Finding and developing the leaders of the future who will enable a competitive edge.
When faced with the strategic challenge of maintaining your presence as a leading building society, with an agenda to stay mutual, re-brand and create a dynamic internal and external culture of service, it is a brave company who begin by reviewing their leadership capabilities.
This is exactly where the Yorkshire Building Society began by looking at the future needs of their business and identifying the competencies required for future leaders. The competence framework was used to measure both current performance and future potential.
This was achieved through the creative design capabilities of the CHARLES FELLOWES GROUP using 360 degree instruments, psychometric tests to identify strengths in personality traits and peer assessment tools.
Leaders were invited to gather all of this information in an open and inclusive manner by having 1:1 feedback on their results and coaching sessions and then to come on a leadership workshop designed to allow executives to look at leadership and the organisation strategy and values and compare and contrast their strengths and styles. This concluded in ongoing development plans, coaching sessions and succession planning conversations
As John Davis, HR Director, was keen to stress, "this approach allowed the business to take a fresh and inclusive look at the potential of its leaders and ensure they were at the forefront of the change process and leading by example"
ALIGNING TALENT
Aligning a whole division to the vision, strategy and values of the BBC
At the BBC New Media Division, following a strategic review facilitated by CHARLES FELLOWES GROUP, the question facing the organisation was how to align the whole workforce to the new direction, structure and expectations of the leadership?
Les Shearn, Director of People, was keen to approach the aligning of the business in an inclusive and innovative way, that gave everyone the time and space to consider what the changes meant to them and the personal challenges, either behavioural or skills related, facing each individual.
The first step was to work with a cross-section of employees who were seen as key managers, supervisors and opinion formers to explore the new direction, to fully understand this and to plan firstly how best to communicate the messages to their colleagues.
This was followed by design sessions to run 1.5 day workshops using a NLP framework, working with Ashley Highfield, the New Media Director, to explore the strategic direction, but bringing it down to each person's present and future roles. By mixing the groups with no status it allowed a networking opportunity, business education, team building and personal development to take place.
Each workshop was facilitated by members of the initial design group and this gave greater credibility to the content and direction ensuring this was not seen as an initiative but an integrated part of how New Media works.
To support the Senior Management Team in their leadership through this process, coaches were allocated, which lessened the threat of this approach and helped to accelerate the alignment of the whole division.
For more information please contact:
Peter Harvey
Talent Manager
Direct Line: +44 (0) 121 200 8511
Switchboard: +44 (0) 121 233 5000
