide managers with the tools to better teach and mentor employees. The process doesn’t have to be prescriptive, but rather encourage managers to have discussions with their direct reports. The conversation is so much more invaluable then the training person doing anything.

Resource: VNU Learning publishes the Training Director's Forum e-Net that recently discussed how to get managers involved in the process. Though there is an archive search function, the most recent newsletter posted on the site seemed to be from March 2006.

From the September 21st issue, the key theme was to involve managers before the learning event and not after the fact.

CLO e-Seminar Summary: The REAL ROI of Leadership Development - American Express Case Study

In a Chief Learning Officer e-Seminar that just concluded, Katharine Nisbet (Director, Global Talent and Development, American Express), Paul Leone (Manager of Leadership Effectiveness, American Express), and Jeff Snipes, CEO and co-founder, Ninth House, Inc., looked at the business impact of different leadership development training methods, as well as the behaviors needed from managers to make this successful.

American Express looked at the business impact and ROI of leadership development delivered online, instructor-led training and in a blended learning approach (combination of online and instructor-led training).  Furthermore, AMEX  looked at what type of environment and manager support is needed for a sustainable learning environment.

There were quite a few questions with regards to sustainability and the business impact. Over the next few months, AMEX plans to revisit these questions.  A white paper is also currently being prepared. To request your copy when it's available, go to American Express Case Study request. 

In the meantime, here are some reports that discuss the impact of leadership development:

• Center for Naval Analysis (CNAC) - summary of a 2004 study completed by the CNAC on behalf of the U.S. Navy.
• Bersin & Associates: Blended Learning that Works - This  study examines how companies are using blended learning to extend the reach of their leadership development programs. This is a Ninth House sponsored study.
• ASTD 2005 State of the Industry Report  - An executive summary is free, while the full report is only available to members. This is a more general report highlighting workplace learning and performance trends.

Update: The audio archive and presentations have been posted to the Ninth House events archive.

Coaching as way to engage and retain talent

In the September 12, 2006 article written by Cari McLean for Workplace Performance Solutions, Charles Orlando of Ninth House discussed how coaching can provide middle managers with the key skills and techniques to boost performance and engage direct reports.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005, the average U.S. worker will only stay with a company for four years, with that tenure dropping to 1.8 years for 18-25 year olds.  Orlando elaborates how these short tenures are impacting corporations:

“There is really no way to get somebody up to speed and get 18 months of full productivity. It usually takes four to six months to get them up to speed, on the job and ramped. As a result, organizations get maybe six months of productivity, and as they start to look for another job, organizations will start to lose productivity during the next four to six months, as they start searching. It changes the paradigm — organizations are observing these trends of generations under 45 having much shorter tenures, and they are tired of making investments in people because they are basically training other organization’s staff members, so to speak. That’s where the big push for coaching stems from.”

And with the baby boomer generation planning to leave the workplace in the next 5 - 10 years, a corporation's ability to engage and retain employees becomes even more important for companies. Consequently, middle managers are in an unique position to directly impact an employee's motivation and productivity.

Regardless of the type of coaching or training program a company undertakes for new or existing managers, sustainability and executive buy in are also key components for a successful program.