Scaling leadership development case study final

CASE STUDY

SCALING leadership development

Helping an iconic New Zealand company enhance the performance, wellbeing, and development of its people

Case Study: Scaling Leadership Development

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Why Many Leadership Development Programmes Don’t Work.………6

The Need to Democratise Leadership Development……………………………7

Leadership Development Programme Design Considerations…………9

The Benefits of Scale………………………………………………………………………………………..10

The Impact………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14

How to Introduce Democratised Coaching to Your Organisation.….16

References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17

About Spring………………………………………………………………………………………………………18

springleadership.com Page of 2 19

http://springleadership.com


Introduction

In a world of unprecedented uncertainty, complexity, change, and anxiety, how are you keeping your people motivated and productive?

One thing seems clear: whatever got you here, probably won’t get you to where you want to go next.

The context of work and organisations has changed and the world of leadership and people development must adapt accordingly.

Traditionally, organisations have been reluctant to invest in coaching for anyone other than the most senior tiers (or the most significant problems). Time, cost, and hassle have created barriers that have restricted the widespread use of this impactful intervention.

But times have changed.

In this case study, based on an 18-month development programme we delivered for one of our clients*, we’ll demonstrate how a smartly designed, democratised coaching programme significantly reduced overheads while delivering numerous positive impacts for both individuals and the organisation.

*The name of the client organisation has been withheld to protect confidentiality




If change has become constant, shouldn’t your leadership development initiatives be, too?




Executive summary

The Challenge:

Support employee wellbeing, engagement, and development during a period of significant uncertainty, change, and organisational restructuring.

The Outcome:

The client organisation attributed a rise in engagement scores and decreases in employment relation cases, performance management and manager issues with the positive impact of Spring’s democratised coaching programme.

Individual participants reported benefits such as: • Improved relationships and communication (which led to

new sales) • Increased confidence and self-awareness • Improved wellbeing • Enhanced team leadership.

What is a democratised coaching programme?

A democratised coaching programme is one that is open and accessible to anyone who wants to participate – not just the senior leaders. People can choose to be coached on an as-needed basis without the need to seek permission or to get individual budget sign-off (thereby reducing barriers to participation and the amount of employee time spent in approval meetings).

This open access enables people at any level of the organisation to use coaching as a springboard for their growth and creating change. The wide-scale reach, and ongoing subscription delivery model, makes democratised coaching a great fit for supporting individuals in navigating complexity and uncertainty so they can continually probe-sense-respond1 and create positive ripple effects2 in every corner of the organisation.


About the c"ent

Industry: Professional Services Total NZ employees: ~3,000 Locations: NZ and international

Service: Spring’s Democratised (subscription) Coaching Programme Coaching sessions delivered each month: 26 Programme duration: 18 months

Between November 2018 and April 2020, over 300 people

participated in the 468 coaching sessions

that were offered.


https://www.springleadership.com/agile-leadership-development







Why Many leadership development prog#mMes don’t work

What comes to mind when you think about leadership development? An offsite team retreat? A training course delivered by an expert in a particular leadership tool or model? An executive programme at a prestigious university?

Unfortunately, after many programmes like these, participants (and their sponsors) find the initial excitement and energy that is generated quickly peters out as people return to business as usual. Much of what was learned is forgotten or unable to be acted upon at all.3,4 What’s going on?

Here are four key reasons why much of what’s touted as leadership development doesn’t actually develop leaders:

Too info$ationalWhen programmes focus heavily on transmitting content and information to participants, they’re likely to be “informative” rather than “transformative”.5 From a developmental perspective, the leader is the content and focusing on transforming their mindsets, working on their “inner game”, and increasing their mental complexity is what truly increases their capacity to lead effectively.4,6

Too DISCONNECTEDMany leadership programmes take place outside the context of the leaders’ day-to-day work environment, neglecting the organisational system they’re embedded in and stakeholders they’re in relationship with. This disconnect fails to help leaders adapt to and influence the specific culture and interpersonal dynamics they’re faced with.3,4

Too COMFORTABLEMost leadership programmes don’t provide enough of the right kind of “heat” required to stimulate development.7 Learning new theories and concepts may be interesting but it rarely results in the behaviour change required to become a more effective leader. Changing behaviour is often hard and uncomfortable as it requires us to challenge our existing beliefs, identities, and ways of being.3

Too shortWhen leadership programmes are designed as events rather than ongoing processes, they often fail to have the desired impact. Short-term programmes may provide a temporary boost but results often peter out as they’ve failed to instil the new habits required for sustained change.8


‘Too much time is spent delivering information and content and not enough on the hard work of developing the leaders themselves.

Most leaders already know what they should be doing; what they lack is the personal development to do it.’

– N. Petrie, Developing Leaders for a Complex World (CCL)8



The need to democ#tise leadership development

Who receives leadership development investment and executive coaching in your organisation?

Traditionally, coaching and leadership development have been available to “high potentials”, senior leaders, and possibly team and middle managers.

But given the rate of change in today’s world, how well does this approach contribute to creating thriving, anti-fragile organisations that are fit for the future?

Recent research indicates an urgent need for a new approach to growing all peoples’ capacities to navigate and lead in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world.

For example, more than 50 percent of senior leaders believe that their talent development efforts don’t adequately build critical skills and organisational capabilities.9

And because work is largely done in teams – many of which are ad hoc, project-based, and cross-functional – it’s become increasingly necessary to develop people at all levels of the organisation.


‘There is also a growing recognition that leadership development should not be restricted to the few who are in or close to the C-suite.

With the proliferation of collaborative problem-solving platforms and digital “adhocracies” that emphasize individual initiative, employees across the board are increasingly expected to make consequential decisions that align with corporate strategy and culture.’

– M. Moldoveanu and D. Narayandas, The Future of Leadership Development (HBR)9

de·moc·ra·tize (verb): to make democratic; to make socially equal rather than exclusive or elitist;

to make broadly available to all people



*This was especially important given research indicates that downsizing a workforce by just 1% can lead to a 31% increase in voluntary turnover the next year with survivors experiencing a 41% decline in job satisfaction, a 36% decline in organisational commitment, and a 20% decline in job performance.10


C"ent cHAlLENGES & Objectives

Challenges: • Supporting employee wellbeing,

engagement, and development while undertaking a significant restructure designed to adapt the organisation to a changing market*

Objectives: • Enhance manager capability • Broaden employees’ understanding

and practice of leadership • Support people in their development • Elevate employee wellbeing



Leadership development prog#mME design CONSIDERATIONS

It’s clear there’s a need to develop people at all levels of the organisation. But how?

Here are five keys to designing a successful leadership development programme in today’s uncertain and rapidly changing times:


12

34

5

Persona"sed & relevantLeadersh ip development needs to be personalised and relevant to real work in order to ensure that learnings can be used (and embedded) immediately to address the specific situations and challenges individuals are currently facing.3,11

Provides COACHINGCoaching delivered by developmentally mature and qualified coaches12 has been shown in numerous research studies to have a significant positive effect on a range of outcomes.2,13,14 S u c c e s s f u l l e a d e r s h i p d e v e l o p m e n t programmes provide coaching that encourages introspection and self-discovery.15

Ongoing PROCESSLeadership development isn’t an event. It’s an ongoing process of practice, reflection, and integration. Having timely, ongoing support available for people to access is crucial for helping them continuously improve, grow, and navigate real-world challenges as they arise.8

Addresses mindsetsMounting evidence indicates that leadership development should encompass both horizontal and vertical development and it’s therefore become increasingly crucial that initiatives work on the underlying mindsets required to change behaviour.8,11

Broadly accEssible Leadership development interventions have been proven time and again to be more successful when they cover the whole organisation and reach all levels.15



The benefits of SCALE

SaveD Time & Money

The benefits of executive and leadership coaching are well-proven.2,13,14 However, the traditional way coaching is rolled out - to one person at a time, for a limited period of time - tends to be very inefficient (for both the client organisation and the coach). The significant investment of time and money required to implement coaching in this way has restricted it from being used more broadly.

For example, on the client side there tend to be approval meetings between the potential coachee and their manager and/or HR; a search for potential coaches; “chemistry checks” between the coachee and potential coaches; proposal reviews and contract sign-off; admin related to scheduling and invoicing. All that’s before any coaching’s even been delivered - and the whole process is repeated again anytime another coaching engagement is implemented!

Given these inefficiencies, it’s not uncommon for a traditional coaching engagement to have a ratio of 1:1 of coaching to overheads (i.e. for every 1h of coaching that’s delivered, there’s another 1h of time the client organisation spends on admin and other non-coaching activities related to running the engagement).

Democratised coaching programmes that run as a monthly subscription service provide enormous efficiencies due to: • one single approval process being all that’s needed for anyone in the organisation that wants to participate to join in • individuals being able to directly select their preferred coach - or trial multiple coaches - based on their personal needs and

preferences • the establishment of streamlined systems that can facilitate participation at any scale (e.g. the online scheduling system).


Resear%-proven benefits of COA%ing

Coaching has been found to have a significant positive effect on:

• Transformational leadership2 • Goal attainment2 • Psychological wellbeing2

• Individual performance, skills, and behaviour13,14

• Team performance14 • Productivity14 • Employee job satisfaction14



On average, our democratised coaching programme clients experience an over 70 percent reduction in overheads. That represents many hours of time back for everyone from the programme sponsor, the L&D or People & Culture team, and individual employees throughout the organisation.

Since programme approval and systems set-up is fixed regardless of whether one person or thousands of people participate, the longer the programme and the larger the scale, the better value it becomes.


✔ DEMOCRATISED COACHING PROGRAMME✗ TRADITIONAL COACHING PROGRAMME



REDUCED Bar&ers

In a traditional coaching program, people who want coaching may not get approval for it (e.g. they may not have a supportive manager) and people who don't want it may feel forced to participate.

In a democratised programme, individuals that want coaching opt-in without the need to seek permission (reducing barriers to participation and saving time). This broad access enables everyone - including unidentified talent - to use the programme as a springboard for growth and creating change.

RICHER INSIGHTS

Democratised coaching programmes can also provide richer insights than is often gleaned from individual coaching engagements. The large volume of sessions means individual confidentiality can still be maintained while data is anonymised and aggregated so that any patterns and themes that might be important for the organisation to address can become clear.

WELL-SUITED TO COMPLEX CONTEXTS

Positive ripple effects2 are created amidst complexity as the democratised coaching programme continuously “nudges the system” of the broader organisation, facilitating ongoing adaptation and growth by encouraging individuals to probe-sense-respond1 to their environment.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

Examples of the performance benefits of democratised leadership development programmes include: • Organisations with successful leadership development programmes have been shown to be six to

seven times more likely than their less successful pees to pursue interventions that cover the whole organisation.15

• Democratised leadership initiatives have been found to be four times as common in well-led organisations than poorly-led ones and well-led organisations are over two times as likely to have superior financial performance.16





How the SERVICE Helped

A few of the client’s favourite features of Spring’s Democratised Coaching Programme included: • Custom online portal (in the client’s

branding) s t reaml ined appointment scheduling and made participation simple

• Done-for-you comms templates made it easy for the programme sponsor and People & Culture team to announce and launch the programme

• Professional 1-on-1 coaching with external, highly qualified, ICF Credentialed coaches provided employees with independent sounding boards as well as effective, ongoing developmental support

• A transparent monthly subscription provided the client with predictability around its cash flow

• Q u a r t e r l y i n s i g h t r e p o r t s s h a r e d anonymised, aggregated trends from the coaching sessions so the programme sponsor and People team could keep their finger on the pulse of the organisation.

Sample custom online resource portal

Sample quarterly insight report







The Impact

Below is a selection of the benefits the client experienced.

Benefits for the C"ent Or'nisation

• Increased engagement (This was especially significant given the organisation was going through a restructure, which included layoffs.)

• Decreased ER, performance management, and manager issues • Increased agility (The program continuously supported people’s adaptation

and wellbeing during a period of significant organisational change.) • Improved performance (The efficiency and effectiveness of the programme

boosted employees’ performance leading to improved client relationships and new sales.)

Benefits for the People & Culture Team

• Time saved (A single program sign-off enabled hundreds of employees to experience coaching; reduced workload related to ER and performance issues freed the P&C team up to work on more strategic matters.)

• Deep insights into the organisation (The scale of the programme enabled patterns and themes arising in the organisation to be reported on, while maintaining individuals’ confidentiality. These insights generated through the coaching programme were found to match the client’s organisation-wide engagement survey results and added a richness to the data, providing context to how employees were feeling and why.)

• A streamlined portfolio (Since each coaching session was tailored to each individual employee’s needs, many domains were covered through this single programme. From leadership development to interpersonal relationships to careers to wellbeing, the democratised coaching programme provided ongoing support for a range of topics, which enabled a simplified L&D portfolio.)


The C"ent’s Results

The programme was highly praised by participants and the client reported many measurable improvements including:

• ↑ Employee engagement • ↑ Manager performance • ↓ Employment relations cases • ↓ Performance management issues • ↑ Client relationships and sales



Benefits for Individual Participants

• Tailored support (Whatever the specific dilemmas an individual was currently facing, the coaching session was customised to meet their needs.)

• A confidential, independent sounding board (Participants regularly expressed gratitude for the organisation providing access to external coaches as this helped create a safe space for sharing their experiences, thoughts, and ideas.)

• A way forward (Instead of remaining stuck in a problematic status quo, participants used the coaching sessions as a space to safely raise the difficult challenges they were facing so they could finally find a way to address them.)




How to InTRODUCE democ#tised COACHING to your or'nisation

Step 1: Diagnose your or'nisation’s readiness• Are senior leaders visible, vocal advocates for the coaching

programme? (Ideally, they will participate in the coaching programme themselves.)

• Is the programme sponsor available for regular check-ins and discussions with the coaching programme provider?

• Is a senior Learning & Development leader designated responsibility for overseeing the programme?

• Has the senior leadership team considered how the democratised coaching programme complements other organisational change initiatives?

• What is going to be different as a result of the coaching? (It’s helpful to be clear about how you are going to evaluate the success of the coaching programme.)

Step 2: Prepa#tion• Develop a communication strategy including different

channels to engage as many team members as possible. • Ensure technology supporting the programme is seamless

and supports the communication strategy. • Select coaches based on their values, experience, credibility,

maturity, expertise, adaptability, and location. • Decide who has access, how often, and for how long.

Step 3: De"very• Programme sponsor, senior L&D team member and

coaching provider meet every quarter to debrief the quarterly report.

• Programme sponsor and senior L&D team member communicate major organisational changes to the coaching provider so coaches can adapt their approaches as needed.




REFERENCES

1 Snowden, D.J., & Boone, M.E. (2007). A leader’s framework for decision making. HBR. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making

2 O’Connor, S., & Cavanagh, M. (2013). The coaching ripple effect: The effects of developmental coaching on wellbeing across organisational networks. Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice, 3(1), 1-23.

3 Gurdjian, P., Halbeisen, T., & Lane, K. (2014, January 1). Why leadership-development programs fail. McKinsey Quarterly. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/why-leadership-development-programs-fail

4 Rowland, D. (2016, October). Why Leadership Development Isn’t Developing Leaders. HBR. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-leadership-development-isnt-developing-leaders

5 Leitch, J., Dawson, M., Wilson, R., Lancefield, D., & Rooke, D. (2015). The hidden talent: Ten ways to identify and retain transformational leaders. PwC. Retrieved from https://osca.co/pubs/pwc-hidden-talent

6 Kegan, R., & Lahey, L.L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

7 Petrie, N. (2015). The How-To of Vertical Leadership Development–Part 2 30 Experts, 3 Conditions, and 15 Approaches. Centre for Creative Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/verticalLeadersPart2.pdf

8 Petrie, N. (2015). The How-To of Vertical Leadership Development–Part 1 Developing Leaders for a Complex World. Centre for Creative Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/VerticalLeadersPart1.pdf

9 Narayandas, M., & Casnocha, R. (2019, March 14). The Future of Leadership Development. HBR. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/

2019/03/educating-the-next-generation-of-leaders#the-future-of-leadership-development

10 Sucher, S., & Gupta, S. (2018, May). Layoffs that Don’t Break Your Company. HBR. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/05/layoffs-that-dont-break-your-company

11 Meinert, D. (2019, April 27). Building Better Leaders. SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/leadership-development.aspx

12 Laske, O. (2020). What does your maturity have to do with that of your client? Some ethics issues in developmental coaching. Retrieved from https://dhp.3e9.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2006d-Why-Maturity-Matters.pdf

13 Theeboom, T., Beersma, B., & van Vianen, A. E. (2014). Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 1-18.

14 De Meuse, K.P., & Dai, G. (2009). The effectiveness of executive coaching: What we can learn from the research literature. The Korn/Ferry Institute. Retrieved from https://www.kornferry.com/content/d a m / k o r n f e r r y / d o c s / a r t i c l e - m i g r a t i o n /T h e % 2 0 Effe c t i v e n e s s % 2 0 o f % 2 0 E x e c u t i v e % 2 0 C o a c h i n g -%20What%20We%20Can%20Learn%20from%20the%20Research%20Literature%20.pdf

15 Feser, C., Nielsen, N., & Rennie, M. (2017, August 1). What’s missing in leadership development?. McKinsey Quarterly. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/whats-missing-in-leadership-development

16 Abelli, H. (2019). The hero leader has exited the stage: 6 truths of leadership development in the digital age. Skillsoft. Retrieved from ht tps ://www2.sk i l l sof t.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Skillsoft_whitepaper_The-Hero-Leader-Has-Exited-the-Stage.pdf


https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making

https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/why-leadership-development-programs-fail



https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-leadership-development-isnt-developing-leaders



https://osca.co/pubs/pwc-hidden-talent

https://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/verticalLeadersPart2.pdf



https://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/VerticalLeadersPart1.pdf



https://hbr.org/2019/03/educating-the-next-generation-of-leaders#the-future-of-leadership-development



https://hbr.org/2018/05/layoffs-that-dont-break-your-company

https://hbr.org/2018/05/layoffs-that-dont-break-your-company

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/leadership-development.aspx



https://dhp.3e9.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2006d-Why-Maturity-Matters.pdf



https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/article-migration/The%20Effectiveness%20of%20Executive%20Coaching-%20What%20We%20Can%20Learn%20from%20the%20Research%20Literature%20.pdf



https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/whats-missing-in-leadership-development



https://www2.skillsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Skillsoft_whitepaper_The-Hero-Leader-Has-Exited-the-Stage.pdf

https://www2.skillsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Skillsoft_whitepaper_The-Hero-Leader-Has-Exited-the-Stage.pdf



About Sp&ng Leadership


Our evolutionary purpose:

We exist to help people grow, to accelerate the deeply needed human development that will enable

us to rise to the challenges of our times.

How we Can help:

- Vertical Development - - Leadership Coaching - - Strategic Facilitation -

- Democratised Coaching Programmes -

For more information visit springleadership.com or email us at [email protected].



mailto:[email protected]




Rea% out to Our Team:


David Bennett +64 21 078 4458

[email protected]

Aenslee Tanner +64 21 029 27 861

[email protected]

Alyson Keller +64 274 840 274

[email protected]

Joanne Ostler +64 21 950 022

[email protected]










Documents

Scaling leadership development case study final