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Introduction
Why Did They Choose an e-Learning Solution?
In the past, economic downturns meant cuts in leadership development. However, the opposite is found to be true in most major organizations today. They are recognizing that the turbulence of global markets, competition, geopolitics and the economy requires focused, skilled leadership to survive and succeed. Leadership development is increasingly being regarded as the platform needed to grow and improve the business. No longer an exclusive privilege of senior executives, leadership development is being employed to embed the capabilities to achieve strategic goals, organize innovative business projects, change culture, and cascade competencies throughout the organization. Major companies are pursuing key themes in the development of their leaders. To maximize the link between leadership capabilities and strategy execution, leader-led development is being used to engage senior executives in the training and coaching of the next generation of leadership. In addition, the use of team business projects during leadership programs focuses participants on strategy execution while solving real-time problems and challenges. Also, a learning continuum for leadership development is also being pursued by most organizations, as they have found that the need to embed behavioral change, and new strengths and perspectives requires more than a one-week event. Finally, the importance of selected external partners is seen as a critical cornerstone.To accomplish this intensive, on-going leadership development over a period of time with busy, geographically dispersed executives and managers, is a daunting task. However, those organizations who have used e-learning in a blended model for leadership development have found that this approach supports:
Maximum leverage of the time executives have available to engage in learning
Virtual teamwork on business and individual projects
Online coaching and mentoring by senior executives
Experience in online collaboration promoting post-program virtual work
The three organizations in this chapter have all been deeply involved in the creation of e-learning solutions for leadership development. They include: Unilever, a global producer and supplier of consumer goods and food; INSEAD OnLine, a top business school in Europe and Asia, which provided custom leadership programs for a major pharmaceutical company; and Babson School of Executive Education, a leading U.S. business school, which built an online MBA program for Intel Corporation.
A Blended Model Extends the Leadership Development Continuum
An intensive work environment, daily business challenges, global communications and input— the business environment of global leaders allows little flexibility or time to invest in learning and development. Indeed, how can learning be extended for leaders beyond a week-long event, or meeting? How can leaders be skilled to lead an organizational culture transformation? What can leaders do to drive a new strategic focus? These were the challenges that were met by Unilever in their Leaders into Action program. Unilever determined that a new strategic direction and related culture change was required for global growth and profitability. Working with external partners, Unilever’s learning organization designed a learning continuum that engages learners in a leader- ship development journey to achieve this transformational change.
Using a blended model approach, this leadership journey alternates between online collaboration, virtual teamwork and coaching, and face-to-face classroom sessions. Senior executives are involved as coaches, both online and in the face-to-face events, as well as in the funding approval of the final business project proposals prepared by the participants. Results have been extraordinary. Business projects created by the virtual teams during the program have identified millions of dollars in opportunities and have led to successful new ventures. In addition, virtual, cross-boundary teamwork is becoming a way of doing business, a critical capability for this global company.INSEAD OnLine also found the power of the blended model in ensuring that meeting time involving top scientists of a global pharmaceutical firm became more valuable, preparing them to address new approaches to innovation in their clinical drug evaluation processes. Prior to the meeting, these scientists engaged in a Web-enabled forum and in targeted e-learning on technological innovation. This supported better use of the costly and highly valuable face-to-face meeting time, as the scientists were able to use the pre-meeting insights and collaboration to engage in creating new initiatives.
Leadership Development Contributes to the Recruitment and Retention of Leaders
Intel Corporation was concerned that the best engineers they had recruited, frequently left after taking a leave-of-absence to attend company supported, off-site MBA programs. However, they also realized that these busy, young leaders needed to balance work lives with personal life, and that MBA programs delivered over years in evening classes were not attractive to the ‘best and the brightest’. Turning to Babson’s School of Executive Education for support, they engaged the school and Babson Interactive in the creation of a highly successful blended model MBA program that met the needs of these next-generation leaders. Face-to-face, monthly sessions at three Intel locations, were linked and supported by virtual classes, online teamwork, coaching, and projects, which engaged the participants in continuous learning over a period of 27 months. A key benefit to Intel was the virtual teamwork on targeted business projects selected by the company, and the presentation of these projects to senior executives during the program. Intel found that the ratings of the blended MBA were as high, or higher than the ratings of the students engaged in the traditional Babson MBA program. In every case, the use of the blended model engaged very busy executives, both as participants and coaches, in an intensive, value-adding leadership development journey.
