Solving Key Strategic Business Issues

Business Issue

A large financial services company found itself at a time of great change and sought new solutions for the growing challenges of becoming a global organization. To excel in the future, the company recognized that it needed to develop its next generation of senior leaders. The company sought a learning experience that would accomplish this task while providing its leaders with an opportunity to solve real issues facing their organization.

Approach

The company partnered with Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE) to design a program to tackle the issues defined by the company CEO and at the same time develop the next generation of leaders for the firm. Duke CE brought unique expertise for a method called Business Challenge, which is based on an action-learning approach to management development. Business Challenge programs are inherently motivating and meaningful for participants because they provide them with the opportunity to grapple with real issues facing their organization. As a result, participants learn to work together in teams to solve challenging issues and create outcomes that are relevant and impactful for the firm.

Learning Experience

The CEO sponsored the education program, recognizing that this was an opportunity to leverage the existing talent pool to solve the complex challenges facing the company. Twenty senior business leaders were drawn from different countries to participate in the program. The CEO assigned the issues to four teams of five participants each. Each team tackled one of four business issues facing the organization. Teams were deliberately formed with a variety of executives representing different divisions and different geographic regions within the organization. This way, a natural conversation developed regarding the effects plans could have on different divisions in the firm.

Duke CE facilitators with strong expertise in one of the four problem areas worked with the group for that particular challenge. Experiences were designed for teams to share their insights and plans with the other teams and give feedback to one another. This occurred at intervals throughout the entire process such that the insights for each problem area were shared across all the teams. Teams also convened to gain expert knowledge from each of the four facilitators in face-to-face and virtual sessions. They applied this knowledge, not only to their own team’s challenge, but also in the feedback they provided to the other teams.

Execution

The groups met four times face-to-face in different locations around the world and at each short meeting presented their interim findings to the CEO. After these sessions and back at their dispersed work locations, they met online using the web platform provided by Duke CE to discuss and advance their work. The CEO imposed an extremely high level of rigor on the teams, as their plans would drive key strategic growth for the firm over the next year. The teams then made revisions to their plans based on feedback from the CEO. The program culminated in all four teams presenting one consolidated presentation to the top 180 managers at their annual conference.

Outcome

As a result of this program, the firm’s leaders gained confidence that they could solve complex problems with the capabilities gained through education – problems that would traditionally be handed over to an outside consultancy. The program helped to unify the organization, through structured and meaningful dialogue among senior managers, and create a common set of values. The majority of the plans made in the program have been implemented by the organization and, each year, another set of handpicked senior managers take the work of their predecessors further forward. In addition, the CEO has first hand exposure to the strategic thinking capabilities of his most senior people, enabling important decisions to be taken about talent management within the company. The program is ongoing and has transcended the change in CEO, so it is part of the institutional fabric of the firm’s leadership. For this company, the Business Challenge program has been instrumental in accelerating the strategic dialogue at the 'top of the house' as well as accelerating the integration of the firm.

 

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