As part of the never-ending quest to increase speed to market, the senior management of a Fortune 500 corporation (50,000 employees, gross annual revenues of several billion dollars) turned their attention to their data management department...
This department of 125 people (ranging from data entry personnel to statisticians) maintained important contact with the governmental regulatory agencies and had every research activity of the entire company passing through their hands at some point in time. Senior management believed that increasing the productivity of this department would have a major positive impact on speed to market and the company's future success.
They made the decision to focus on the professional development of the 25 managers within the department. Most of these managers had been promoted based on their technical excellence; few had training as managers and supervisors.
The Desired OutcomeThe company wanted to create a fast-track development plan for the 25 managers that was aligned with the management philosophy of the company. To accomplish this, the company decided to bring in external expertise, and the contract was awarded to CPD. The company also placed priority on utilizing in-house organisation development resources where available, partly for the cost savings, and partly to assure continuity between the work in this particular department and the larger effort to build an efficient corporate culture, so they asked CPD to partner with internal resources.
The CPD SolutionThere were three components to the needs assessment.
As part of the first component, we held meetings and interviews with senior management to determine key issues and priorities for the data management department and its managers. We also used the interviews to define the evidence procedures for evaluating whether managers were appropriately developed and whether the department was functioning efficiently internally and with key stakeholders. Also, we spent this time identifying 'key stakeholders' who would be a part of a broader needs assessment process.
The second component was a comprehensive needs assessment with the key stakeholders. We developed a questionnaire and conducted personal interviews to gather further information on key issues, priorities, potential solutions, and measurement of results.
The third component was the design and implementation of a 360° multi-rater for the 25 managers. CPD designed a 52-item leadership and management multi-rater based on the input from the previous interviews and responses from the questionnaire. This multi-rater covered the following seven areas:
These 52 items and seven business areas formed the metrics used to monitor and determine the effectiveness of the project.
Phase II—This phase of the management development process focused on getting procedures and mechanisms in place to facilitate the management of a tough workload successfully. Together, the company and we identified and prioritised the skills needed for creating and managing those procedures. We identified the following skills development priorities:
Phase III—The third phase involved ongoing checks on the development process and coaching of the managers. We used feedback in this phase both to guide the individual managers as well as to adjust the three-year plan as it evolved to ensure that the managers developed the prioritised skills. We identified a second tier of skills for managers to develop if there was time. These skills included:
The ResultsThis was planned as a three-year project. The project team established metrics to monitor progress on six-month intervals. By the end of the second year, the project team determined that all of the goals and objectives had been met. The project was completed in a shorter time period than anticipated and had cost the company a 25% less than originally budgeted. Furthermore, during a major initiative implemented by the company a year later, this department ranked among the highest in the company in implementation of the speed to market change effort. Five years later, this department continues to meet its targets in a timely fashion, and its managers receive high marks on their in-house management and leadership 360° valuations.