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Leadership Development Case Study


(Note: We did this program with our partners at LSA Global)

Background

An industry leader in the real estate investment market decided to capitalize on this slow economic period by developing their existing and future leaders while simultaneously improving their business operations.

Goal

The goal of the program was to develop the next generation of leaders that would significantly grow the company and maintain the philosophy and culture created by the company founders. Specific objectives were to:

Challenge

The Leadership Development Program design needed to address the following challenges:

Approach

An action learning format provided the foundation of the program. Participants worked in cross-functional teams, with a goal of providing a significant contribution to the company's bottom line or competitive position. Teams progressed through the phases of a major project while they received just-in-time training, coaching, mentoring, and the tools necessary to succeed. The teams of three went through the following steps over the course of six months:

During the course of the project, each team was supported by an executive mentor who provided significant knowledge to the team about their project focus, company politics, and how to keep on track. Each team also had an NEO sponsor—the CEO, the President, or the Chief Risk Officer, each meeting with their assigned team on a regular basis to provide strategic guidance.

Results

The Leadership Development Program produced significant results across three dimensions: business results, leadership maturation, and organizational learning.

Business Results

Leadership Maturation

The most profound and meaningful learning for the participants were their own reflections based on their experiences at each stage of their project. While they learned about theories, methods and tools that could help them, their biggest “A-ha's” came from breakthroughs in their own thinking, or from the consequences of their actions, as evidenced by the comments below.

Participants identified the following key areas of learning:

Organizational Learning

The breadth of the opportunities addressed in this program required involvement from nearly the entire company, and expanded the cross-functional learning and discovery process to all employees who were involved. As participants learned what they could achieve by acting as leaders, so did all who were tangentially involved in the projects.

Action Learning Results

Finally, the following participant quotes attest to the success of the action learning format in developing new leaders: