According to a 2017 survey by Deloitte of more than 10,000 human resource professionals, the percentage of firms offering experiential programs to their developing leaders jumped from 47 percent in 2015 to 64 percent in 2017.
Some of these programs are quite exotic and all of them are quite expensive. From survival journeys, through adventures in herding wild horses to challenging 3D games, companies are laying down big dollars to try to develop leaders experientially. All of these have questionable outcomes and many doubt that they are getting the job done.
There are however a few savvy companies that have found a less costly and more effective way. According to a joint study completed in 2018 by the Institute for Corporate Productivity and Elevate, a number of companies considered to be top performers in their respective industries leverage their employee resource groups to help their team members to experientially develop a variety of leadership skills important in today’s business environment. For example, in addition to learning how to manage budgets and deliver presentations, here are just a few of the other things leaders and members of these groups learn:
- How to manage challenging real-world projects
- How to communicate and work across cultures
- How to be a strategic thinker and planner
- How to market and brand groups, products services and people
- How to influence others
- How to build a coalition of supporters for an effort
- How to work with the media
- How to prepare a succession plan
That’s the topic we explore in this 4th episode of ERG PowerTalk. Join me and my guests Simone Morris CEO of Simone Morris LLC, David Casey a highly respected diversity and inclusion leader whose career includes leading diversity and inclusion efforts at CVS Health and Anthem, and Theo Bowling with LPL Financial whose role as Assistant Vice President of Learning and Development and Diversity and Inclusion formally links these two key components for breeding new leaders.
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