Leadership Development Strategy
At EDC, we think Leadership Development is a business capability. We help organizations create and employ a leadership development strategy aligned with the vision and objectives of the business—clarifying expectations required of leaders to be successful, identifying critical talent pools, and outlining a targeted development portfolio—to create a greater return on their leadership development investment.
CASE
STUDY
A talent cliff meant 40% of our client’s key executives were retiring at once; learn how we transformed their leadership development strategy.
THE CHALLENGE
A lackluster pipeline and a looming talent cliff
The CHRO at a complex organization had a challenge: they were struggling to attract and retain leaders who could balance operational discipline, financial acumen, and the ability to inspire teams. This problem was exacerbated by an upcoming talent cliff—almost 40% of their key executives were slated to retire in the next five years.
While their competitors had been filling their talent pipeline, this company had not. The leaders were on their way out, and their company had no plan or process to replace them. More significantly, they did not have a long-term strategy for growing leaders so that they wouldn’t face the same problem again down the road.
The CHRO knew they needed to invest in leadership development and brought in EDC. Prior to our engagement, the CEO and executive team had encouraged the CHRO to create a new leadership development program. But once we were brought in, we challenged them to expand their view. They needed to stop looking for a short-term solution and start seeing leadership as an organizational capability they could build.
THE SOLUTION
Identify needed capabilities, level up existing leaders and find fresh talent
Our first step with this client was to move through four key questions to establish a narrative for their leadership strategy:
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What type of leadership do we need now and in the future given all that is changing in our business?
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What capabilities should we prioritize given our strategy?
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What groups of people should we invest in?
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How do we accelerate the development of our people so that talent becomes an additional competitive advantage for us?
Through interviews with the executive team and discussions with high-potential talent, as well as reviewing the business strategy and linking external trends, we developed a compelling case for the specific capabilities they needed in their leaders. For this company to remain competitive, they needed inclusive leaders with a global mindset who could develop vision, lead change, manage performance, and build talent.
Our next step was to look at the current roster of leaders already in place. Did they have the right skills? If not, where did they need leaders with those skills? We then helped them focus on a few key priorities to set the organization up for success in the short- and long-term:
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Grow leaders from the inside by investing in would-be leaders—high potentials—before they were in leadership roles. We helped them design a data-based assessment process to objectively identify high-potential talent quickly and accurately.
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Improve cross-training capabilities so their leaders wouldn’t become one-dimensional thinkers. We recommended a formal job rotation program to round out their leadership pipeline since few leaders had multidisciplinary experience.
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Keep managers, directors, and top executives up to speed on industry trends and innovations. We introduced them to thought leaders who could expand their senior team’s perspective on new ideas, and we developed an emerging leader program to develop their future leaders faster.
THE IMPACT
The company is now in the midst of implementing each of these recommendations. The CHRO feels confident that the strategy is comprehensive and that building an “integrated capability” will not only deal with their immediate talent crisis but also set them up for long-term success.
Meet the Team
Stacey Philpot
For over 20 years, Dr. Stacey Philpot has advised some of the world’s most admired companies on how to use leadership development to accelerate growth and increase their competitive advantage. Her work has helped companies such as Apple, Bristol Myers Squibb, General Mills, Harley Davidson, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Nike, PayPal, and Time Warner. Stacey received her doctorate in Organizational Psychology from Rutgers University. Her doctoral research explored how early family experiences influence women’s career expectations and selection of work roles.
Cade Cowan
Cade is known for his insightful understanding of leadership in today’s ambiguous environment. He began developing leaders as Director at Coca-Cola University’s Bottling Investments Group and has subsequently worked with executives, CEOs and boards from Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Walmart, Aetna, PayPal, Johnson & Johnson, and more. He is the co-author of Leader: Balancing Contradictory Answers to Unsolvable Problems, published by Jossey-Bass in 2014.
Perceptive experts.
Collaborative partners.
Lindsey Hayes
For nearly 20 years, Lindsey has helped companies better know, grow, and leverage talent to enable their business strategy and growth. Her experiences as a corporate Talent executive, business HR leader, and senior leadership consultant help her deliver solutions that combine business insight, talent theory, and pragmatic execution. She has worked with global leaders across various industries, including Nike, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Bumble, BASF, Harley-Davidson, McDonald’s, ITW and Endeavor.