Foster a leadership inspiring culture by investing in Leadership Development

Balanced Scorecard Approach to Performance Management

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP The age of globalization with its complex economic networks of competition, resource supplies and markets has had a profound impact on organizations, the people who work in them, and our every day lives. Corporate success is increasingly linked to building worldwide operations with a global staff, while HR/OD leaders are faced with the challenges associated with HR/OD in a complex and “borderless” world.

Today’s organizations are looking for ways to meet the needs of their workforce and to provide services in the context of a competitive and complex global environment. Leaders must develop strategies to address global awareness issues that may affect the organization’s ability to recruit, retain, and train a talented workforce.

Along with the need to develop a global organizational structure, we must search for a new breed of management - the global manager - someone who knows how to conduct business across borders, thinks with a world view, appreciates diverse beliefs, values, behaviors, and practices and is able to map strategy accordingly. Defining a strategy for global leadership development is key for leading organizations.

The global environment poses many complications. High performers with proven technical skills at home may find their styles and attitudes do not work well overseas. The failure rate of Americans in overseas assignments is high. To succeed the international employee must demonstrate a “global mindset” of cultural adaptability, patience, flexibility, and tolerance. Individuals with the attributes of a global employee are in high demand. The proactive Leader will address issues related to developing and retaining international employees.

The global organization has other complications to overcome. Issues such as: how to develop a framework to deal with multi-cultural differences, how management and how organizational practices vary among the world’s cultures, and how to be familiar the diversity of a multicultural workforce, and how to identify the special demands of international work practices. Addressing issues related to multi-cultural differences and dealing with a multicultural workforce is another important global strategy.

Global strategies must also address the inequities, wages, working conditions, production quotas, benefits, and other employee related needs. In addition, political risks and bureaucratic difficulties further complicate the already difficult process of working across cultural boundaries. Developing global salary and benefits administration policies, combined with creating policies dealing with political risks and bureaucratic difficulties is another extremely critical HR strategy.

Likewise, a global leader must have the ability to gather from the world at large the knowledge required for long-term organizational adaptation. An approach for developing a global strategy is to research “best practices” to identify your current best practices and gaps and then identify the best practice that will benefit your organization in the future.

INTERVENTION PROCESS IOD partners with you to develop global leadership strategies. First we work with a business sponsor to identify critical global strategies. Next we identify global leadership competencies. We help your leaders to build a strong cultural environment with proactive strategies to address key workforce issues that will significantly impact the organization’s success in building complex global operations. We provide coaching to help teams with strategic initiatives to identify a vision and plan for the future with action plans to support the vision. We provide the tools needed to support your organizational needs.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IOD has provided innovative training and organizational development to major organizations for more than 20 years.

We believe leadership development is the single most important investment needed in organizations today. Most organizations have difficulty recruiting, retaining, and developing high performance employees. In a recent study, the number one reason employees quit is because of their manager. Most managers lack the knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to lead the people, processes and technology necessary to achieve a competitive advantage.

We can provide a guaranteed results-oriented Leadership Development Program. Our leadership development program provides participants with opportunities to assess their leadership and team behaviors through challenging learning events and business related activities. The outcome of this learning experience provides participants with opportunities to build stronger leadership and team commitment. Participants will assess their individual developmental needs, determine how to be more effective as a leader, and recognize how to lead and motivate others to achieve outstanding performance.

Our Leadership Programs offer challenging learning events and opportunities to develop leadership skills as individuals and as a team. Leaders of your organization will benefit by learning how to work together to achieve business success, motivate employees, satisfy customers, achieve sustainable growth, and increased ROI and stockholder satisfaction.

Using a wide variety of learning approaches, we identify the leadership needs of your organization to support leadership development.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

• Executive Coaching
  Providing one-on-one coaching for executive development when a skilled manager lacks skills needed. This can follow a leadership development program or precede a formal leadership development program.
   
• Leadership Development
  We partner with you to develop a leadership development program to meet your needs. We use a blended approach to learning which includes: self assessment and feedback, assessment instruments, structured experiences, intensive feedback, skill development, coaching, simulation activities, case studies, job experiences and action learning business challenge issues.
   
• Assessment Centers
  We partner with you to create assessment tools to assess competencies and develop competency based training programs for management and professional development.
   
• Leadership and Supervisor Development Workshops
  We offerbasic and advanced courses in Leadership and Supervisory Development. Topics include communication, planning, organizing, delegating, interviewing, conducting performance discussions, leading teams, decision making, problem solving, coaching, improving performance, managing HR Issues, leadership skills, motivation and empowerment, training others, presentation skills, managing conflict, and negotiation.

360 FEEDBACK AND ASSESSMENT

IOD specializes in providing custom designed 360-degree feedback instruments for all your assessment needs.

• Perception is Reality
  Success stems from knowing how you are perceived by others. A 360º Feedback Assessment provides that information. Discovery 360º Feedback provides a complete process in order to apply the information gained from the report. This 360 has combined many features, making it the most user friendly 360 on the market. Every organization needs to use a 360º Feedback Assessment to achieve the highest productivity from their employees. If you are not using Discovery 360º Feedback, you are not maximizing the full capabilities of 360º Feedback Assessments.
   
• Importance of Feedback
  A 360º Feedback Assessment gathers information from several people about an individual’s effectiveness. This gives a person the unique opportunity to see themselves through the eyes of others. A 360º Feedback Assessment will identify areas in which a person is performing above, at or below the standards of his/her boss, self, peers and customers (if applicable). 360º Feedback Assessments are powerful tools for helping individuals improve, grow and develop their soft (interpersonal) skills. The development of effective soft skills begins with the awareness of ineffective soft skills. A 360º Feedback Assessment shows an individual what others think their performance is versus what it should be. The understanding of others’ perception will increase an individual’s drive for success, when he/she is given the information in a constructive manner such as a 360º Feedback Assessment. For example, performance appraisals can be administered by way of a 360º Feedback Assessment. This allows employees to see the reasoning behind any decision made about their performance and can develop an action plan to improve. In addition, 360’s are an essential component for continued learning and success.
   
• Event vs. Process
  Previous 360º Feedback Assessments have been missing the necessary follow-up strategies to make them effective. Organizations have been using 360’s as one-day training events without follow up. A 360º is intended to be used as a starting point for a developmental process. The Discovery 360º Feedback provides follow-up strategies to ensure one’s success. All 360º Feedback Assessment results should be facilitated in a way that leads to a complete process for improvement. When people look at a 360 as a starting point to an improvement process, they feel more secure with the information given.

Customize Your 360º Feedback Assessments to Fit Your Needs

• Professional Development Plans
• Guide for Survey Question Development
• Guide for Distributing the Surveys
• Guide for Interpreting Feedback
• Provides Measurable Improvement
• Diverse Selection of Soft Skill Areas

For each of the above survey categories the following seven feedback reports can be generated

• Category Report
• Individual Practices Report
• Overview Report
• Summary Report
• Comparative Report
• Organizational Report
• Training Report
  
  

ACTION LEARNING Using an Action Learning approach is a high-leverage real time learning methodology that can help organizations achieve practical business results and move forward with organizational change.

Many organizations are eager to find ways to respond to uncertainty and change, while achieving enhanced leadership, productivity, team performance and individual capability. Action Learning has become one of the most powerful tools available for organizations to solve problems, develop leaders, build teams, and create a thirst for learning through action.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF ACTION LEARNING

1. Real Learning, Real Results
   Learning and action occur in the context of solving significant organizational problems. High impact measurable results are built-in to the action learning process for individuals, for teams and the whole organization.
    
2. Asking Questions
   The most powerful questions in action learning lead to greater insight, new ideas, and deeper understanding. Within great questions are the seed of great solutions.
    
3. Flexibility
   The design of an Action Learning program is highly flexible and can be tailored to the unique needs, goals, and culture of an organization. Significant work and progress is accomplished — while time away form the actual job is greatly reduced.
    
4. Built on Many Disciplines
   Action Learning is powerful because it doesn’t rely on a single philosophy or approach. Rather, it draws upon best theory and practices of many disciplines including: adult learning, systems theory, industrial psychology, organizational behavior, cognitive psychology, and management sciences.

Action Learning is identified by Six Essential Components that research and continuous practice has shown to guarantee success:

1. A sponsor identifies an critical business issue, problem, task, project
2. Select a group of 4-8 qualified people
3. Retain an Action Learning Coach
4. Gain commitment to take action
5. Establish a process of reflective questioning and listening
6. Focus on learning
7. Meet regularly for up to six months

Who Uses Action Learning?
Action Learning is used widely by organizations of all sizes, industries, and locations. Among the private sector firms using action learning are: GE. Advance Auto, Citibank, Honeywell, Astra Zenica, Volvo, Merck, Boeing, Northrop, Marriott International, and Sodexho. Examples of public sector organizations using action learning include: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. Even non-profit and academic institutions such as Virginia's Fairfax County Public School system and George Washington University have introduced action learning with great success.

How are they using Action Learning?
Action Learning Teams are formed whenever there is an organizational challenge that can best be addressed by bringing a group of talented manager together to determine the best solution. Action Learning Teams work on issues such as business issues, realigning the organization, change management, six sigma, mergers and acquisitions, leadership development for succession planning, coaching high potentials, integrated team development, virtual team development. These are a few examples of how organizations have used Action Learning.

Action Learning Intervention
If your organization is ready to learn through action, our team of OD consultants can assist you in designing and implementing a unique action learning initiative to help you build individual and team strength while solving real-time business challenges.

Action Learning is the process that helps organizations respond to critical business issues and opportunities, and at the same time develop key people to have the capacity to lead organizations in the desired strategic direction.

Using a practical, hands-on approach, we will partner with you to design and implement an Action Learning Program to meet your needs. Leadership Teams are selected based on the needed for professional development — Executive Teams, High Potential Leadership Teams, Cross Functional Leaders, Change Management Teams, etc.

Teams usually meet 2 days a month for up to six months. Throughout the entire action learning process, we provide Action Learning coaches to work with teams and individuals to implement their solutions, provide feedback and coaching, and skill development when needed. We provide one-on-one coaching in between scheduled sessions to ensure teams and individuals stay on track.

We offer Action Learning Coaching Workshops — to prepare others in their role as Action Learning Coaches, we provide Action Learning Coaching Training. Participants complete a self -development plan, attend several coaching workshops, and complete 3 interventions, receiving one-on-one coaching from another AL Coach to complete their certification. Action Learning Coaches receive an Action Learning Toolkit upon completion of their certification.