Creating a Pipeline of Capable Leaders

Business Issue

A large non-profit organization was in the midst of a major effort to eradicate disease. In support of this mission they set a number of strategic imperatives, including tangible short-term and long-term goals. In order to reach these goals, the agency came to the conclusion that they needed to become a “learning organization” -- one with the capacity to create its desired results through fundamental shifts in thinking and action. At the same time, the organization recognized it had a dearth of rising talent. The CEOs managing many of the divisions would retire within five years, and there were no clear successors prepared to replace them. To counter this, they needed to develop a talent pool, or pipeline of leaders, for the CEO and Chief Operating Officer (COO) level of the different divisions. The organization sought a partner to help develop its next generation of leaders and help accelerate its journey toward becoming a learning organization.

Approach

Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE) partnered with the organization to design a Business Challenge program that allowed the participants to work on real issues facing their organization while learning and using new skills relative to their goal of becoming a learning organization. The program focused on systemic thinking, developing shared vision, strategic thinking, stakeholder management and other developmental areas.

Learning Experience

The project work focused on issues defined by the CEO and COO as some of the most pressing problems facing the organization. Duke CE designed a framework for attacking these problems and devised teams around the challenges. The teams then convened in four face-to face sessions where they learned academic content, and completed interim work both virtually and in small team meetings.

Execution

The participants included senior level executives from the 17 divisions and the National Home Office who would be considered for promotion to CEO or COO level within two years. The first group consisted of 20 people, who divided into four teams to complete the project work. In the first meeting, expert facilitators introduced the teams to the work process and gave them a framework for approaching the problem. With coaching from the facilitators, the participants also used systemic analysis to begin understanding the root causes of the issues they faced. The second and third meetings introduced new “learning organization” content and frameworks that the teams used in analyzing their project issues. Between meetings, the teams advanced the project work on-line using the web platform provided by Duke CE. In the fourth meeting, the participants presented their findings to senior leadership of the organization.

Outcome

Each team presented a detailed analysis with recommendations to the national senior leadership of the organization, and a good number of their recommendations have since been implemented. The first participant group is now mentoring a second group of less senior individuals (a second wave pipeline), using this approach. With a new set of leaders for its divisions and a second wave of capable leaders in the pipeline, the organization continues to make great progress toward its mission.

 

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