Running a Global Leadership Programme

Over 10 years ago Greenbank were asked to design and deliver a Leadership Programme, ‘The Practice of Management’ for a US FMCG company. The programme is designed to help managers in the critical areas of leadership, coaching and influencing. Over the years the design has been updated and adapted to the current business needs of the company. The programme is highly participative and practical making it easy for managers to take the learning away and put it into practice. For instance, we use trained actors to support coaching role plays which are based on the typical situations that managers in the company frequently need to face.

The reputation of the programme has grown over the years with many former participants now holding senor positions in the company and the feedback is consistently excellent.

The Need

In 2006 the company introduced a Global Curriculum for their Managers made up of the best development solutions available and ‘The Practice of Management’ was identified as a global programme. It was necessary to develop the capability to deliver the programme in all regions; Asia, Latin America, North America and of course to continue delivery in EMEA. There was recognition that additional tutors would need to have excellent skills and also the personal values that matched those of the company. Consistency of content was also seen as an important factor. Greenbank was asked to work with a small team of internal Learning & Development Consultants to roll out the programme globally.

The Solution

There were three main aspects of the work:

1. Initial pilots of the programme in Asia and North America to ensure the relevance of both the content and style of the programme in those regions
2. Preparation of consistent programme  materials supported with a detailed Facilitators Guide
3. Identification and coaching of Greenbank Associate Partners based in Asia, Latin America and the USA.

• The 2 pilots took place in 2007 and feedback from participants was again very positive. Little adaptation was needed to the core material although we did learn that it was necessary to be sensitive to regional variations in culture and norms. For instance, this meant some re-jigging of the timetable to fit the normal working hours in N. America and  a real sensitivity to the range of cultures within the Asia programme where participants 11 different nationalities. We were also able to recruit actors in Shanghai, Singapore, Rio, Buenos Aires and North America to support the role plays.
• A Facilitators Guide with supporting materials of handouts, PowerPoints, flip charts and tutor reading notes were produced for both internal consultants and new members of the Greenbank team. Small workshops were held to make sure everyone was comfortable with the content and methods of delivery.
• Greenbank Associate Partners based in each of the regions were identified and jointly selected with the client. Briefing and coaching took place both before and after each programme as part of the regular review, evaluation and feedback process.

The Result

We now have a team of 6 Associates who have successfully delivered programmes in Shanghai, Indonesia, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, USA, and South Africa –all with excellent participant and client feedback. Both the internal and external tutor group stay in close contact to share experiences and best practice and to keep up to date with developments in the client’s business and any new thinking around the programme content. The costs for delivery of the programme have been significantly reduced by having tutors located in the Regions whilst standards and consistency have been maintained.