• News
• : April 17, 2024

The Center for Creative Leadership and The Financial Academy Join Forces to Propel Leadership Excellence in KSA’s Financial Sector

We are thrilled to announce a partnership between the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, a top-ranked global leadership organization, and The Financial Academy (TFA), a leading organization in developing human capabilities in the financial sector in Saudi Arabia. This partnership marks a pivotal moment in the pursuit of leadership excellence within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s financial sector landscape.

Over the past few years, CCL and TFA have collaborated extensively to create and launch the Future Financial Leadership Program (FFLP)—a cutting-edge initiative tailored to further develop leadership effectiveness in the financial sector of Saudi Arabia. Explore the current open programs:

Future Financial Leadership Program (FFLP)

Emerging Leaders Program (ELP)

The success of the initial pilot program has led to the launch of multiple cohorts, reflecting a shared commitment between CCL and TFA to advancing leadership capabilities within this sector.

This commitment represents a strategic investment toward Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030, where the financial sector plays a crucial role in driving the nation’s economic growth.

As the Saudi Arabia seeks to meet its Vision 2030 objectives, TFA has identified the need to expedite leadership development across the financial sector domain. In recognition of this shared vision, CCL has been chosen as the primary partner for leadership development services. Over the past year, both organizations have collaborated with the aim of cultivating robust leadership across the sector.

“The strategic partnership between CCL and TFA aims to bring more value to the financial sector in KSA and help drive the leadership capabilities in service to the ambitious transformation journey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” says Mana Alkhamsan, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Academy.

This partnership is not just a collaboration; it’s a strategic alliance focused on shaping the future of leadership in the financial sector. By combining the expertise of TFA in financial education with CCL’s globally recognized leadership development services, we are poised to empower leaders who will drive innovation, foster growth, and contribute significantly to the realization of Vision 2030.

Commenting on the partnership, Hamish Madan, Vice President & Managing Director for EMEA at CCL, says: “Through our strategic partnership with TFA, we aim to support and empower leaders of the financial sector in KSA, and reinforce our commitment to the nation’s growth and journey towards global excellence”.

We look forward to sharing new and exciting developments as CCL and TFA embark on this transformative journey to empower the leaders in Saudi Arabia’s financial sector.

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About The Financial Academy (TFA)

The Financial Academy began operating in 1965 in the field of training and professional development. In addition to its experience in offering professional certificates, its services cover all sub-sectors related to the financial sector: banking, insurance, financing, and capital market, as well as relevant bodies and new graduates wishing to join the financial sector. Learn more about TFA.

About the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®

At the Center for Creative Leadership, our drive to create a ripple effect of positive change underpins everything we do. For 50+ years, we’ve pioneered leadership development solutions for everyone from frontline workers to global CEOs. Consistently ranked among the world’s top providers of executive education, our research-based programs and solutions inspire individuals in organizations across the world — including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — to ignite remarkable transformations. Learn more about CCL.

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The post The Center for Creative Leadership and The Financial Academy Join Forces to Propel Leadership Excellence in KSA’s Financial Sector appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study
• : Banking & Financial Services

SGX Group Partners With CCL to Boost Remote Worker Engagement by Building Internal Coaching Skills & Capacity

CLIENT:	Singapore Exchange Group (SGX)
LOCATION:	Singapore
SIZE:	1,100 employees

Client Profile & Challenge

Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) is Asia’s leading and trusted securities and derivatives market infrastructure, operating equity, fixed income, currency, and commodity markets to the highest regulatory standards. SGX is committed to facilitating economic growth in a sustainable manner, leveraging its roles as a key player in the ecosystem, a business, a regulator, and a listed company.

Based in Singapore, SGX is Asia’s most international multi-asset exchange, providing listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository, and data services. The organization is globally recognized for its risk management and clearing capabilities.

When the COVID-19 pandemic sent SGX’s workers home, it transformed how the company operated day-to-day and raised new opportunities and challenges for senior executives and managers.

In an environment where the person-to-person connections were only virtual, company leaders sought guidance on how to better engage employees. Based on feedback from employee surveys, members of the company’s executive management team saw a need to be more accessible and inspiring in the difficult period of the pandemic. Frontline managers, in turn, needed to establish a sense of community and connection with their teams working from home to better engage employees.

SGX scaled up digital learning at work and sought to amplify employees’ ability to transfer that learning to business applications. For deeper learning to occur, employees need to feel psychologically safe and highly connected. For SGX, it was people managers who had the most potential to create a space where employees were engaged and felt safe to better learn and apply those learnings to the business.

Solution and Results

SGX partnered with The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® to develop a coaching mindset and skills that would increase the leadership impact of managers and executives. The initiative had 2 main goals:

1. Create a cadre of internal coaches who would provide ongoing coaching to employees.
2. Develop an impactful coaching experience for senior leaders and high potentials embedded in intensive development programs.

SGX viewed coaching as a transformative leadership tool because of how its benefits could ripple through the organization and reach all groups the company was concerned about: senior leaders, people managers, and frontline workers.

CCL drew on its Better Conversations and Coaching curriculum to train about 40 senior leaders as internal coaches. The SGX and CCL teams worked closely to handpick and identify senior leaders with a developmental focus.

Across 2 levels of Better Conversations and Coaching, each with about 30 hours of training time, participant coaches learned 4 foundational skills:

• Listen to understand.
• Ask powerful questions.
• Challenge and support.
• Establish next steps and accountability.

Participants learned to use these skills in their day-to-day interactions, as well as in formal coaching sessions. Participants also received small group coaching from more experienced coaches.

CCL and SGX partnered to foster an internal community of coaches at SGX who support each other. Coaches met every quarter to share success stories and learnings. These high-impact sessions deepened reflection and advanced the learning among the leader coaches.

This program has created significant coaching capacity among the senior leaders of the organization and generated valuable opportunities for mid-level and frontline leaders to receive coaching. The leader coaches started by coaching their direct teams; some leaders also coach cross-functionally.

The prestigious Management Associate program at SGX was another opportunity to leverage senior leaders’ coaching capacity. A set of leaders from the group of 40 were assigned as mentors to the Management Associates through a structured six-month program. The goal was to provide every management associate with an internal coaching and mentoring opportunity.

SGX has successfully cultivated a comprehensive learning environment that prioritizes coaching and development, thereby fostering a robust learning culture. This strategic approach has led to a significant increase in employee engagement survey results on learning & development, surpassing industry norms. The company’s commitment to learning and development has resulted in employees feeling more engaged at work.

As SGX strengthens its culture and implements new business initiatives, senior leaders are better prepared to act as change coaches and culture ambassadors to continue the SGX growth story.

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BY THE NUMBERS
A post-program employee survey showed measurable increases in favorable engagement scores:
75%	reported their managers keep them informed about what is happening at SGX.
67%	said management shows a genuine interest in employee career aspirations.
67%	said managers are great role models of SGX behaviors.
70%	believe their job performance is evaluated fairly.

Participants Say

“[The training] provided some tools and techniques in helping the coach to engage and allow a more productive engagement with the coachee. It is particularly useful as the roleplay reinforces what was taught.”

Program Participant

Wholesale Markets & Platforms

“Using an analogy, coaching is like learning how to cook a dish: You may know the basics after the course, but mastering the process is a lifelong journey. There is always room for improvement.” 

Program Participant

Human Resources

Partner With Us

We can work with you to create a customized solution that builds coaching capacity among your leaders, leading to a stronger coaching culture across your organization.

Learn More

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The post SGX Group Partners With CCL to Boost Remote Worker Engagement by Building Internal Coaching Skills & Capacity appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study
• : Banking & Financial Services

Pan-African Banking Institution Drives Digital Transformation With Leadership Development

CLIENT:	Pan-African banking institution
LOCATION:	Presence in 35 African countries and listed on 3 stock exchanges
SIZE:	Over 15,000 employees from 43 nationalities

Client Profile & Challenge

One of the largest banking groups in Africa had expanded its footprint through acquisitions. Shifting industry dynamics meant that the group had to move swiftly to integrate businesses and adopt key technologies, and also to meet growing customer demands for digital banking services. Acceleration of growth would require building the best banking platform in Africa.

The organization required a digital strategy combined with a leadership response to deliver business impact. Drivers of the strategy included increased digitization to improve customer experience, new distribution channels, operational efficiencies, and the need to invest in areas that offered a competitive advantage.

While the bank had a Leadership Academy that provided development to managers, traditional approaches to leadership development would no longer meet the organization’s needs. The Leadership Academy needed an updated approach that was business-focused, with the ability to provide managers with an agile mindset and upskill them to drive innovation and digital transformation.

Solution 

CCL partnered with the bank’s Leadership Academy to develop a new middle management program that combined 3 critical elements:

• “Decoding” the bank’s strategic imperatives,
• Leadership behaviors that focused on business growth and leadership mindset, and
• Business acceleration projects that allowed participants to apply their new knowledge and drive digital transformation within their teams.

The purpose of the program was to shift the organization’s leadership paradigms (mindset, competency set, and tool set) in a way that would support a digital-first strategy, enhance culture, and drive efficiencies.

The first phase included 2 days of in-person training, which started with participants hearing from the Regional Managing Director on strategic ‘must get right areas’ in the business that informed the ideation process and kicked off the innovation sprint. This enabled participants to identify and prototype business acceleration initiatives to form part of the “must-win” imperatives for their region. The activity helped instill a “can-do” leadership mindset, demonstrating how the right approach could drive the bank into the future. Leadership skills were learned and practiced in real time while results were delivered to the business.

Phase 2 took 6-8 weeks. The cohorts were split into teams of 4-6 individuals, who worked together virtually on a business acceleration project to develop and test a prototype of new products, services, or processes. Each team had a business sponsor appointed by the Regional Managing Director who provided strategic guidance and access to their network. Each team also worked with a business innovation coach from CCL who challenged them to act fast, fail fast, and learn fast — and also to apply new leadership mindsets for improved team effectiveness.

During phase 3, the teams came together to share feedback on the prototype testing and the learning derived from working virtually. Leadership coaching and consultative communication skills enabled participants to have better conversations across the team. Each team reported to a panel of sponsors on their prototype testing results, lessons learned at an individual and team level, and data to support further exploration of the business acceleration project to implement and scale. Following phase 3, successful prototypes were integrated into the business to be implemented and/or scaled.

Results

Some of the prototypes produced by the program included:

• An online trade finance platform that would enable the bank to create a secure trade and payment marketplace for Africa and reduce transaction costs,
• Distributed banking that enables customers to withdraw and deposit cash at shops they regularly use,
• Instant client on-boarding — offering a paperless and 100% digital process, and
• Instant authentic customer dispute resolution of ATM transactions.

Throughout the program, participants consulted with their managers to ensure their goals were in line with their personal development plans.

Based on participant feedback, the training effort improved participants’ leadership abilities, gave them a deeper understanding of the bank’s strategy, and empowered them to execute on the company’s digital transformation strategy. The program reflects CCL’s own 70:20:10 approach to leadership development — a combination of “being” and “doing” in a new leadership context, that delivers tangible results.

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ATTENDEE OUTCOMES
(Participant ratings on a 1-5 point scale)
4.43	Overall program satisfaction
4.36	Program outcomes
4.56	Facilitator impact

Participants Say

“The training was very impactful and took me out of my comfort zone. I learned how to think fast, think outside the box, and focus more on my customers rather than on my income line.”

Partner With Us

We can partner with you to help accelerate your digital transformation and grow your organization into the future. By taking a balanced approach to business, technology, and people, we’ll design a roadmap to accelerate your digital strategy and successfully adopt technology in today’s rapidly-changing and disruptive marketplace. Learn more about our digital transformation solutions today. 

Learn More

View Printable Version

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The post Pan-African Banking Institution Drives Digital Transformation With Leadership Development appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study
• : Banking & Financial Services

Multinational Enterprise Achieves Leadership Alignment on Business Strategy

CLIENT:	Ageas, a multinational insurance company based in Belgium
LOCATION:	Operates in 14 European and Asian countries
SIZE:	13,000+ employees

Client Profile & Challenge

Ageas, a multi-billion euro insurance firm, was seeking to cultivate a common vision and culture across its country-level operating companies.

The organization faced shifting regulatory pressures and highly competitive markets in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Though its roots stretch back 2 centuries, it was a “new” company created when a larger financial services firm was broken up, with each operating company having substantial autonomy.

Ageas needed to develop its high-potential managers, increasing their capacity to lead and drive business performance while also deepening their understanding of the organization’s strategy.

The company had 5 goals for these high potentials:

• Enhance their readiness to deal with the different expectations they’ll encounter as they transition to more senior leadership roles;
• Strengthen their ability to think and act strategically across functions and regions;
• Leverage diverse experiences and perspectives and benefit from a network of peers from across the organization;
• Broaden their cultural awareness and increase their confidence level when working in unfamiliar environments; and
• Build relationships with Ageas Management Committee members and senior managers through leadership and business discussions.

Solution & Results

Collaborating with Ageas and a business school partner, we developed a solution that fused leadership learning with business application. We launched the Ageas Leadership Program (ALP) to provide cohorts of high-potential managers from across the company opportunities to strengthen their leadership skills, learn more about Ageas’ business strategy, and put the learning to work on real business challenges.

Participants start with a 360-feedback process, attend a kickoff webinar, and work with their managers to define individual goals for the program. The heart of ALP is a 2-week, intensive on-site program in Brussels, at the Ageas headquarters.

The first week participants complete the Leadership Module focused on leadership in the context of career advancement and company growth. Participants focus on making job transitions, managing change, developing talent, and staying true to a clear personal vision. They also form relationships with one another, building a professional network across multiple functions and countries.

In the second week, they participate in the Business Module, which we facilitate along with Vlerick Business School faculty. Vlerick introduces strategic business tools to participants, while our facilitators at CCL ensure the high-potentials continue to practice the new leadership skills and behaviors they’ve learned. As ALP participants take on real business challenges, they interact with senior Ageas executives, further strengthening their networks.

Teams of participants present their business projects to Ageas leaders for feedback. In addition, Ageas HR follows up with a second 360-feedback process 2 years after program completion to assess how it impacted participants’ work performance.

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BY THE NUMBERS

• 31% increase in participants’ knowledge of Ageas’ strategic plan,
• 8.53 participant rating of how the program helped broaden networks within the Ageas group, and
• 8.65 participant rating of how useful program was for personal development.

(Participant ratings on 1-10 point scale)

Participants Say

“We put leadership quite high on the agenda. We need people that have the capacity not only to organize a business, but also people who are able to create adherence to a strategy and culture, who create enthusiasm to empower people, and who, at the same time, are available if people need help.”

Bart De Smet

CEO
Ageas

“In a normal day-to-day working environment, you very rarely get dedicated time to work on your own development. This was a fantastic opportunity, away from your day job, to stop, take stock, and take steps to aid in your personal development. I personally found this experience very rewarding.”

“The subject matter also gave me an opportunity to improve my knowledge in areas outside my functional expertise and to work outside of my comfort zone.”

“The opportunity to work with colleagues from around the world provided a unique opportunity to gain fresh insights and views on a variety of different matters and has expanded my horizons!”

Partner With Us

We are here to help your organization align talent development with your business strategy to drive real results. Learn more about how we can work with you to design an individualized leadership development program for your high-potential employees tailored to your unique needs to help grow your organization into the future.

Learn More

View Printable Version

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The post Multinational Enterprise Achieves Leadership Alignment on Business Strategy appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study
• : Banking & Financial Services

Retaining Talent by Building a More Trusting Culture

CLIENT:	125-year-old financial service company
LOCATION:	The U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America
SIZE:	Over 8,000 employees

Client Profile & Challenge: Financial Services Industry

Facing competitive pressure in its efforts to attract and retain the most talented employees, the company discovered from internal surveys that trust and communication levels between employees and the organization weren’t optimal.

The company wanted to develop and create a more collaborative, trusting culture where people could have meaningful, candid, and constructive conversations about performance. It sought a solution that would improve collaboration and trust internally, in line with its goals of becoming an employer and business of choice while strengthening its financial solutions brand among consumers.

Importantly, the financial services company wanted much more than just an off-the-shelf workshop; it sought a collaborator in the solution-creation process and a partner that could develop a solution it could integrate deeply and make its own, nurturing a coaching focus to transform the organization’s culture long term.

Solution & Results

After a rigorous search, the company decided to partner with CCL to implement a solution focused on having better conversations across all levels in the organization to strengthen trust and communication.

The first phase of the work identified key areas of development, aligned business imperatives to the new organizational behaviors, and established key indicators to track the impact of the solution. CCL selected a scalable coaching solution called Better Conversations Every Day (BCE) as the vehicle to achieve the organization’s goals.

One critical factor in the company’s engagement was CCL’s ability to adapt BCE to its unique needs. In addition, CCL created a solution so the company could develop internal capabilities to deliver BCE, enabling it to leverage CCL’s research-based approach with all employees. The CCL partnership partnership is also supporting the organization as it builds a culture to reinforce new behaviors.

To scale across the organization, CCL developed a licensing agreement and train-the-trainer solution that enables the company to deliver Better Conversations Every Day on its own, expanding the reach and cultural impact of BCE throughout the organization.

More than 350 employees have been through BCE delivered by CCL. Another 1,400 employees will go through the BCE experience delivered by a growing cadre of the company’s CCL-trained coaches. After that, all of the organization’s other employees will participate in a microlearning experience that’ll reinforce the core BCE behaviors—supporting a common leadership language and moving the culture.

The CCL partnership also has strengthened other strategic initiatives the company is undertaking. For example, a high priority effort to strengthen its customer service is drawing on many of the capabilities and tools that BCE has provided.

CCL’s ability to collaborate with the company, deeply understand its goals and challenges, and use a proven program to support it in building a coaching-based culture has made this partnership successful.

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PARTICIPANT EVALUATION
4.7	Overall satisfaction with program
4.67	Likely to recommend
4.69	Able to apply to job
4.56	Able to impact organization’s success

*On a 1-5 point scale with 5 being the highest rating and 1 the lowest.
Data based on a program delivered by us.

Participants Say

“The program in general was very helpful because [it] gave us a variety of tools to do a better job. It was very helpful to practice the tools learned in a safe environment with my coworkers. Practice makes the difference.”

“[BCE] was so impactful by using real experiences, and having a coach in each group makes it really effective and [creates] lasting impact.”

“Creating an honest and open partnership is a key imperative often overlooked when working with someone from the “outside.” The deep partnership CCL has created with this company has not only helped CCL understand internal dynamics and needs, but be a true supporter of them owning their own development.”

Tim Davisson

Strategic Business Partner
Center for Creative Leadership

Partner With Us

We can work with you to connect your organization’s goals to a solution that will drive impact for your leaders at all levels. It begins with better conversations every day, from the front desk to the corner office. 

Learn More

View Printable Version

| What to Explore Next

No Office, No Problem: How Financial Services Firms Can Stay Connected With Better Conversations

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Better Conversations Every Day

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The post Retaining Talent by Building a More Trusting Culture appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study
• : Banking & Financial Services

Leadership Development Strategy: An Evolving Approach Linked to Business Performance

CLIENT:	Credicorp
LOCATION:	Headquartered in Peru
SIZE:	24,871 employees

Client Profile & Challenge

When Credicorp, the leading financial services institution in Peru, set its sights on expanding across Latin America, it needed a leadership strategy that was just as ambitious and robust as its business strategy.

Credicorp’s growth plan involved launching new initiatives in which teams would be going head-to-head with domestic, regional, and global players across the Americas. Managers would need to steer diverse and dispersed teams; lead through rapid, frequent change; and implement new business models, systems, and processes. Managers who had been extremely successful in the past would face an entirely new level of complexity and uncertainty as the strategy was executed.

After several experiences with outside leadership providers that missed the mark, Director of Talent Ursula Alvarez brought us in because of our proven track record, collaborative approach, and ability to teach and coach in Spanish that opened the door for an initial leadership development program with senior managers.

“That was our last shot at formal leadership development for our top leaders,” Alvarez recalls. “Either we found the right formula with CCL or we went back to traditional management education.”

Solution & Results

To create a leadership solution that would evolve along with the organization’s strategic challenges, we constructed a comprehensive training and development architecture for leaders across all levels.

Phase I: Core Leadership Development Program

We started by identifying 18 individual competencies — from gaining a strategic perspective to leading high-performing teams — critical for leaders at every level.

Our discussions were driven by central themes necessary to execute Credicorp’s business strategy, such as giving and receiving developmental feedback; creating networks of continuous learning; and fostering creativity and innovation.

Guided by these leadership competencies and central themes, we delivered a core leadership development program to the top 500 leaders across all business units in the organization. Each participant worked with an executive coach to tailor an individual developmental plan aimed at strengthening the competencies most important for their success at Credicorp.

Phase II: Leadership Solution Architecture

As “leader development” at the individual level took root with the implementation of the core leadership program, Credicorp executives sought to take a more strategic view of “leadership development” at the organizational level. So a dual developmental approach — individual competency and collective capability — became the foundation of a broad and deep leadership strategy.

Through our Leadership Solution Architecture, the concept of leadership development shifted from a stand-alone training program to ongoing learning experiences that stretch over a 12-month period and are tailored to the senior leadership team, senior managers, middle management, and up-and-coming high-potential leaders.

After 5 years, Credicorp continues to implement and evolve its leadership strategy. We are a trusted thought partner and solutions provider in the pursuit of bridging the strategy/performance gap that so often plagues organizations in the process of international expansion.

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Impact of the Credicorp’s Leadership Solution Architecture

Several overarching leadership themes emerged as we linked Credicorp’s business strategy with its leadership strategy:

• Commitment to building new competencies;
• An evolution toward a more interdependent, collaborative approach;
• Dedication to the leadership strategy; and
• Superior performance, as evidenced by revenue growth and stock that has out-performed both the Dow Jones and the Lima Indexes.

Participants Say

“We spend a lot of time formulating and implementing our strategy. Our time with CCL allows the senior leaders to step back and reflect on the human impact of our strategic decisions and the implications for the leadership culture necessary to achieve our aims.”

Walter Bayly

CEO
Credicorp

“We know that we must reach our numbers, and we will only reach our numbers through our people. Working with CCL, we know which human factors or talent drivers to focus on to strengthen individuals and the organization to meet our challenges.”

Ursula Alvarez

Director of Talent
Credicorp

Partner With Us

Does your organization react to marketplace change rather than proactively lead it? Go beyond change management by partnering with us to architect a customized Organizational Leadership solution, and learn more about our extensive leadership development experience with financial institutions around the world.

Learn More

View Printable Version

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No Office, No Problem: How Financial Services Firms Can Stay Connected With Better Conversations

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The post Leadership Development Strategy: An Evolving Approach Linked to Business Performance appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study
• : Banking & Financial Services

Delivering Results: Connecting Strategy & Leader Development

CLIENT:	Barclaycard, part of Barclays PLC
LOCATION:	Headquartered in London, UK and operating in 20 countries around the world
SIZE:	3,000+ employees

Client Profile & Challenge

Barclaycard, a global payment business, faced dual challenges: Internally, it was driving a renewed focus on customer needs and customer experience through greater collaboration, innovation, and operational excellence. Externally, the financial sector was experiencing significant turmoil and rapid change.

The company needed leaders with the skills to manage in that difficult external environment while transforming the business. Its previous leadership development programs had been segmented within business units, but the firm needed a unified leadership development strategy that connected to its business strategy.

Particularly important, were a group of about 125 “managers of managers” who were responsible for developing and implementing operational plans to carry out the business strategy and deliver on stretch goals. Though these executives were strong and capable leaders, they had some gaps in critical areas.

To be successful these leaders needed to:

• Collaborate,
• Influence without authority,
• Drive innovation,
• Coach others,
• Build and maintain relationships,
• Gain global awareness,
• Translate strategy into action, and
• Enact principles of connected leadership.

Solution & Results

Barclaycard worked with CCL and Ashbridge Business School to structure a program that would combine big-picture organizational strategy with individual leader development. The program was structured as 2 3-day sessions held 6 weeks apart.

The objectives of the leadership development initiative were to:

• Build the leadership culture;
• Connect strategy and leadership;
• Align knowledge, skills, and action;
• Improve ability to work across boundaries; and
• Encourage ownership and engagement.

Coaching and action learning projects helped participants integrate lessons learned into their personal development, create practical plans for converting strategy to operations, and build stronger relationships within their departments and across the company. The leadership components were informed by our expansive expertise in leadership development, tailored to Barclaycard’s needs. This included our 360 by Design assessment and other personality measurement tools to help participants gain insights into their individual strengths, challenges, and behavior patterns. Participants learned strategies for giving and receiving feedback, influencing, communicating, and leveraging social capital as a leadership asset.

Over 2 years, 120 managers participated in the initiative.

Managers who went through the experience, as well as their bosses and their direct reports, reported strong outcomes. In particular, the participants made significant improvements in leadership effectiveness, collaboration, and influence. In the teams those participants led, 80% felt more empowered to do their work and 70% felt more engaged.

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BY THE NUMBERS

• 100% of participants felt they had become more effective leaders,
• 92% of participants’ direct reports said their managers had become more effective leaders, and
• 92% of direct reports said their managers had improved their ability to “establish strong, collaborative relationships.”

Participants Say

“We had been a very high-performing organization and our managers had great experience and expertise. But new realities and our ambitious agenda require greater innovation in what we do and how we work. Our leadership development strategy had to acknowledge and address this so we would have the capacity we need in the future.”

James Prior

Head of Executive Development
Barclaycard

“We are seeing the initiative people are taking to connect with others across functions, geography, and levels in the organization. They are not just staying connected with their colleagues from the course, but reaching out to other parts of the organization. They see the value that multiple perspectives can add to their work and their personal development.”

Eva Vandor

Head of Barclaycard Academy

“After the course, I felt lifted above the daily challenges of my role to a broader and more strategic level supported by the peer group with whom I attended the course. It was one of the best executive development courses I have attended.”

Participant

Barclaycard Executing the Programme

Partner With Us

Achieving business success requires a common leadership language and consistent feedback process. We can partner with you to design a leadership development program tailored to your unique needs using our research-based 360-degree assessments.

Learn More

View Printable Version

| What to Explore Next

Maximizing the Impact of 360 Assessments

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Benchmarks® 360 Degree Assessments

Leadership in Financial Services

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The post Delivering Results: Connecting Strategy & Leader Development appeared first on CCL.

Innovation may be standard operating procedure at venture capital-funded startups and tech goliaths such as Apple, Amazon, and Google. But it’s often a struggle for organizations in more “traditional” sectors, such as insurance, banking, or government.

Yet even in these sectors, executives and managers recognize a need for innovation.

During everyday operations, leaders of these organizations must find ways to balance the tensions of their industries, complying with complex regulations or aggressively managing risks while also driving change and innovation in order to create more value for their customers.

Financial services firms, government agencies, and other more traditionally cautious organizations must be deliberate in adopting pro-innovation behaviors and changing their culture so they can operate efficiently while also finding ways to innovate and evolve.

That need is underscored during times of crisis or upheaval, as in the recent coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath, but it’s an ever-present tension.

How to Promote Organizational Change & Innovation

6 Practices to Spur Creativity

We recommend these 6 practices that can spur creativity and add quick and creative innovation, even in industries or sectors typically considered “slow and stodgy.”

1. Ensure that senior leaders truly buy into the idea of innovation.

It’s not enough for the top management team to nod their heads when the CEO says, “Be more innovative.”

Senior leaders need to put their money, and their behavior, on the line. They must foster organizational innovation by supporting the innovation equation, and remember that the most concrete way they can support organizational change and innovation is by funding innovation activities and protecting them, even — and maybe especially — during challenging times or market downturns.

2. Define what innovation means for your organization.

It’s not just creativity. Innovation is a business discipline that creates value for customers in new ways and earns a measurable return.

Focus on key drivers of value for your organization, which might be things like logistics expertise (Amazon), customer service (Starbucks), or innovative products (Apple). Look for ideas in line with your business strategy.

3. Teach people how to innovate.

Generating new ideas is only part of innovation. Consider whether leaders and managers are subconsciously encouraging, or sabotaging, innovation — and help them adopt new ways of evaluating fresh ideas. Also, ensure they are fostering innovative mindsets on the team.

4. Track innovation efforts from beginning to end.

Just because it’s creative doesn’t mean you can’t measure and monitor it. Organizations should track inputs (how many new ideas are being generated) as well as outcomes (the ROI of innovative ideas that are implemented).

5. Look for quick wins.

Even with senior leaders on board and modeling innovation-friendly behavior, it’s easy for a traditional corporate or government culture to fall back into its old practices. By finding and implementing “quick wins,” leaders can cement their commitment to organizational change and innovation.

Pilot projects are a good way to manage the risks of innovation while still giving them a true trial in the marketplace.

6. Recognize success and thank people.

Innovative organizations explicitly thank people for their ideas and contributions — even for ideas that aren’t implemented.

A thank you can be anything from a hand-written note from a senior executive to an annual awards ceremony to honor innovators. Showing gratitude will make you a better leader.

While it’s harder to drive change and innovation in some industries, leaders always have the choice of going against prevailing assumptions and choosing to build more innovative organizations.

That choice itself is an example of promoting innovation.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Help drive organizational change and innovation with a customized learning journey for your leaders using our research-backed modules. Available leadership topics include Influencing Skills, Innovation Leadership, Leading Through Change & Disruption, Learning Agility, and more.

The post How to Drive Successful Organizational Change & Innovation in Traditional Industries appeared first on CCL.

The world of financial services was abruptly moved from office buildings into homes almost overnight. The return to the physical office and hallway interactions will take much longer than anticipated, if at all, for some employees. Disruption in the world around them while maintaining the highest level of external and internal customer service is causing unprecedented levels of stress. The challenges of financial services firm leadership, while staying connected and maintaining an organizational culture even while many are working remotely, will require better methods of communication for all leaders at all levels.

This webinar will reveal ways to upskill employees and strengthen leadership at financial services firms, using tools that not only address the challenges of today but also enhance your organization’s culture for tomorrow — resulting in better conversations and performance.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• The 4 types of disruptions leaders in the financial services industry can expect to face in the future;
• How taking a systemic approach to better conversations can address these disruptions, build a strong organizational culture, and drive performance; and
• Approaches taken by successful financial service firms to stay agile and prepare for a transformed world.

Build a strong organizational culture and strengthen your financial service firm leadership at every level with our scalable coaching conversations training, Better Conversations Every Day.

The post No Office, No Problem: How Financial Services Firms Can Stay Connected With Better Conversations appeared first on CCL.

It’s widely understood — thanks to genetic research — that humans are more similar than we are different. When it comes to leaders in different industries, it’s the same story.

There are actually a lot of similarities among leaders across industries, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, finance, technology, energy, and government. The data show that “humans are humans” and “leaders are leaders,” regardless of the industry they work in.

To better understand the challenges faced by leaders in different fields and what leadership skills are needed to succeed in various industries, our Leadership Analytics experts took a look at the key competencies required for leaders to be successful in different industries, along with the capability gaps that will likely need to be addressed. We drew on our large global database of leadership assessments data, based on our pioneering, global Benchmarks® for Managers assessments, to examine U.S. leaders in different industries: energy, financial services, healthcare, government, the military, pharmaceuticals, and technology.

As we analyzed the data, we found that across industries, bosses share similar beliefs about what competencies are most important to the success of their organization. They also share similar perspectives on the strengths of their leaders and which capabilities need to be further developed.

Our Research Findings on Leaders in Different Industries

5 Key Insights from the Data

We’ve uncovered some overarching similarities in terms of what leaders in different fields need to succeed. Here are 5 insights on what we learned and what these findings mean for leadership development.

1. The same 6 competencies were rated most vital to leadership success in every industry.

Out of 16 leadership competencies on our Benchmarks® 360-degree assessment, the same 6 rose to the top as most needed in every industry we researched:

• Building collaborative relationships
• Leading employees
• Strategic perspective
• Taking initiative
• Participative management
• Change management

The most effective leadership development initiatives are built on the competencies that are most critical to the success of an organization and its leaders. Based on the pervasive importance of these 6 competencies, HR and training teams in every industry would be well advised to track and build leader competencies in each of these 6 areas.

2. Leaders rate highest at taking initiative.

Among the top 6 competencies, bosses in all industries rated “taking initiative” as the most effective competency of their leaders. This confirms the well-known belief that the ability to get things done is what gets leaders promoted in the first place. (Of course, what got them promoted to management isn’t what they need to succeed once they get there; that’s why organizations must prepare their first-time managers for success in their new leadership roles.)

3. Among the top-rated competencies, leaders are least prepared to lead employees.

Our research has long shown that leading employees effectively is essential to both individual and organizational impact. A leader’s performance and reputation within the organization is only as strong as their team. That means leaders need to know how to recruit the right people and then motivate and develop them as they progress throughout their careers.

It’s troubling that so many leaders across industries need development in this fundamental area, especially since direct reports are vital to getting day-to-day work done. Equipping managers to develop employees should be a top priority for every organization.

4. Leaders lack vital skills for building collaborative relationships.

While all industries rated “building collaborative relationships” as the most important capability leaders need, none rated it among the top 2 proficiencies of their current leaders. Why such a significant gap? Typically, individuals are promoted into leadership roles because they are strong individual contributors. In many organizations, the ability to build collaborative relationships with peers and external stakeholders simply isn’t practiced or rewarded regularly.

Individuals with “leader” titles have more self-development work to do if they are to master this competency. Regardless of your industry, you’ll want to help your leaders build more collaborative relationships.

5. Leaders lack important skills in change management.

Aside from the financial industry, all other industries we surveyed rated “change management” as one of the lowest proficiencies of their leaders. This isn’t surprising — we have found that many organizations have mastered the operational or structural side of change but give little effort to the people side of the change equation.

To gain the desired results when implementing a new direction, system, or initiative, organizations need the benefit of change-capable leaders, no matter what industry they’re in.

Varying Skills Needed Among Leaders Across Different Industries

Top Leadership Competencies Needed for Leaders in Different Fields

While bosses in all industries said their leaders were proficient at “taking initiative,” all also cited a lack of preparedness when it came to “leading employees,” “building collaborative relationships,” and “change management.” In short, the data showed that leaders in different fields are more alike than different, and there’s a serious shortage of leaders who are skilled in key areas — what’s known as a leadership gap — in practically every industry.

Once you understand the competencies needed for success in your specific industry and where the gaps are greatest, you can begin to design leadership development initiatives that deliver effective results for your organization to make the most impact on your leaders.

Below are some of our key findings about the leadership competencies of U.S. leaders in different industries. You can also download our full Industry Trend Report for more detailed information.

Healthcare Industry Leaders

Healthcare leaders were least proficient in “leading employees.” “Leading employees” deals with attracting, motivating, and developing employees. Given that more than 75% of leaders in healthcare are “at least proficient” in “taking initiative,” we recommend that they refocus some of their attention on those they work with and manage. Research has shown that leaders with more interpersonal savvy cultivate higher performance teams. View the Healthcare Leadership Infographic (PDF).

Pharmaceutical Industry Leaders

Half of pharmaceutical industry leaders were also not proficient in “leading employees.” Leaders scored much better on “participative management,” which deals with involving others, listening, and building commitment. Though “leading employees” includes “participative management,” it’s a broader competency that also focuses on recruiting talented employees, providing challenging development opportunities, and rewarding hard work. Pharmaceutical organizations should focus on developing these skills. View the Pharmaceutical Leadership Infographic (PDF).

Financial Services Industry Leaders

Leaders in financial services are proficient in several important areas but less proficient in “building collaborative relationships” and “leading employees.” And bosses rated “building collaborative relationships” and “leading employees” as the No. 1 and No. 3 most important competencies, respectively. Focusing on developing these competencies should create a strategic advantage for financial services firms aiming to improve their leadership pipelines. View the Financial Leadership Infographic (PDF).

High-Tech Industry Leaders

High-tech leaders were least proficient in areas that focus on working with others like “building collaborative relationships” and “leading employees.” In fact, “building collaborative relationships” was rated as the most important competency in this industry. Given that close to 80% of leaders in technology are “at least proficient” in “taking initiative,” we recommend that tech organizations refocus development on those that leaders work with and manage. View the High-Tech Leadership Infographic (PDF).

Energy Industry Leaders

“Building collaborative relationships” is the most important competency for success in the energy industry. Yet nearly 40% of leaders were not rated as proficient in this area. A more dedicated focus on “leading employees,” “participative management,” and “change management” could critically improve an energy leader’s reputation and ability to build collaborative relationships over time. Energy organizations may want to develop skills at working well with others on a day-to-day basis. View the Energy Leadership Infographic (PDF).

Government Sector Leaders

Government leaders were least proficient in “change management” and “leading employees.” “Change management” refers to the use of effective strategies to facilitate organizational change initiatives and to overcome resistance to change. Given that more than 80% of leaders in government are “at least proficient” in “taking initiative,” we recommend that government organizations focus attention on building change leadership and the “leading employees” competency. View the Government Leadership Infographic (PDF).

Military Leaders

U.S. Army leaders averaged significantly higher proficiency ratings on all 6 competencies compared to average U.S. industry leaders. Given the extensive leadership development training that these leaders already undergo to deal with the harsh realities they face on the job, this shouldn’t be surprising. This suggests that organizations in many other industries may enhance their leader bench strength by recruiting and hiring more veterans for key leadership roles. View the U.S. Army Leadership Trend Report (PDF).

In closing, leadership development programs that focus on helping leaders comprehend and apply the competencies they need most to bring results will have the greatest impact on the bottom line. We hope insights from our Industry Trends Report and these takeaways about leaders in different fields will help you design development solutions that are relevant, useful, and impactful for leaders at your organization, whatever your industry.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Leaders in different fields need certain key leadership skills to succeed, regardless of industry or level. We have expertise in various industries and sectors and can partner with you to develop leaders in your organization.

The post What Do Leaders in Different Fields Need to Succeed? appeared first on CCL.