A group of General Mills' senior managers recently had a chance to interact with one of history's great explorers -- Sir Ernest Shackleton, who had to abandon his ship, the Endurance, trapped in the ice of the Antarctic waters, in November 1915 and then led one of the most famous and dangerous missions in history to rescue his crew.
Shackleton, played by a New York actor, was part of a program held every two to three years by General Mills called "Building Great Leaders." Groups of the company's 500 top managers take a day to individually sit down with a human resources manager, review results of their 360-degree feedback and two personality assessments, then listen to a senior vice president address leadership issues. As a result of these discussions, managers take the development plans they have brought with them and modify them based on this information. Later, managers take part in the two-hour theatrical experience set up in press-conference format to explore the themes of what makes a great leader.
"We communicate with the participants' managers after the course to ensure that there is dialog and discussion after the program," reports Beth Gunderson, director of organizational effectiveness at General Mills.
The "Building Great Leaders" program is just one part of the leadership development program at General Mills, but it is indicative of the company's wholesale commitment to developing leaders throughout their careers and to making mentoring and other development activities an important part of each manager's responsibilities. The reason is fairly simple, according to Gunderson. Based on the company's internal and external research, she states, "If you have better leaders, you will see better business results."
Faced with a harsh economy and the need to conserve cash, many companies trimmed severely or even eliminated their leadership training programs in the past couple years. Plenty of other companies have no real program for identifying and developing talent. But mounting evidence shows these companies are putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
In May 2009, Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute and Oracle conducted a survey of large manufacturing organizations. While 55% of companies with top-quartile profitability rated themselves "high" in linking their people strategy to their business strategy, only 30% of the companies in the bottom quartile of profitability did so.
In 2009, Hewitt Associates conducted the most recent of five studies dating back to 2002 looking at talent management and leadership practices. This research shows a link between financial success and leadership practices such as comprehensive succession planning and the dedication of senior leaders to talent development.
Earlier this year, the American Management Association commissioned the Institute for Corporate Productivity to conduct a study on global leadership development. The study found a "significant statistical correlation" between the degree to which respondents said their firms have global leadership development programs and improved market performance.
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