CorpU Weekly Digest: Leadership Development (2012-Jan-16)

Topics: Leadership

Here are this week's headlines in leadership development: 

• (1) Which learning and development methods are most effective to develop a global leadership competency? ;
• (2) Virtual meetings are common in today's global business world, but leading teams through these channels is no walk in the park. Get your leaders to hone the required skills ;
• (3) To identify, attract, fill, and retain corporate leadership talent, companies need to focus on connecting the dots ;
• The Business of Learning: New Major Products, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships
• Books
• Webinars
• Conferences

 Leadership Development

Which learning and development methods are most effective to develop a global leadership competency?
Effective global leaders often stand out in four primary areas: personality traits, values, cultural background and corporate work experiences. In a 2010 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education and Wharton School of Business, answers to these questions were collected from global leadership development practitioners in Western cultures, specifically the United States. The study concluded that when building a global leadership development program, it is recommended that the learning leader uses an integrated approach of: 1) recruiting and succession planning based on the personal attributes; 2) career development based on the global leadership competencies; and 3) Learning and development based on the methods most effective as per competency. For the recruiting and succession planning function, companies should leverage personality traits. For the career development function, a company needs to leverage global leadership competencies, which are similar to personality traits and depend on a global leader's job function. Once the global leadership competencies are clearly defined in career development, the learning function determines the appropriate development methods. Read the article "Building a Global Leadership Pipeline" 

Virtual meetings are common in today's global business world, but leading teams through these channels is no walk in the park. Get your leaders to hone the required skills
With the globalization of business, leaders have to learn to lead teams of individuals they may have never met in person. Even as the growth in social media and communication technologies has made life easier for global leaders, guiding teams is not easy when the comfort of normal human interaction is broken. Such barriers require that managers put extra emphasis on the ability to influence, communicate and plan. CLOs can help build these skills through learning modules and simulations that force teams in virtual environments to find a shared sense of purpose even as they lack shared real estate. Because virtual gatherings are disconnected by the traditional human relationships that are formed when people work together daily, the ability to create a sense of unity and purpose for the team — and for the goals of each meeting or project — is an especially important skill for leaders to acquire. Read the article "How to Lead Effectively in Virtual Environments" 

To identify, attract, fill, and retain corporate leadership talent, companies need to focus on connecting the dots
The most successful leadership development programs work to assure that all phases of a leader's time with a corporation are working in tandem, connecting the dots from hiring & interviewing to ongoing development through succession planning. Speaking on this all important workplace issue, Matthew Rice, Director of Product Marketing for Taleo Corporation, provides a succinct summary to help support a business case for linking efforts. He reiterates the fact that a successful leadership development program begins with alignment to company strategy and an understanding of the leadership styles needed to execute that strategy. The seven steps to leadership development success are: 1) Determine Leadership Style; 2) Identify Your Leaders; 3)Identify Leadership Gaps; 4)Develop Succession Plans; 5)Develop Career Plans; 6)Develop Skills Roadmaps; and 7) Develop Retention Programs. Read "Seven Steps to leadership development — Taleo Corporation"

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 The Business of Learning: New Major Products, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships

No major news in mergers, acquisitions, or product releases.

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 Books To Read

At the top of every organization chart lies a myth — that a Senior Management Team makes a company's critical decisions. The reality is that critical decisions are typically made by the boss and a small group of confidants — a "team with no name" — outside of formal processes. Meanwhile, other members of the management team wonder why they weren't in the room or even consulted ahead of time. The dysfunction that results from this gap between myth and reality has led to years of unproductive team-building exercises. The problems, Frisch shows, are ones of process and structure, not psychology. In the book Who's in the Room: How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them, Bob Frisch (Managing partner of The Strategic Offsites Group) suggests how organizations will get better decisions and superior results by unleashing the full potential of their Senior Management Teams. This book is based on interviews with CEOs at organizations ranging from MasterCard to Ticketmaster to The Red Cross. Buy Now 

What do legendary leaders from Disney, GE, GM, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing, eBay, Microsoft, Intel, Time Warner, Chiquita, WalMart, Pepsi, and Saatchi & Saatchi have in common? They all learned the critical importance of values as managers at Procter & Gamble. And, since departing for leadership roles elsewhere, they've all remained members of the P&G Alumni Network. Now you can share the powerful lessons they learned at P&G. The P&G Alumni Network's When Core Values Are Strategic offers no-nonsense insights into why values really are so important, and practical ways to propagate, strengthen, and act on them. Bringing together contributions from influential P&G alumni worldwide, it offers a legacy to future leaders across organizations of every type and size. Discover why core values are timely, universal, and the secret to long term success on both financial and other metrics; how top CEOs were shaped at P&G to make historic change in energy, aviation, technology, government, transportation, entertainment, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, and other industries; how to build a learning culture that increases shareholder value…why values and marketing initiatives are inseparable; and much more. This book will be an inspiration and practical resource to emerging leaders in organizations of every size and type, in every field or industry. Buy Now

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 Webinars 

Learning Technologies: Transforming Your Workforce
Date: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 1:00pm ET
Presenters: Connie Malamed, publisher of "The E-Learning Coach" blog Register now

A Strategic Approach for selecting an LMS for a SMB (Small and Medium Sized Business) to get ROI
Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST Register now

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 Conferences

Europe's Leading Organizational Learning and Development Conference
Date: 25 to 26 January 2012
Location: London, UK Register now

The Eighth International Conference on eLearning for Knowledge-Based Society eLearning, mLearning, uLearning, and Social Networking
Date: 23 to 24 February 2012
Location: Bangkok, Thailand Register now

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