The EFMD Business Magazine | Iss3 Vol.13 | www.efmd.org
Recognising outstanding Learning and Development partnerships
Excellence in Practice 2019 Special supplement
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Excellence in Practice 2019
Excellence in Practice 2019 Contents 1 Excellence in Practice 2019 3 Siam Commercial Bank / IMD 7 Chola MS General Insurance / Murugappa Group 11 Endo Pharmaceuticals / LIW 15 Standard Bank / University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business 19 TRICORP / University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business 23 Santander Group / Opinno / Mind the Gap / Fraile y Blanco / Open Waters 27 ING Bank, London Business School / Core Leadership Institute 31 Oracle, IESE Business School / University of Michigan, Ross School of Business 35 Schneider Electric / INSEAD 39 Porsche AG / University of St. Gallen 43 Government Savings Bank (GSB), Thammasat Business School / Community Partnership Association (CPA) 1
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his year’s Excellence in Practice Award has seen one of the most diverse batches of applications since its start. Cases from Western Europe, Russia, Middle East, Africa, India, South-East Asia, China, Australia, US and Canada involving companies, (inter) governmental and social profit organisations and networks. With supplying business schools and alternative providers of growing diversity (communications experts to be noted) in multi-partner projects (14% multi-authored and probably a similar number multi-partnered in the remaining dual-authored applications). And including sometimes very ambitious projects of which this year quite some ethical, community, CSR projects. A growing number of projects are strongly embedded in the client’s organisational and systemic design. Company-wide, multi-layer, intact teams promote a cascading dimension of ideas and changes into the organisation. By focusing on strategic challenges and cultural change with solutions which sometimes included counter-intuitive and bold steps, the cases presented the value of trusted and clearly defined learning partnerships.Improvement projects, peer-reviewed reports, action learning projects, strategic experiments, 48-hours business challenges, becoming the problemsolving formats of learning and development interventions. A number of projects took special care and attention to the outside-in perspective through the involvement of sector experts, multi-client participant groups, students and interns, and the like.
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Introduction
2019 Winners Category: Organisational Development GOLD Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) / IMD “Accelerating Digital Transformation at Thailand’s Oldest Bank” SILVER Santander Group / Opinno / Mind the Gap / Fraile y Blanco / Open Waters “Santander Leaders Academy Experience” ING Bank, London Business School / Core Leadership Institute “Accelerating Leadership Transformation at ING”
In general, this strong integration also increases the focus on impact beyond the individual participant, looking at organization-wide impact. It is to be noted though that the link of impact measurements and initial business challenges are sometimes not that clearly spelled out, and still a challenge for lots of cases submitted. As noted in previous years, the learning and development platform follows the work toolchain and platforms. Info sharing and exchange being essential in both development and work. There is still growing use of gamified, mobile, social tools in blended porgrammes, flipped classroom, full programme on-line, even beyond the programmes in pre and post stages of the intervention. But still also deliberate switching to alternate formats: theatre, open space, coaching, mentoring ... Interestingly “digital” becomes “data” due to the growing availability of data sets following the platform evolutions. Data models and reporting analytics, platform and tool-usage are complementing data driven initiatives such as employee satisfaction surveys but also innovative approaches such as conversation analytics or global mindset inventory. All in all, the early design stage of projects includes more time on context-understanding and co-creation. Indicating a growing attention to getting the diagnosis right, complemented by design-thinking and agility in the piloting and delivery stage.
Category: Talent Development GOLD Chola MS General Insurance / Management Development Centre, Murugappa Group “Cluster Leadership Programme - Developing Frontline Leadership Excellence” SILVER Oracl, IESE Business School / University of Michigan, Ross School of Business “Accelerate Executive Insight - A Unique Executive Education Experience for Exceptional Leaders” Category: Executive Development GOLD Endo Pharmaceuticals / LIW “Endo Pharmaceuticals: Top Team Drives Business Transformation” SILVER Schneider Electric / INSEAD “Purposeful Leadership in a Digital World” Category: Professional Development GOLD Standard Bank / University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business “Building Client-Centricity for Growth in Africa” SILVER Porsche AG / University of St. Gallen, Executive School of Management Technology and Law “Accelerated Excellence - The International Dealer Academy and its Impact on Porsche’s Retail Network and Dealer Personalities” Special Category: Ecosystem Development GOLD Tribal Resources Investment Corporation (TRICORP) / University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business “Aboriginal Canadian Entrepreneurs” SILVER Government Savings Bank (GSB), Thammasat Business School / Community Partnership Association (CPA) “The Thammasat Model: Sustainable Community Enterprises”
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Siam Commercial Bank / IMD
Achieving success in digital transformation D
igital technology over the past few years has been developing faster than industries can exploit its advantages. In particular, traditional players with their roots in the pre-digital era must learn to adapt fast. When launching digital transformation initiatives, many organisations start with low-hanging fruit such as building a presence on social media and making their products and services available online. Yet real digital business transformation has to touch the organisation’s entire structure. It requires a new business model, and this is where companies often struggle and get stuck in implementing it.
Transforming Thailand’s oldest bank In 2016, Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) embarked on a major transformation journey. It was SCB’s response to deregulation and intensifying competition, especially from new financial technology (fintech) players. Fintech firms were flooding the market with innovative mobile banking services, offering consumers speed and convenience. In aggregate, these trends were fast turning SCB’s traditional strengths – such as its extensive nationwide network of physical branches – into liabilities. As a result, the bank was facing a world of disappearing transaction fees, changing dynamics in lending and wealth management, new regulatory requirements and shifting consumer behaviour. The impetus to transform was clear. The main question was where to start and how to give the company’s 27,000-strong workforce the skills and tools it needed to tackle this huge challenge. In the words of SCB’s President and CEO, Khun1 Arthid Nanthawithaya, “The key to transforming our bank into a tech bank in the near future was enhancing the capabilities of our people.” 1 Khun is a Thai honorific, commonly used to indicate Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss.
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SCB’s top management put forward three overarching objectives: 1. Give SCB’s workforce the necessary tools to take part in the transformation and operationalize big data and analytics as the bank’s key capability 2. Start and guide a company-wide conversation about digital change and what it would mean for SCB, as well as provide a sense of alignment from top management down 3. Introduce a data-driven, customer-centric culture of piercing through hierarchy and silos, thus allowing the bank to adopt a coherent digital business strategy Importantly, once it adopted sophisticated data analytics, SCB could enter uncharted service segments such as unsecured lending. This would fundamentally change the way the bank worked. Same message, different audiences To develop an integrated learning programme that would support this ambitious agenda, SCB partnered with IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. The bank urgently needed to develop a common vocabulary of digital transformation. The idea was to cut across every layer in the bank’s structure – from the back office right up to the C-suite. In order to achieve this, the same learning materials were shared, but the delivery methods varied depending on the audience. For example, junior managers only needed to understand the concept of “bank as a platform business”, and this could be explained to them through a classroom discussion presenting specific examples. Seasoned managers required a richer perspective, so IMD facilitated a site visit to the operations of China’s Alibaba platform. Senior executives wanted advice on how to forge collaborations with these
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Siam Commercial Bank / IMD
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Siam Commercial Bank / IMD Achieving success in digital transformation
Ultimately, all segments of the workforce had to develop execution skills, engage in hands-on transformation projects and forge a shared organisational mindset. To achieve this, the SCB-IMD programme had to provide effective learning modules across a variety of platforms
platforms. Finally, within the bank’s top leadership, the strategic dialogue revolved around what it would take for SCB itself to become a platform business. Ultimately, all segments of the workforce had to develop execution skills, engage in handson transformation projects and forge a shared organisational mindset. To achieve this, the SCB-IMD programme had to provide effective learning modules across a variety of platforms; tightly integrate offline and online learning; boost discussions of real-life management situations rather than academic knowledge; and launch in-house coaching and train-the-trainer initiatives. Given that English is not a common medium of instruction in Thailand, IMD customised some of its learning materials by translating and adapting them to Thai, for rollout to thousands of SCB managers. Making strides with digital Today, SCB is on track to reduce the number of branches from 1,200 to 400 by 2020. Branch employees have been trained to act as relationship managers instead of processing documents. The digital customer base has become more engaged and is projected to expand from 9 million in 2018 5
to 12 million by the end of 2019. Meanwhile, SCB is driving innovation with the SCB Easy mobile app, with fast uptake suggesting it will have 10 million users by 2020. SCB can now execute at a pace that it was not used to, but which is the norm in a competitive digital environment. With the main building blocks of digital transformation in place, it has set its sights on organisational restructuring to flatten hierarchies and introduce agile ways of working throughout the bank. For customers, the results have been a game-changer. Real-time approval, no documents required, one signature only, and access anywhere – all unimaginable just a few years ago – have become the norm. Meanwhile, SCB employees have seen the fruits of their learning. They know that ambitious projects can be rolled out quickly, without internal fumbling, and that data can take the form of visual storytelling, instantly highlighting a customer’s needs. As the co-designer of the transformation journey, SCB has felt a strong sense of accomplishment: it has built its own learning programmes and connected rank-and-file staff with several dozen senior executives who chose to coach, train and
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Siam Commercial Bank / IMD
mentor their juniors. According to Khun Darakorn Pipatanakul, First Senior Vice-President, Future Leader Development, “At first, we thought it would be hard to motivate senior people to sacrifice their time and become coaches. But as it turned out, most of them feel that the experience has made them better leaders who know how to mobilise resources and skills within the bank.” Other senior executives have commented, “We can see the alignment across the organisation, and it allows us to have extensive conversations about where we are going with our strategy.” Lessons learnt The programme’s success has shown that meaningful organisational transformation has to start with a conversation that goes beyond hierarchies and boundaries. To take part in that conversation, people need “handles” such as shared frameworks, reference points and vocabulary. In addition, the way the frameworks are presented needs to be customised: some groups need only a basic understanding of the issue, whereas others require specific answers to highly specialised questions. On the logistical front, in a large-scale learning programme it is best to adopt an inclusive approach. Significant scale can be achieved by blending classroom learning, online and self-learning tools, and in-house coaching. In terms of the message, adapting means making sure that for any particular group, learning makes sense in their world – it must fit their reality, as well as both collective and individual experience. Two years into the programme, hundreds of managers have attended courses and several thousands have completed online modules. The primary change is in how people at SCB reach out across hierarchies and structures to learn about, make sense of and execute the bank’s ongoing digital transformation. In addition, SCB has developed new knowledge and a culture of learning, coaching and mentoring that will continue to benefit the organisation well into the future. As IMD Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski says, “The learning we put in place has cascaded throughout the organisation.”
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Excellence in Practice 2019 ď‚Ť GOLD
Chola MS / Murugappa
Agile journey of front-line business leaders towards business excellence
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Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Chola MS / Murugappa
A
27%
Cluster Leaders Program exceeded expectations by providing tangible business impact with 14% GWP (gross written premium) growth, 27% productivity increase and 80% hike in number of insurance policies during the course of the programme
partnership with purpose! Chola MS (Mitsui Sumitomo, JV), a joint venture that entered the insurance business in 2003 with a vision to be the most respected company providing general insurance in India, sought to provide a career for hi-potential branch managers to evolve into the next level of leaders. Chola MS leadership recognise that the insurance sector needs committed and quality talent and it is important to have quality sales managers and agent advisors to ensure need-based and correct selling. Chola MS partnered with Management Development Center (MDC) at Murugappa, to equip its business managers with the required skills, knowledge and behaviors that will enable them to be leaders. The aim was very clear, learn what it takes to scale excellence as first time business managers. As a solution, MDC created the “Cluster Leadership Program’ (CLP) to propel the careers of the targeted front-line managers to new heights. During this six-months programme, these participants took the journey with their peers to achieve productivity and growth amid relentless business disruption. With an initial rigorous selection process, which included personal interviews by senior leaders, past performance ratings and psychometric assessments, hi-potentials were identified. Agile approach from design to delivery From the inception, business and MDC worked to establish a collaborative and equal partnership that made the most of their joint expertise and brought the best of both sides together. Over a period of six months, we were able to build a sustainable, effective learning journey that took the growth trajectory of the “CLPians”and their business numbers to a new level.
Our aim was to help these new leaders be resilient and confident. Every session was focused on providing CLPians with skills to make an immediate difference to the profitability of business and respond innovatively to any challenge or opportunity. In the end, we were successful in making them realise that “you are more you, with skill Mr. Manoj Kumar Jaiswal, EVP and Head Management Development Centre, Murugappa Group
Instead of setting out and implementing a rigid plan, it took a more agile approach, starting relatively slow, building momentum and expanding the programme incrementally. This allowed for relevant feedback from business, test materials and building trust and expanding its impact beyond individual to their teams. With an aim of providing career development to individuals, Cluster Leaders Program exceeded expectations by providing tangible business impact with 14% GWP (gross written premium) growth, 27% productivity increase and 80% hike in number of insurance policies during the course of the programme. The business acknowledged a significant 32% increase in customer acquisition and business growth of 14% from November 2019 – February 2019 as a direct contribution of CLP. Overall the organisation assessed the readiness of their talent with 40% of participants ready to independently perform in the new role with little support from senior leadership. The remaining 60% are currently undergoing an extensive mentoring programme with business leaders co-ordinated by the HR function. 8
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Chola MS / Murugappa Agile journey of front-line business leaders towards business excellence
From
To
Execute decisions taken by senior managers
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Data Analysis and Decision Making
Escalating issues to senior managers for resolution
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Problem Solving and Judgement
Implementation steps to achieve targets as advised
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Market Intelligence and Execution Excellence
Report results for review to senior managers
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Build a Rigorous, structured, review process
Manage a team of one branch
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Attract and retain talent for 5-7 branches
Revenue of INR 1 million
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Revenue of INR 7.5 million
Figure 1: Branch managers to business development leaders
Mindset shift with capability building Changing the mind-sets and capabilities of individual frontline managers can be the hardest part. In our experience many of them see limits to how much they can accomplish; some also recognise the need to restructure their roles but nonetheless fear change. The journey of the ‘Cluster Leadership Program’ started much before the job of coaching had begun. We started to address more insidious mindsets – that frontline managers cannot influence performance and can initiate or advise change at the top level. Every leadership transition creates uncertainty. To address this we started by redesigning the job description as this was the critical element to help these managers understand the transition in their role from branch operational managers to cluster business development leaders (Figure 1). It took time, however the result was insightful for these cluster leaders as they embarked on the new journey with a better understanding of their expected role and responsibilities. The first interaction in the programme left participants and MDC feeling perplexed and presented a new challenge. The participants’ actual learning pace and business understanding was not to the standard that was initially expected. MDC collated the observations, learning and inputs from other observers and proposed to relook at the design post the session of job description re-design. And this turned out to be the breakthrough in the entire CLP journey. 9
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Chola MS / Murugappa
From
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Business metrics as per job description
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Lead and Lag indicators post the new job description
Feedback from supervisors
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Evaluation basis business presentations by participants
Feedback forms post session
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Monthly tracking of the real-time business numbers
Figure 2: Progress Measurements
Breakthrough in CLP journey The second step in developing CLPians was to introduce them to market intelligence and long term business understanding. Understanding their customers and partners well before entering the market was also discussed and tools were given to gather such data from trusted resources. Every session ended up with project work focused on market analysis, gathering data from customer, while in parallel focusing on achieving low-hanging goals. Participants were given opportunities to present business updates, best practices and challenges in their respective clusters. Business leaders across verticals functions were invited to view these presentations resulting in significant actions at ground level. These subsequent modules transformed the journey from content to human factor, an initially unintended yet a significantly important outcome. The participants were repeatedly up-skilled and reminded of rigorous, regular, review mechanism as an integral part of the entire CLP journey. However, measurement analysis evolved during the programme too as both MDC facilitators, business leaders and the participants progressed in the programme. Figure 2, above, shows the shift. Business presentations from participants used real-time data and tested their understanding of reading data vertically and horizontally. The participants were subsequently asked to discuss with their respective teams on the data interpretation and come up with recommendations to improve business, operations and team performance. In the end participants had a better understanding of not just how to gather data but also, more importantly, what to gather. This reduced their dependency on data teams at the corporate and
senior managers level. The result was visible at ground level by their seniors and the same reflected in the feedback received. Long Lasting Results and Relationships The journey started due to the relationship MDC and Chola MS shared being under the common Murugappa brand. The CLP and CLPians only worked to deepen the relationship. On one hand participants were excited to meet peers, share their results and present to leaders. Facilitators had no difficulties in getting 100% of attendees and business leaders to participate in presentations. We received overwhelming feedback from business and also from support functions. Overall, the more MDC and Chola MS have worked together, the more perfect the programme has become – an illustration of how co-operation creates fantastic results for both business and people. Today, we have two customised leadership programmes running between MDC and Chola MS (Bancassurance and Insurance divisions). CLP batch 2 has been identified and we are about to start their learning journey in October 2019. CLP batch 1 is undergoing the follow up schedule where HR tracks their progress and has quarterly sessions with MDC facilitators. Business leadership is more involved and participants are excited to explore the similar journey. This surely makes us believe more in the saying that: “Leadership development is not a quick trip but a journey which require action and examples.�
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Endo Pharmaceuticals / LIW
Top team drives business transformation T
hey say that “no organisation outperforms its top team”. And that principle is at the heart of the project described here where a top team learns new ways of working and leading in order to succeed in a challenging competitive situation. Endo is a global specialty pharmaceutical company and this is the story of the leadership team of its Specialty Branded Division. Patrick, the incoming head of the unit, knew the value of effective leadership and wanted his whole team to benefit from it, build it for themselves and then share it with the wider organisation. Ralph’s brand of leadership is involving, supportive and outcome-focused. Could he bring a soft style to the team and deliver hard results? This is the story of how he, the good people of Endo and LIW achieved just that. The strength of the partnership meant that the work that LIW and Endo did over 18 months could challenge some leadership and development norms and seek to get extraordinary results. From “learning to do” to “doing to learn” LIW’s already clear focus on delivering business impact evolved still further through the partnership. With Endo we closed the “learning-doing gap” totally. The team learned by doing at each stage, reflecting on what worked and what didn’t. From individual to intact team learning This team invested the time to come together to learn together and work together. The team recognised their dual roles: The Vertical dimension as leaders of their own function and the Horizontal dimension as members of the leadership team. While they all performed their vertical role, the importance of their horizontal 11
roles drove the team’s ability to collaborate and to build execution across the business. From a skills focus to a performance focus Many leadership programmes focus on the hard skills of leadership and the business results while others focus on culture and the soft side of leadership. We wanted to combine these approaches so that we could support the leadership team to develop their personal leadership skills and build their mutual understanding as a team while maintaining a ruthless focus on business results. This was supported by the use of assessments, including the Team Calibrator™, throughout the year to track and build the Conditions for Success™ in the team. From a fixed learning path to agile development Rather than setting out a complete development path upfront in ‘waterfall’ style, each element of the programme was developed based on the learnings of the last, “pivoting” where needed to arrive at the desired destination. Furthermore, the team viewed the development path as a journey rather than a set of discrete events so that while they set some clear goals at the start, the path to achieve them inevitably evolved as they learned and progressed on their leadership journey. It was not a smooth road – the team, like all groups of humans and all businesses, were hit with some curve balls along the way. There were cynics. There were some discontented customers to get on board. There was a serious health scare in the team. All these challenges were overcome by a team that had the courage to speak freely, and to challenge themselves and others.
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Endo Pharmaceuticals / LIW
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Endo Pharmaceuticals / LIW top team drives business transformation
The Programme The leadership transformation programme was built in consultation with Patrick and the PLT, using an initial Team Calibrator for baseline data, individual LSI personal leadership impact reports and one-on-ones with the PLT to deepen our understanding of the challenges. We started with two workshops addressing direction setting and building trust and later, in agile fashion, added a third workshop on execution excellence to accelerate performance. The PLT were supported throughout the journey by coaching and ongoing learning to enable reflection and experimentation. Team Calibrator™ scores enabled the team to identify key team strengths and areas for development focus. Mini “pulse” checks on low-scoring items enabled the team to track progress and adjust and two further full Calibrator surveys demonstrated progress across all conditions for success through the year. Workshop 1: Direction setting – creating a compelling vision for the Specialty Branded Division, resulting in a ‘Clarity on a page’ document setting out the purpose, vision, values and strategies that the team were committed to delivering. Workshop 2: Building trust – through deeply exploring their own and others’ leadership styles and recognising strengths in diversity and the importance of collaboration to deliver results. Workshop 3: Execution excellence – working together to prioritise the “Big Swing Factors”, which will deliver the biggest impact. Then drilling down on accountability and developing resilience to enable the team to break through the major challenges. 13
29%
Team Calibrator™ scores improved 29% through the year, the gap was reduced by 47%...
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Endo Pharmaceuticals / LIW
Endo-Team Calibrator TM Metrcis
Performance 29% increase
5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0
Variable 47% decrease
1.0 0.0 Mar 2017
Nov 2017
Mar 2018
The team recognised their dual roles: The Vertical dimension as leaders of their own function and the Horizontal dimension as members of the leadership team. While they all performed their vertical role, the importance of their horizontal roles drove the team’s ability to collaborate and to build execution across the business
Gap 58 % decrease Presence Average
48%
... and variability of scores fell by 48% demonstrating an impressive improvement in alignment across the leadership team
Gap Average
Variability Average
The Results The results have been dramatic, both in terms of leadership of the top team and business performance. Team Calibrator™ scores improved 29% through the year, the gap was reduced by 47%, and variability of scores fell by 48% demonstrating an impressive improvement in alignment across the leadership team. Interestingly this improvement did not happen in a straight line. While performance did improve at the midpoint, the gap held steady and variability actually worsened. This reflects a passage through “conscious incompetence” that the PLT took as they recognised the challenges they faced. The final workshop on execution excellence enabled them to bring together the clear direction and the trusting climate to deliver real change for themselves and for the business Latest business results are also positive, with the team delivering double digit Specialty revenue growth two years in a row and a return to positive growth for the overall business unit in the fourth quarter of 2018. The journey continues and LIW and Endo are now working on cascading this leadership development to the second-line leaders as well as continuing the development of the top team. The team set a bold goal to achieve $1 billion sales within four years, and the team remain committed to achieving it by engaging the wider business leadership team in their vision and purpose.
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Standard Bank / University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business
Building client-centricity for growth in Africa S
tandard Bank is a global financial services organisation, headquartered in South Africa with a footprint in 20 African countries. It is one of the largest banks in South Africa and employs more than 49,000 people globally. Standard Bank’s Corporate and Investment Banking division typically services large multi-nationals that contribute roughly 50% to the overall revenue of the bank. In 2014, Standard Bank reworked its sales model for CIB. The new sales model provided a critical opportunity to invest in the role of the Client Coverage Manager within CIB, empowering managers to enhance and improve their strategic client engagement, thus increasing value for the clients, as well as for Standard Bank. Standard Bank approached the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB), a top-ranked and triple-crown accredited African business school, to design a targeted high-impact programme for its Client Coverage Managers. The programme needed to provide the necessary skills and insights to help shift the organisational culture away from a focus on product sales and short-term benefit to one that values client relationships and fosters long-term profitability. Client-centricity was to be at the heart of the programme. Additionally, Standard Bank wanted a programme that could be rolled out across Africa and international markets to ensure consistency, build customer loyalty and increase the services that the bank could provide to clients. Feedback gained from a return on investment survey indicates that Standard Bank experienced significant benefits, at multiple levels, as a result of the programme – most notably in the overall business impact and value for its business.
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Co-creation the key to success UCT GSB and Standard Bank collaborated closely to build a programme that offered a unique combination of skills and topics. The resulting Masterclass in Strategic Client Management Programme (MSCMP) is still running today, with great success. To date, a total of 398 delegates have completed the MSCMP in over 19 cohorts – and it has welcomed delegates from 17 African countries. Rayner Canning, Business Development Director at the UCT GSB, says it was the strong and responsive partnership between the UCT GSB and Standard Bank’s Learning and Development team that ensured the programme delivered, and continues to deliver, on its mandate. “The design and delivery of the MSCMP was a fantastic team effort. The trust developed between our two organisations has contributed directly to its strong impact and outcomes,” Canning says. Lenie de Waal, Senior Learning Partner CIB at Standard Bank, adds that the MSCMP is a testament to the true partnership between all stakeholders who continuously worked on the programme to ensure it delivered business impact and value for the individual delegate, the team, the bank and ultimately the external client. “The programme’s innovative design built client-centricity skills that balance risk and reward and helped deliver solutions to our clients that ensure we live our strategic purpose – that Africa is our home and we drive her growth.” The MSCMP was leader-led from its inception, to its design and evolution. Senior executives, some of whom were involved as internal subject matter experts, took full ownership of the programme. Each cohort included Standard Bank executives and had a member of Standard Bank’s
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Standard Bank is a global organisation, headquartered in South Africa with a footprint in 20 African countries
49k
Standard Bank is one of the largest banks in South Africa and employs more than 49, 000 people globally
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Standard Bank / University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
Standard Bank / University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business Building client-centricity for growth in Africa
CIB Learning and Human Capital team present in every session. CIB Head, Kenny Fihla, is the Executive Sponsor of the Programme and was a delegate himself in Cohort 1. On the UCT GSB side, the then dean of the school played a key role in the design and delivery of the programme and there continues to be a high level of engagement from leadership at the school. “The MSCMP is a living programme,” says Kumeshnee West, Director of Executive Education at the UCT GSB. “It is agile and responsive and has evolved over time – it was never a static programme that repeated the same information for each cohort. Critical to its success has been that feedback from each phase informed and shaped successive sessions. The programme was piloted with senior executives from across the geographies in which Standard Bank operates, and their invaluable feedback shaped the experience for cohort 2.” Kim van der Merwe, Senior Manager, Learning and Leadership CIB at Standard Bank, who was involved with the programme since inception, adds that what has made it so successful is the continued refreshing of content to keep it relevant and valuable across the business. “The MSCMP has transcended expectations. Due to the focus and commitment of all associated parties and leaders in ensuring that the programme is continuously supported and aligned to our evolving business and client experience strategy we have seen this programme grow to benefit a far broader audience than originally anticipated.” Addressing culture and context In line with the vision and mission of both Standard Bank and the UCT GSB, the MSCMP took culture and context into account – creating a learning experience that is relevant and applicable to successfully doing business in Africa. The programme included content on the challenges and practicalities of doing business in Africa as well as sessions on cultural appreciation. 17
As the programme was designed for Standard Bank managers from across the continent, it was important to note that the delegates came from, and served, countries with vastly different cultures, political environments, economic factors and drivers for GDP growth. While exploring these differences, the programme emphasised that the common goal was to build leadership capability through client-centricity – to ultimately grow business in Africa. De Waal reflects: “we wanted a flagship programme to help our CIB Client Coverage Managers truly understand and implement
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Standard Bank / University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business
Specifically, in terms of client impact, respondents spoke about building relationships both internally and externally through dialogue with teams and clients
client-centricity and to set the tone on how we engage with our clients. The programme needed to be aligned with our vision and in how we can grow the business in Africa. It needed to change peoples’ ways of working with a strong focus on non-financial skills in order to impact on financial gain. It also needed to be practical and give delegates real, usable skills and incorporate real-world client strategies in the learning process.” Accordingly, the MSCMP struck the right balance of hard and soft skills such as negotiation, active listening, leadership capability, communication and presentation skills, as well as the financial skills to better understand and anticipate clients’ needs. These skills also facilitated better internal relationships between teams as to what products the bank could design and offer to the client, based on solid financial acumen. The programme also incorporated real-world client challenges to provide an applied learning experience for delegates, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of business strategy. Creating lasting impact The overall objective of the MSCMP was to make a positive impact in terms of delegates’ personal development, team functioning and overall business effectiveness for the bank. A research project was jointly undertaken by Standard Bank and the UCT GSB in 2017 to evaluate the return on investment of the MSCMP and to gain a balanced, extensive and in-depth assessment of the value of the programme over time.
Survey results indicated that the area of most significant impact was gauged to have been overall business impact and value for Standard Bank. Thirty-three per cent of respondents indicated that this was the largest area of impact assessed through overall business results and effectiveness, specifically in terms of strategic client engagement. Specifically, in terms of client impact, respondents spoke about building relationships both internally and externally through dialogue with teams and clients. And the MSCMP continues to evolve and deliver impact. Based on alumni feedback, two initiatives were put in place to keep the learning alive in the organisation. An online portal was developed for alumni, providing monthly updates from UCT GSB faculty on topics of interest including the latest research, articles and TedTalks. Also, a one-day Alumni Refresher Course was designed and implemented in Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia in 2018, with four more planned for 2019 in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Botswana. “It has been gratifying to witness the way delegates have been able to take and apply what they have learned. The request for a refresher course, for example, speaks to the strength of MSCMP – three years after completing the programme, graduates still use the tools and techniques and want updates as they spread their learnings throughout the organisation,” says West.
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
TRICORP / University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business
How applying indigenous culture to deliver entrepreneurship education contributes to economic reconciliation O
ver 200,000 Indigenous people in 203 distinct First Nations live in British Columbia, Canada. Their ancestors lived there thousands of years before it became a province in 1871. While each Nation has its own unique history and traditions, they all experience ongoing personal, cultural, ecological, and economic impacts of colonizations. Mistrust in government, formal education and industry among Indigenous communities are some of the ripple effects of colonialism that extend across generations and can create barriers to participation in the Canadian economy. The Aboriginal Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACE) programme was developed to capitalize on economic reconciliation opportunities recognized by Indigenous community members. The programme provides entrepreneurs with the skills, knowledge and mentorship to start and grow their own businesses. A considerable amount of resource development is happening in British Columbia (BC) Canada, much of it in remote northwestern Indigenous traditional territory resulting in numerous economic opportunities: industry supply, corollary support services, tourism, and general goods and services. Indigenous communities are keen to tap into these economic opportunities, develop their ideas, passions and skills – or expand their existing ventures – and create culturally meaningful participation in the Canadian economy. In 2010, Dr. Frank Parnell, CEO of Tribal Resources Investment Corporation (TRICORP), invited Dr. Brent Mainprize, entrepreneurship professor at the University of Victoria’s Peter B.
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Gustavson School of Business (Gustavson), to produce a study called Economic Opportunities in the Northwest. After a Leader’s Forum attended by 25 First Nations in the TRICORP service area, Parnell and Mainprize saw potential for an entrepreneurial education programme in northwest BC. TRICORP and Gustavson collaborated with Indigenous Elders and leaders to co-create the programme, supported by industry and government bodies. Aligning Indigenous Elders, academics, government and industry groups with diverse – and sometimes disparate – goals was essential to create mutually beneficial relationships and build a cohesive support structure. “Partnering with the federal government, industry and a post-secondary institution allows for full validation of the programme, accessibility to our members, and the business expertise and mentorship of professionals in entrepreneurship,” Parnell explains. Each partner is interdependent and helps bring the programme to life. TRICORP, an Indigenousowned lending institution, provides funding, marketing and various administrative roles for the ACE programme. Additionally, graduates with viable business plans can secure loans from TRICORP to help them as they launch their ventures. Gustavson facilitates and delivers the programme, tailoring to the needs of each cohort and improving the
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2018 | TRICORP / University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business
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Excellence in Practice 2019 GOLD
TRICORP / University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business How applying Indigenous culture to deliver entrepreneurship education contributes to economic reconciliation
overall programme based on feedback. Federal and provincial governments provide funding to support and expand the programme. The close collaboration of all partners involved helps bring the programme to life, including looking at programme delivery in a new and exciting way. “ACE gives business professors the opportunity to view entrepreneurial concepts and tools through Indigenous lens,” Mainprize explains. “It has meant moving from individualism (building personal wealth) to collectivist thinking, where the wealth of the community and preservation of culture is a priority and often a central objective of Indigenous Entrepreneurship.” That paradigm shift has generated one of the ACE programme’s key innovations: “we work together and learn from each other by bridging Indigenous culture with the key principles of entrepreneurship,” says Parnell. For example, traditional Indigenous learning incorporates symbols and storytelling. Working with Indigenous artist Richard Shorty, Elders, business leaders and Gustavson developed the analogy of Eagle and Salmon, both important figures in Indigenous cultures in BC. They help students visualize the steps in launching a venture in a culturally relevant way with “the Seven Ss”: Seeing, Spotting, Selecting, Shaping, Seizing, Soaring, and Sharing. Identifying one’s capabilities to recognize an opportunity or idea to fine tuning it into a viable business relates to the eagle hunting the salmon and finding continuation and sustenance. 21
BC covers a large area, though, and sustenance can look different from one region to the next. To this end, the 163 instructors and mentors in the programme – 30% of whom are Indigenous – meet with each student to tailor the material to their needs, ideas and interests. ACE educators can also individualize the programme by moving beyond theory. Experiential learning components include the 3C Challenge, where groups of four are given $1000 and must decide how to create value in the three areas of community, culture and cash (profit). The implications of each decision are eye-opening, with ensuing discussion. Within that individualized approach, the end goal is the same. After about 11 weeks of intensive course work followed by a 12-week mentorship, graduates have created solid business plans that can secure financing. While doing so, they have connected to their Indigenous culture and brought prosperity and opportunities to their communities. Crucially, students do not have to leave their homes to participate in the ACE programme. This was a key decision made during the co-creation process. Gustavson faculty deliver the programmes to communities far and wide, remote and urban. This is important for a few reasons. Due to time and financial constraints, it isn’t viable for many students to travel long distances to a university campus. By holding courses in community, participants also do not need to be separated from their family and community members while they study.
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2018 | TRICORP / University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business
As graduates continue to use their culture to achieve economic self-sufficiency, they will benefit their communities with employment opportunities, possibly becoming mentors themselves, and inspire others to turn their dreams into livelihoods
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There are 13 more cohorts in development, as well as offshoots tailored to artists and youth
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To date, the programme has seen 309 graduates and counting. The 84 businesses launched thus far range from bakeries to art, industry support to publishing houses – and an additional 120 new businesses are about to take flight
“It is a tremendous honour to be invited into an Aboriginal community to deliver education,” says Mainprize. “By going into communities, the ACE programme has taken a new approach to ensuring success. We are customizing the courses and building what the communities want, an approach that is unique among Canadian business schools, offering Aboriginal education programmes on their terms in their territory.” The first ACE programme was in May 2013 at the TRICORP offices on Metlakatla reserve lands of Wilnaskancaud, near the northern coastal BC town of Prince Rupert. By December 2018, the 21st cohort graduated from among the villages and small urban centres the programme had expanded to reach. There are 13 more cohorts in development, as well as offshoots tailored to artists and youth. To date, the programme has seen 309 graduates and counting. The 84 businesses launched thus far range from
bakeries to art, industry support to publishing houses – and an additional 120 new businesses are about to take flight. Plus, 39 graduates have gone on to pursue further education. As graduates continue to use their culture to achieve economic self-sufficiency, they will benefit their communities with employment opportunities, possibly becoming mentors themselves, and inspire others to turn their dreams into livelihoods. Indigenous people will be able to take their rightful place in the Canadian economy in empowering ways that strengthen their culture. In the end, the whole country is stronger in awareness and prosperity. These are the kinds of ripple effects the ACE programme is all about.
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Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
Santander / Opinno / Mind the Gap / Fraile y Blanco / Open Waters
How to accelerate the transformation of a financial giant S
antander a Group is a Spanish multinational commercial bank and financial services company founded in Santander, Spain, and whose HQ is located in Madrid. The bank looks after 144 million customers worldwide and has a proud 161-year history of success. But past glory does not guarantee future success. In 2015, under its new executive chairman Ana Botin, Santander identified the need to adapt and remain agile against a backdrop of shifting customer experience expectations, a challenging peer and competitor landscape, and the need to attract, retain and develop top talent who could work positively and collaboratively across boundaries. The result? Santander introduced a new balanced stakeholder model and three core values: Simple, Personal and Fair, underpinned by eight key behaviours to live and work by: Show Respect, Truly Listen, Talk Straight, Actively Collaborate, Bring Passion, Support People and Embrace Change. The ultimate goal was to help the organisation, ”To be the best retail and commercial bank by earning the lasting loyalty of people, customers, shareholders and communities”. To achieve this ambitious objective Santander had to ensure its leadership group could embrace and drive the change, developing and reinforcing new critical skills, including a strong digital attitude. The solution was the “The Leaders Academy Experience” initiative that introduced a new way of learning, inviting participants to continually develop themselves anywhere, at any time, and included different pathways to transform both business and culture, achieving outstanding results. 23
The challenge The challenge was to embed this new approach throughout Santander, to instil a new behavioural set based on the continuous learning approach and to break a historical taboo: failure is part of any innovation process and it should be considered as an opportunity to learn and improve. Santander needed leaders to drive a significant shift in business and in people, so that “Simple, Personal and Fair” became a “new normal” that transcended what had gone before; building loyalty by making their customers’ lives easier, understanding individual needs and acting in an honest, collaborative and innovative way. Embedding into HR and business processes The group went to great lengths to embed the changes in existing processes and practices and deploy them throughout the business. Santander introduced a new digital division to anticipate fundamental changes that digitalisation will bring about, and also reconfigured the segmentation of our Corporate Leadership, moving from two to three populations: Promontorio (top leaders, in charge of defining the corporate vision, values and strategy) Faro (senior management who are a guide and essential benchmark for colleagues and groups across countries and divisions); and Solaruco (middle managers with a key role in implementing the strategy and objectives associated with a country or corporate/global entity). This means putting under the spotlight the leadership collectives who occupy the most
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Santander / Opinno / Mind the Gap / Fraile y Blanco / Open Waters
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Santander / Opinno / Mind the Gap / Fraile y Blanco / Open Waters How to accelerate the transformation of a financial giant
This has been a continuous learning approach. Monthly touch points, either face-to-face or virtual, exposed participants to high-quality interventions about the major trends that shape the bank’s markets and businesses
critical, influential positions within the Group. Later on, in 2017, the Global Knowledge and Development function defined a new Global Learning Strategy that places our employees at the centre and applies a “never stop learning” approach, focusing on continuous development across three axes: leadership, business and cultural transformation.
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Taking action Santander’s business performance showed that they were already highly-effective and focused on results. However, they were in the middle of a thorough business and cultural transformation which meant their HR strategy had to change too in order to be aligned with and enable the company strategic agenda. So they started to build from scratch what was needed to make of Santander a future-proof organisation. The main changes to achieve were embedding the eight corporate behaviours into day-to-day life, having employees and managers taking accountability for this change, collaborating and breaking down silos. All of that had to be cascaded from the top down. They looked both inside and outside the group to find the best of what was new and innovative to develop the teams. Our external partners were Opinno, Mind the Gap and Fraile y Blanco, all of them consultancy firms based in Spain, and Open Waters from the UK. The result was “The Leaders Academy Experience” initiative. It invites participants to continually develop themselves anywhere, at any time and includes different pathways to transform both business and culture.
83% 6.3m The ultimate impact has been felt across all four stakeholder groups: 83% of employees are motivated to contribute to building a bank that is simple, personal, and fair
There’s also been a 15% increase in loyal customers, 18% increase in profits and a staggering 6.3 million people have been supported in the wider community
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Santander / Opinno / Mind the Gap / Fraile y Blanco / Open Waters
The L&D function under the spotlight This initiative shone a spotlight on Learning and Development. The L&D function became the catalyst for transformational change – for business and culture. It was a completely new way of consuming training, moving from a “push” to a “pull” approach, with the L&D function being ahead of the trends and driving a completely new transformational agenda. Santander worked with external providers from all over the world, to help fine tune the programme design and provide insight and fresh inputs from the best in class, which would elevate this programme to something truly memorable, sustainable and well-balanced. For example, Oppino helped to bring in excellent speakers and thought leaders to run business transformation workshops, Mind the Gap supported the design and delivery of the business transformation experience, Fraile y Blanco provided digital innovation and technical support, and Open Waters helped design and deliver the cultural transformation piece. However, the design was Santander’s, created on an agile basis and owned in-house. Learning methods and environment This has been a continuous learning approach. Monthly touch points, either face-to-face or virtual, exposed participants to high-quality interventions about the major trends that shape the bank’s markets and businesses. Events included the participation of renowned speakers such as Tao Tao, Director of Business Development EMEA at AliPay; Salim Ismail, Founding Executive Director of Singularity University; and Brett King, Australian futurist, author and co-founder and CEO of Moven, a New York-based mobile banking start-up. Impact The Leaders Academy Experience is about changing the mind-set of the people at the top of the house. The Bank is already seeing the positive impact of people being more aligned with the changing business, doing things in a more collaborative, innovative, accountable way.
LAEx has given me the possibility of breathing deeply and reflect on those aspects I should improve or do otherwise (personal and professional ones, a real interior reflection). Without a doubt it reinforced my belief that people come first. And it has allowed me to be up-todate with new technologies and what it is happening in the world (and provoked me to adapt and use as soon as possible) LAEx Participant
Santander is proud to have delivered a ground-breaking, transformative programme, using a new approach to continuous learning, which has exceeded expectations in all key performance metrics. This has resulted in 84% participation in the programme and tangible differences throughout the Santander Group, with senior managers asking for it to be rolled out to their teams. Thanks to the Leaders Academy Experience our leaders are more comfortable in a fastchanging business environment, while running their business in a more collaborative, innovative and accountable way. The ultimate impact has been felt across all four stakeholder groups: 83% of employees are motivated to contribute to building a bank that is simple, personal, and fair. There’s also been a 15% increase in loyal customers, 18% increase in profits and a staggering 6.3 million people have been supported in the wider community. In summary, the Leaders Academy Experience has had a significant and lasting impact as an effective transformation tool that will carry Santander through to a positive future. It has paved the way towards the implementation of a Learning Experience Platform representing a critical step to transform the whole Santander Group into a Continuous Learning Organisation.
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Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
ING Bank, London Business School / Core Leadership Institute
Accelerating leadership development at scale
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t’s a substantial undertaking to strengthen an entire global organisation’s performance culture. ING, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation, can attest to this. In 2014, ING created its Think Forward Strategy under the leadership of CEO Ralph Hamers. The strategy communicates priorities to create a differentiated customer experience. Related to the strategy, ING established its “Orange Code”, a set of company values and behaviours. Through this process, ING knew that its thousands of people across the world needed to lead and behave differently. ING’s Global HR department used the McKinsey’s Organisational Health Index (OHI), an indicator of sustained organisational performance, to articulate four important leadership behaviours: 1. Self-awareness and personal purpose so leaders can unleash their full potential. 2. Personal ownership that fosters a more caring and consultative style of leadership that gives employees autonomy to make decisions. 3. Collaboration so solutions come from unexpected sources. 4. Experimentation that encourages employees to take responsibility so they can continuously improve and contribute ideas. A unique learning initiative To address the four behaviours, the innovative Think Forward Leadership Experience (TFLE) was created. The initial faculty-led iteration was designed for the top 300 leaders in the company. In addition, a 16-week TFLE journey needed be rolled out to cohorts of 96 employees with the goal of impacting an astounding number of managers – 4,000 in total. 27
“We aimed to deliver a valuable experience at scale. Our goal was for ING leaders and managers to come out thinking and acting differently, producing real results. We needed this to happen extremely fast,” said Hein Knaapen, ING’s Chief HR Officer. To deliver on TFLE’s goals, ING sought partners that had academic rigour, top faculty and brand reputation. This is, in part, what led the ING team to select London Business School (LBS) as a learning partner. A faculty team of Costas Markides, Kathleen O’Connor and Andrew MacLennan was chosen to address the behaviours of personal ownership, collaboration and experimentation. ING also partnered with the Core Leadership Institute (CLI), a global leadership development firm. CLI helps ING leaders and managers discover and define their individual deeper purpose, and then align it to the bank’s organisational purpose. It is not the norm for two learning partners to collaborate on such a programme. Mark Bleackley, LBS Programme Director, said: “From the outset, this was a true partnership in which both LBS and CLI wanted the best outcome for ING.” “We were deliberate in creating an integrated participant experience that would feel connected as opposed to two separate programmes,” added Nick Craig, CLI President. The initial faculty-led programme for the top 300 launched in 2016 and was very well received. CLI covered the first two days and focused on purpose, while LBS’ content on personal ownership, collaboration and experimentation followed in the next two days. “The faculty were in their element leading sessions in front of a full auditorium,” said
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | ING Bank, London Business School / Core Leadership Institute
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Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
ING Bank, London Business School / Core Leadership Institute Accelerating leadership development at scale
Bertrand Sereno, an L&D leader at ING. “I found they were solid and very effective in generating conversations and excitement.” The major challenge was replicating this faculty-led journey to 4,000 managers. “It kept me up at night thinking about how to digitally replicate the excitement of a live session with faculty like Costas,” admitted Rob Robertson, ING’s Global Head of L&D. To deliver a transformative experience at scale, the learning partners aligned on the design shown in Figure 1, and featured the elements shown in Figure 2. “This is unlike anything we had ever done before,” said Mieke Nan, ING’s International Talent Programme Manager. “TFLE focuses on ING’s behavioural experimentation. We wanted to exemplify this in the way we brought a completely new experience to managers.” Craig guides participants through the emotional journey of identifying and sharing their difficult life-challenging ‘crucible stories’. “Essentially, our most challenging experiences strip us down to the core of who we are. By identifying the pattern across several challenging experiences, we can uncover the purpose that is leading us,” said Craig. Highlighting one example, ING’s Head of Strategy Marco Eijsacker detailed his life-altering crucible story. In 2000, Marco suffered a heart attack and doctors couldn’t identify the underlying issues. Relying on his network, Marco learned he had an aneurysm close to his brain. It required an innovative surgery that had been unsuccessful to date. Marco was the eighth person to undergo the procedure and miraculously survived. The crucible story exercise helped him realise how his purpose is tied to staying positive, striving for clarity and bringing in the right talent, all attributes that helped him endure a life-altering medical scare. Individual facilitation for thousands of managers was a challenge for a firm of CLI’s size. To address this, a number of alumni from the faculty-led experience felt inspired to take on this facilitation 29
Figure 1: Learning Journey
Figure 2: Digital Learning
Figure 3: The ING Experimentation Loop
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | ING Bank, London Business School / Core Leadership Institute
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To date, 34 cohorts of 96 participants have gone through TFLE
4k
It runs every two weeks and is on pace to impact 4,000 managers
to facilitators who are ultimately responsible for delivering, enhancing and embedding the learning. Bleackley led this team of facilitators and ensured they speak the same leadership language and can deliver on TFLE’s objectives. This is a daunting challenge, especially when you consider that TFLE is provided in multiple languages.
role. This has enhanced the experience for both the alumni and participants, according to Craig. LBS Professor O’Connor helps participants gain insight into what collaboration means for ING by understanding the importance of building empathy. Participants go through a number of activities to put personal ownership and collaboration into practice, guided by Markides. One example of this is an exercise in which participants present a story on how to gain a colleague’s commitment for an assignment that needs to be delegated. Key to effective collaboration is building psychological safety. The participants are presented with different ways to create a safe environment throughout the experience. MacLennan introduces participants to the ING experimentation loop, shown in Figure 3. Participants put this and other new frameworks into practice by developing their own leadership experiments. For TFLE, faculty needed to step outside their comfort zone by delivering their content via video and then handing over the experience
Impact To date, 34 cohorts of 96 participants have gone through TFLE. It runs every two weeks and is on pace to impact 4,000 managers. Since the launch of the experience, ING has transitioned from the second to first quartile in the OHI from 2015 to 2017 across all four of the learning objective areas. Based on OHI results, there was a six-percentage point increase in self-awareness and purpose. “The transformation of the individual has in turn transformed the way we work,” said Knaapen. ING saw an eight-percentage point increase in personal ownership and experimentation. “Before, personal ownership and experimentation were theoretical principles. Now, thanks in part to TFLE, these terms have become realistic in my daily life,” said Claude Lambrechts, ING’s Head of Client Services and Business Organisation in Luxembourg. In terms of collaboration, ING experienced a 12-percentage point increase. Summarising the overall impact, Knaapen concluded: “The impact generated and the speed at which TFLE has been delivered is substantial. Learning was ultimately driven by the participant; it was not imposed, but instead unleashed.”
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Excellence in Practice 2019 ď‚Ť SILVER
Oracle, IESE Business School / University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
Improved customer focused agility to better navigate disruptive forces
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Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Oracle, IESE Business School / University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
“I
n a digital world, analog is more important than ever.” This was the comment from an Oracle executive after participating in the company’s first global, cross-function leadership development programme, Accelerate Executive Insight or AEI. As business catapults ahead with increased complexity, the opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world and build relationships to advance the business remains incredibly valuable. What makes AEI so unique is that Oracle designed the programme in partnership with two world-class business schools: IESE Business School and University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. There is no other programme like it. Here is the story: The challenge Oracle develops top-selling technological solutions that address complex business processes in a vast range of industries. The company reigns as industry leader in numerous sectors, including banking, education, finance, healthcare, manufacturing and retail. In recent years, technological advances have dramatically altered how these sectors are defined and how companies compete and create value. Although the company had been operating within a vortex of change for decades, as a large, decentralized organization, it needed to respond to its customers’ evolving needs with greater agility. The company and its immense client base were faced with ongoing digital transformation that was disrupting industries worldwide. In this context, the challenge for Oracle was to ensure its leadership learned faster and better to navigate a world in constant flux. Partnering with Two Top Business Schools Oracle’s Organization & Talent Development leadership team sought to foster a common vision and nomenclature among its top performers and provide a platform to enhance their leadership potential in benefit of themselves, their teams and the organization as a whole. In keeping with Oracle’s holistic outlook, they envisioned an innovative learning solution that spanned the globe.
What makes Accelerate Executive Insight (AEI) so unique is that Oracle designed the programme in partnership with two world-class business schools: IESE Business School and University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. There is no other programme like it
The Accelerate Executive Insight (AEI), programme was launched in 2014. AEI, now in its 21st edition, is the outcome of this forwardthinking approach. Designed by Oracle, IESE Business School and University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, AEI gathers participants from diverse business lines, regions, functions and cultures to learn together across two global venues and a virtual learning platform. As Jo Tilson, Global Head of Oracle’s Top Talent Development Centre explains, “Developing a programme with two learning providers is uncommon, yet we at Oracle are big believers in the power of collaboration. We felt this team would work exceptionally well together and bring in unique perspectives to the benefit of our participants. In a sense, our AEI development team mirrored the type of collaborative energy we hoped to inspire through the programme.” On an organizational level, the learning solution aspired to stimulate networking, collaboration and knowledge flows and serve as a means to retain top talent and prepare them to lead Oracle into the future: • To foster communication, collaboration and networking across functions, lines of business, geographies and cultures • To create a common nomenclature and a unified vision with regard to strategic and technological change • To facilitate knowledge flows between senior-level and top-level management • To boost the leadership potential of directors and senior directors and to catalyze their career progression 32
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Oracle, IESE Business School / University of Michigan, Ross School of Business Improved customer focused agility to better navigate disruptive forces
Overview of the Programme The Top Talent Development Team decided the new offering should specifically target a strategic selection of top-performing directors and senior directors from a cross-section of lines of business and functions including sales, consulting, customer support product development, engineering, finance, marketing, communications, legal HR and accounting. Each edition gathers 40 to 45 top-talent directors and senior directors for a multifaceted learning experience to help them elevate their leadership competencies and inspire their teams to innovate and execute with greater speed and agility. Given its strong emphasis on teamwork, the programme’s success relies on a strategically selected cohort. The programme is an equalopportunity initiative to benefit the top-performing male and female employees in Oracle’s senior leadership pool. The programme aims to trigger positive outcomes for both participants and the organization by serving as a catalyst for personal and professional growth. To this end, one of the programme’s core components is the business initiatives (BIs) project. Defined by the cohort, BIs entail a team-based methodology that inspires participants to envision diverse corporate scenarios, articulate what could generate the highest benefit for Oracle and formulate strategies to make it happen. In an immersive and Oracle-focused learning environment, the programme prepares participants for the future by teaching positive practices to hone their strategic mindset, as well as boosts their ability to lead and inspire their teams – especially critical in a context of uncertainty and flux. The programme begins with a virtual introductory session, followed by a residential module run by IESE Business School at its global campus in Barcelona or in Hong Kong. Module I is then followed by virtual teamwork on the various business initiative projects. The second residential module takes place at the University of Michigan’s 33
Given its strong emphasis on teamwork, the programme’s success relies on a strategically selected cohort. The programme is an equal-opportunity initiative to benefit the top-performing male and female employees in Oracle’s senior leadership pool
Stephen M. Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor, MI. The week-long Module I at IESE seeks to expand participants’ strategic vision and customercentric focus. It capitalizes on the school’s expertise in strategic management and digital transformation by examining how companies compete in the face of digital disruption. The BI projects challenge participants to apply the learning to relevant, meaningful Oracle priorities. Participants work in cross-geography, cross-functional teams to unlock meaningful value for the company. Module II at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business takes advantage of the school’s pioneering work on positive leadership through in-depth examinations of participants’ unique leadership styles. It also integrates Ross’s trademark action-oriented learning to heighten their ability to inspire, engage and align their teams.
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Oracle, IESE Business School / University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
AEI outcomes include: Organisational Benefits: • Elevated strategic insight through business initiatives project • Improved capacity to leverage knowledge flows to spur ongoing innovation and improvement Team Benefits: • Accelerated development and higher retention among Oracle’s top talent • Greater collaboration and networking across the organization to increase engagement Individual Benefits: • Evolved mindset from transactional to strategic and skillset to lead change processes • Ability to lead with greater clarity and a renewed sense of purpose • Deeper awareness into one’s own leadership style • Increased exposure to Oracle senior leadership What has made this programme unique? • A dynamic blend of learning methodologies: - Action-based learning - Experiential learning - Case method - Interactive lectures - Oracle-specific team-based projects • Two schools working together in a unique and complementary partnership – modeling a successful collaboration as a lesson for Oracle participants • On-going faculty involvement and guidance for business initiatives • Oracle’s senior leaders featured as speakers • Tours, sports activities and wellness boot camps • “Break the ice” networking activities • Blended format to optimize face-to-face modules • AEI alumni reunions to nurture connect
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Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
Schneider Electric / INSEAD
Purposeful leadership in a digital world “T
he world is changing very fast,” says Olivier Blum, Chief Human Resources Officer of Schneider Electric. “We have to adapt the leadership and culture of the entire company to face this environment.” Such, in 2015, was the daunting challenge faced by Schneider, a global leader in energy management and automation with 150,000 employees across 100 countries. The good news for Blum and his team was that the new corporate strategy, “Schneider is On”, provided a framework for this vast global organisation to become an agile digital innovator – a partner rather than a mere provider for customers in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous and rapidly digitising (VUCA+D) world. Five simple strategic pillars had been identified to help in this task: do more; digitise; innovate; step up; simplify. The bad news was that the company’s leadership development was yet to catch up with the strategy. “We were sleepwalking through a tired old formula,” says Peter Hope, Vice President of the Schneider Leadership Academy, who was responsible for identifying a select group of executives and sending them on a traditional, face-to-face programme that was anything but innovative or digital. “The classes culminated in a ritual presentation to the Executive Committee that went precisely nowhere,” adds Hope, as he recalls the old way of doing things.
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Schneider, a global leader in energy management and automation with 150,000 employees across 100 countries
Develop true leaders of people, not followers of leadership formulae It was a chance meeting at a management conference that gave Hope a glimpse of an alternative way forward. One of the speakers was INSEAD professor, Gianpiero Petriglieri, who argued that, when “leadership development” focuses on helping people conform to a mandated model, it only develops dutiful followers. For Hope it was a light bulb moment. Over the following months, the two men stayed in touch and introduced each other to several of their colleagues. Although Schneider and INSEAD had much in common – both leaders in their sectors that had globalised from French origins – the two organisations had never worked together. As Hope’s boss, SVP Talent and Diversity, Tina Mylon, says, “We were sceptical about engaging with such an academic institution, but what I loved about them was their human approach. They roll up their sleeves and get stuck in.”
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Schneider Electric / INSEAD
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Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
Schneider Electric / INSEAD Purposeful leadership in a digital world
Tailor to the leadership level, not just the organisation Gradually, over the course of a year, informal conversations and breakfast meetings gave way to a written brief, a series of formal interviews, a contract and finally an ambitious design for a system of leadership development covering Schneider as a whole. In fact, the collaboration resulted in a suite of four overlapping programmes, each carefully tailored to the needs of a different leadership level, as follows. • L1 “Leading with Vision for executive leaders (SVP/EVP) Classes, workshops, experiential learning and coaching covering not only leadership but also digital strategy and cultural change. 5.5 days on campus, followed by ongoing leadership coaching online • L2 “Leading with Purpose” for senior leaders (VP) Leadership elements similar to L1; additional learning about conducting business across cultures (delivered on campus); courses on strategy in the age of digital disruption (delivered online). 5.5 days on campus, 5 weeks part-time study online, ongoing leadership coaching online • L3 “Leading with Influence” for mid-career leaders (Directors, Senior Managers) A shorter time spent on face-to-face leadership development than for L1 and L2, with a curriculum based on a personalised leadership profile; additional online content on the “Innovator’s Method”. 3.5 days on campus, 4 weeks part-time study online, ongoing leadership coaching online • L4 “Stepping up to Leadership” for early-career leaders (Managers, individual contributors) Curriculum on “leading yourself and others” and “strategy for turbulent times”, all delivered entirely off-campus. 8 weeks part-time study online, ongoing “virtual” group coaching from peers 37
Neither INSEAD nor Schneider had ever undertaken a project of this scale and complexity. Perhaps most daring of all, the plan at L4 was to deliver a leadership-development programme, entirely online. Digital disruption in both form and content INSEAD’s resident expert on digital learning, Professor Chengyi Lin, is adamant that developing soft skills online, though daring and innovative, makes perfect sense. He claims, “As a subject, leadership is like any other: there are elements of learning that work online, others that don’t.” Indeed, young high-potentials, who are the main target audience for L4, have no problem with learning anything in a digital environment. Furthermore, they are comfortable assessing and addressing their strengths and weaknesses through interactive, online methods. The other key to the programme’s success – at all levels – is that leadership is always taught alongside more technical content, thus integrating behavioural and social skills closely with technical and strategic ones. At L3, for example, Schneider and INSEAD were fortunate to have Professor Nathan Furr, whose research on the “Innovator’s Method” for bringing entrepreneurial practices into large organisations was a perfect fit for Schneider’s desired transformation, as well as the contribution required from mid-career leaders. These and other tools and techniques provided the basis for live case studies and project work through which to practise leadership by nurturing innovation.
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Schneider Electric / INSEAD
Fast-forward to 2019 and hundreds of participants have experienced the programme. Schneider has completed a full “business review” of the initiative, and the verdict from all parts of the organisation is overwhelmingly enthusiastic, resulting in an expansion of the partnership with INSEAD
Tangible impact across the organisation Fast-forward to 2019 and hundreds of participants have experienced the programme. Schneider has completed a full “business review” of the initiative, and the verdict from all parts of the organisation is overwhelmingly enthusiastic, resulting in an expansion of the partnership with INSEAD. In April 2019, for example, a new “L0” was delivered – in response to demand from the Executive Committee, whose members have been so struck by the impact on their teams that they too wanted the opportunity to explore how to step up their leadership. Similarly, later in the year, a new programme specifically for Schneider’s women leaders will be launched, again combining digital learning with a face-toface summit at INSEAD. The best evidence for the programme’s impact, however, is the experiences of past participants. Carine Glass (L2, 2017) from France says she has achieved a cost saving of
30% for a major customer through a new system of remote digital maintenance. Marcos Antonio De Souza (L3, 2018) from South America has implemented a continent-wide redesign of purchasing operations, thereby freeing up an extra one or two hours per day per buyer. Whalid Gherbi (L2, 2017) did a project as part of the programme that will result in an estimated €15 million increase in business over the next five years. Scale up the customer satisfaction, cost savings and revenue increases across a global operation, and the benefits are incalculable. The power of partnership and commitment Schneider and INSEAD have succeeded in devising a truly innovative multi-level, programme that meets the company’s strategic needs. But none of this would have happened without partnership and commitment. By taking the time to learn about and challenge each other, the two organisations have created a model that augments the value of both personal and digital learning, achieving a scale and impact that neither party envisaged during the initial chance meeting at a conference. As Oliver Blum, Schneider CHRO concludes, “Wherever I travel in the world, I meet people who say they’ve changed the way they lead as part of the programme.”
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Excellence in Practice 2019 ď‚Ť SILVER
Porsche AG / University of St. Gallen, Executive School of Management Technology and Law
Accelerated Excellence
911 Carrera 4S: Fuel consumption combined 9.0 l/100 km; CO2 emissions 206 g/km 39
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Porsche AG / University of St. Gallen, Executive School of Management Technology and Law
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ow do you – as a car manufacturer – influence your dealer network, ramp up customer satisfaction, improve sales and profits, and at the same time involve the dealers in paying the investments”? Questions Porsche AG was asking itself back in 2012. It was the year when it launched its lean management offensive for the retail network, then known as “Porsche Business Excellence (PBE)”. As a qualification vehicle for more performance in the markets, the “PBE International Dealer Academy” in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen should become one of its most effective levers.
The Future Already Now In 2012, the Sales Network Qualification department of Porsche AG began to develop retail employees into Porsche AG Brand Ambassadors. With two key areas of focus: one product driven with a comprehensive and innovative blended learning on Porsche AG models; and the other focused on HR-development, providing state-of-the art tools and methods for all areas of the HR-cycle from recruiting through qualification to retention. This initiative was called “Porsche Business Excellence” (PBE1). PBE – steered by Porsche AG headquarters – supports the retail network in developing new business segments while optimizing existing business areas. Established in all 19 Porsche AG markets, PBE reinforces over 850 Porsche Centres worldwide by continuously enhancing their performance and driving the retail business towards sustainable excellence. On its launch in 2012, its objectives translated as followed in the market: a) Secure the model (then “Macan”) readiness of the global dealer network (e.g. new model line, new customers etc.). At the time, Porsche AG was selling around 162’000 units worldwide amounting to a total sales revenue of EUR 14.3 Billion and an EBIT of EUR 2.5 Billion. b) Transmission of central Porsche AG strategy “Porsche Strategy 2018” and align with local dealer strategy.
c) Support retail network in change management during the implementation process ‘hand-in-hand’ like partners. In 2013, the PBE International Dealer Academy was established specifically to meet the challenges of the future dealership network and to implement “Strategy 2018”. Tailored to the requirements of Porsche AG dealers based on close cooperation with leading academic and automotive experts the Academy was set up to provide the General Managers with fresh ideas directed towards achieving excellence. This transfer of knowledge, skills and tools, designed to give the General Managers1 as well as their Porsche Centres that special competitive edge, would ultimately lead to a professional qualification awarded by the University of St. Gallen. The retail executive education and professional development undertaking by Porsche AG is unusual as a corporate learning programme, in that the manufacturer is looking to qualify executives that are not on their own payroll. Hence, it was vital that the content carefully reflected the specific challenges and issues the participants faced in their dealerships. A challenging journey The St. Gallen/Porsche AG partnership began in 2012 with explicit and engaged sponsorship from the Board and the Head of Sales Network Qualification. Over the next year, the responsible “programme architects” Robert Fallbacher and Dr. Andreas Löhmer began ramping up their joint Training Needs Analysis and gave the pair time to understand each other’s modus operandi, building a personal as well as professional partnership driven by a shared enthusiasm to make theirs a truly impactful programme.
1 The programme targeted and targets General Managers and Centre Principals in the first place; however, also investors or General Sales Managers (to become GMs in the near future) could take part in this development measure.
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EFMD Global Focus_Iss.3 Vol.13 www.globalfocusmagazine.com
Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
Porsche AG / University of St. Gallen, Executive School of Management Technology and Law Accelerated Excellence
The outcome of months of extensive training needs analysis were twofold: on the one hand, Porsche AG and St. Gallen identified the core pain points of the Dealers in their respective markets and could therefore clearly address the respective content and build stable networks with the importer/ investor. On the other hand, the relationship between the two project managers who showed very different personality and working styles improved significantly to a strong friendship over time and close cooperation. The enduring success and impact of the programme is clearly shown by the fact that it is now embarking on a 7th Stream. ‘CAS’ for Porsche’s Retail Network Tailored to the requirements of the Porsche Centers’ General Managers around the world, the two-year programme consists of three on-site learning weeks, taking place at international destinations, covering the most relevant topics for the dealerships and learning from global best practices. The Academy accompanies the participants with individual online elements, personal coaching and transfer support to create real impact in the Porsche Centre. To ensure individual mentoring, the Dealer Academy is limited to 15 participants each year with the opportunity to engage in exchanges with members of Porsche AG management as well as discuss the latest trends and ideas among their international peers. In addition to attending the Virtual Launch and the three face-to-face sessions on leadership, strategy, KPI as well as Design Thinking and HR-issues, participants are required to complete a practice-oriented written thesis on a topic covered in the Academy. In this 10 to 15-page essay participants examine a strategic challenge from their own day-to-day operations, and design practical solutions in the form of a plan that is implementable in their company and incorporating content they had during the three modules. All of these ultimately lead – if concluded according to the prerequisites set by the University of St. Gallen – to an academic “Certificate of Advanced Studies” which the participants receive with their 41
I have been working in this industry for many years now and have to say I was blown away with the whole experience which is something I’m immensely proud to have been a part of and something that will live for me forever. Phil Brine Porsche Centre Principal, Porsche Centre Bournemouth
graduation about two years after they started. As the Dealer Academy was successfully paving the way for enhanced business results and higher customer satisfaction indices, Porsche AG decided to run the executive education and development programme on an even higher level. From 2015 onwards the Dealer Academy took knowledge transfer several steps further through a targeted combination of Impact Monitoring and Leadership Coaching. Through Impact Monitoring, in the aftermath of each module the Academy supported participants in leveraging input from lectures to address specific challenges they faced in their dealerships. Simultaneously, the Academy offered personal on-site Leadership Coaching to each participant during all three Semesters, supplemented by calls in between, enabling access to a constant sparring partner. Impact on Different Levels With its steady influence on the dealer principals, general managers and investors, the Dealer Academy has instigated an observable impact on leadership behavior, retention rates, strategic priorities, KPI-related process optimization and – above all – on customer centric activities that consequently lead to better employee survey grades, improved Porsche AG passion reports and higher values on the Customer Satisfaction Indices. Altogether, these measures lead to a holistically better performance of the Porsche Centre and improved sales and after sales figures in the respective markets of participants.
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Porsche AG / University of St. Gallen, Executive School of Management Technology and Law
Effect on the General Manager Taking a closer look at where the Dealer Academy has proven evidence for positive changes and effects, four different clusters witness success so far2: Dealership inward-looking effects such as “Leadership & Collaboration” (75%3) and “Internal Business KPI and HR-processes” (20%) on the one hand, and Dealership outward-looking effects such as “Strategy and Market Development” (25%) and “Customer Orientation and Customer Satisfaction” (90%) on the other. For example, a General Manager and CEO of a group owning Porsche Centres in Sweden was captivated by the idea of giving his Porsche Centres in Malmö and Helsingborg what he called a “soul”. Initiated by the lectures of the University professors on leadership and customer excellence, he created a “Ferry Folder” which described the Porsche Centre’s vision, customer promise and motto and which was handed out to each and every employee with a sincere “thank you” by the CEO for every effort the team had accomplished. At the Porsche Centre Beaverton in Portland, Oregon, another General Manager was intrigued by the idea of giving himself and the team the answer to the “Why” in business life. How to crack the code of leadership in knowing how to manage people in a way one could tap into their passion and to hire by more looking at cultural fit and believing in the “why” rather than being driven by pure qualifications. A very personal story of engaging people in the workplace. Taking the above experiences for more impact in the dealerships and for improved leadership skills regarding the General Manager himself, the initial and overall objective of the Porsche Business Excellence initiative still holds strong. If PBE is understood as the “vehicle to transport Strategy [now] 2025 to the Porsche Centres”, the participants are definitely also working hard on fulfilling the 2 Based on the foundation of 66 project papers and the topics the dealers were focusing on as their main transfer impact from the International Dealer Academy back in their dealerships. The percentage would give an indication on which topics the participants have put their transfer and impact focus on. 3 The percentages describe the coverage of the listed contents by the project papers handed in.
targets given by the manufacturer.As show the efforts of the Porsche Centre Mid-Sussex, UK, which had been roller-coasting in the “Passion Report” from 6th position in 2016 to 17th in 2017, only to find itself on 4th rank in 2018, ultimately leading to being granted the first and only “Centre of Excellence”-Porsche AG dealer in the UK. Regarding the impact of a Porsche Centre’s culture on augmented customer value driven behavior, one of the impact papers described the so-called “Customer Experience Value Added Project (CEVAP)” which was launched 2017/18 in the New Country Porsche AG in Greenwich, New Jersey, US. The study on culture building inside this dealership in 2017/18 and its effect on the customer experience by its General Manager was so convincing that CEVAP has become a key component of Porsche AG’s Strategy 2025 plan for Porsche Cars North America (PCNA). With it, they look to enhance the brand experience and make an automobile dealership a place for future generations to look forward to working for. Effect on the Subsidiaries’ Performance Correlation between the participation in the International Dealer Academy and its impact on a whole market nicely unfolds with the example of Porsche Cars Great Britain (PCGB). As PCGB is measuring the Porsche Centres’ performance by using a Balanced Scorecard, the influence on the KPIs measured by the Centre Principals is crucial. The areas the Balanced Scorecard is measuring cover the fields “Buying”, “Owning”, “Business Operations” and “Customer”. As a clear correlation between the contents covered by the Dealer Academy and the Balanced Scorecard scores, the Centre Principals that have graduated from the Academy could show considerable performance development over all four KPIs following their participation. Finally, looking back at the objectives the PBE project initiative targeted to achieve in the retail market, the International Dealer Academy as one of its vehicles had and still has a lasting effect on the Porsche AG Retail Network as a whole.
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EFMD Global Focus_Iss.3 Vol.13 www.globalfocusmagazine.com
Excellence in Practice 2019 ď‚Ť SILVER
Government Savings Bank / Thammasat Business School / Community Partnership Association
Hardwiring social responsibility and sustainable innovation in the DNA
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Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Government Savings Bank / Thammasat Business School / Community Partnership Association
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hailand is facing the challenge of innovating in the global economy while suffering severe structural inequality, an ageing population and poor governance. However, Thai businesses know well that more needs to be done to boost human capital, broaden access to education and skills, and ensure that future economic growth benefits everyone. In a bid to tackle these challenges, successive Thai governments have sought to develop human capital, reduce inequality and strengthen environmental protection. Significant welfare gains have been achieved but regional inequalities still loom large. Community enterprise is a critical element of government development strategy. Thousands of community enterprises have been launched across the country, producing numerous products, but the vast majority underperform because of very basic flaws in marketing, production processes, accounting, labour management and collaboration. The “Thammasat Model”, described below, presents an exciting opportunity for organisations to reimagine their connections with communities as engines of sustainable innovation and prosperity with potential benefits for the entire nation. Collaborative synergies The story begins in 2013 with the formation of the Community Partnership Association (CPA) between five of the most significant industrial operators (PTT Group, SCG, BLCP, DOW and ENGIE) in the Map Ta Phut area of Rayong province, Thailand. The partnership aimed to co-ordinate and enhance CSR activities to successfully develop local talent, strengthen grassroots links and give something positive back to communities. Unfortunately, CPA programmes
faced three main challenges: lack of sustainability; ineffective stakeholder engagement; and lack of innovation. The resulting failure and demoralisation prompted two CSR managers, Monchai Ruksujarit and Natthaphon Silakoop, to look around for novel solutions to these challenges. Like the CPA, Thammasat University has a keen interest in social responsibility. Sustainability and community involvement have always been at the heart of the university’s work. Thammasat Business School (TBS) brings this remit into the corporate world. TBS is renowned for its grasp of business sustainability but also innovative delivery methods – coming especially through the new TBS curriculums. However, as a learning institution, the university can at times seem like an Ivory Tower, far removed from the reality of day-to-day business. Therefore, TBS is always looking for ways to make its programmes more practical and relevant to the real world. With this in mind, Thammasat University has long worked with communities to engage students with issues of business development and sustainability. Compulsory subjects such as TU100 Civic Education and Business for Society are examples of TBS course innovation concerning social responsibility and sustainability. Students have to provide community service and development through a real practice projectbased course under the supervision of TBS faculty. Students are expected to engage closely with small businesses in rural areas to research, improve and develop products and improve business management for sustainability. This approach is called the Thammasat University Model (TU Model). 44
EFMD Global Focus_Iss.3 Vol.13 www.globalfocusmagazine.com
Excellence in Practice 2019 SILVER
GSB / Thammasat Business School / Community Partnership Association Hardwiring social responsibility and sustainable innovation in the DNA
“Monchai Ruksujarit read about the Thammasat Model in an article by Wittaya Damrongkul, a member of TBS faculty. His ideas about economic development and trading seemed to answer the CPA purpose of advancing the grassroots economy. Therefore, we met TBS in 2015 and signed the first MOU with TBS in 2016 to develop community enterprises in the same direction. After years of limited progress, suddenly everything came together.” Natthaphon Silakoop, CPA, Reflection on the TU Model When the CPA became aware of the TU Model, it saw an opportunity to collaborate to the benefit of all stakeholders- the communities, Thammasat students and the CPA. The purpose of the alliance was to co-ordinate CSR activities for communities in the Rayong area with the mission to raise the well-being and quality of life of people in the communities by focusing on the application of knowledge, technology, innovation and management from the industrial sector. The idea was to go ‘‘beyond CSR ‘’ and realise the full potential of the communities by synergising the complementary strengths of the relevant parties. The Thammasat Model (TU Model) creates a mechanism for the three stakeholders to collaborate in the delivery of effective CSR projects. The initiative creates high-impact, sustainable community-centred enterprises based on grassroots participation. As an L&D initiative, it combines executive, professional, talent and organisation development domains. All TBS students, domestic and international, participate in a community project as part of their core credits. The CPA screens projects for entry, provide funding to support students and mentor participants. Projects typically last five to seven months. The goal of students and mentors is to work alongside the community to help it realise its full potential while developing their business acumen. 45
As a whole, the initiative aims to create high-impact, sustainable community-centred enterprises based on grassroots participation. The impact of the TU Model spans three levels: individual stakeholders in each project; local, university and business communities; and regional, and national levels. Impact and momentum So far, over 20 local projects have been conducted under the CPA-TBS partnership involving over 100 TBS students. Generally, the community enterprises have demonstrated exponential increases in their turnover, profitability and other measures. The involvement of the mentors and particularly the students have transformed businesses that were close to failure. In the 18 months since the start of the project, only two projects have fallen apart and the product discontinued, giving the TU Model a success rate of over 80%. Despite the involvement of large academic and corporate institutions, multiple stakeholders and an ever-increasing number of projects, the TU Model succeeds because it moves individuals to make tangible changes, however small they might seem.
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In 2019, 12 projects have already been completed. This represents 12 communities, hosting over 120 TBS students, developing over 18 new products, and impacting over 12,000 community members, across two regions of Thailand
Special supplement | Excellence in Practice 2019 | Government Savings Bank / Thammasat Business School / Community Partnership Association
For the students, the project offers a means to connect deeply with community members. Because of their sincerity and lack of cynicism, the community members feel more comfortable to work alongside people they come to think of as being like their own children. In this way, the model creates huge levels of commitment and momentum behind each project, which account for the many dramatic success stories
1.5k
By the end of 2019, over 160 community projects will have been completed all over Thailand, involving nearly 1,500 students, on multiple products, and numerous other stakeholders
For the communities, the development of basic business literacy can have a profound impact, once the right way to communicate it is found. For CPA mentors, the model offers the chance to be part of a genuinely sustainable grassroots enterprise, doing “real” CSR. For the students, the project offers a means to connect deeply with community members. Because of their sincerity and lack of cynicism, the community members feel more comfortable to work alongside people they come to think of as being like their own children. In this way, the model creates huge levels of commitment and momentum behind each project, which account for the many dramatic success stories. For example, a project in Ratchaburi province, where most people were employed in sugar cane, has provided a community with an impressive regular income to supplement their insecure agricultural wages. Under the TU Model, students helped the community transform a tired sun-dried banana snack, grown only for household consumption into a new creative brand of wrapped, dried bananas, or ‘Kae-Kin-Kuay,’ in Thai, aimed at the lucrative tourist market. While the students assisted with the marketing, the CPA partners
worked with the locals to source technical and financial help for packaging and processing. As a result of the project, the product sales price rose by 300%, and sales increased by 800%, in the first three months of the project. This is just one of many TU Model projects transforming communities and livelihoods up and down the country. Attracted by these kind of successes, 13 more companies applied to join the CPA, bringing its membership from five to 18 members. This added bandwidth means that In 2019, 12 projects have already been completed. This represents 12 communities, hosting over 120 TBS students, developing over 18 new products, and impacting over 12,000 community members, across two regions of Thailand, Rayong in the east and Kanchanaburi in the west. Perhaps the most significant impact of the programme has been its scalability. In 2018, 16 more universities across the country agreed to come under the TU Model to make it a truly national project. By the end of 2019, over 160 community projects will have been completed all over Thailand, involving nearly 1,500 students, on multiple products, and numerous other stakeholders. Through this mechanism, in the longer term, social responsibility and sustainable innovation will be embedded into the DNA of the entire country.
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Excellence in Practice Award (EiP) Gold Winners since 2015: Executive Education // A.T. Kearney // BG Group // Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) // Chola MS General Insurance // Cisco // Complex Adaptive Leadership // COWI // Cranfield School of Management // Diabetes UK // DSM // Endo
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Excellence in Practice The EFMD Excellence in Practice (EiP) Awards recognise outstanding and impactful client-supplier partnerships in the domains of Leadership, Professional, Talent and Organisational Development. Case studies can be submitted by an organisation either together with its in-house Learning & Development unit or with external L&D providers. The winners are selected based on the review of four key areas: a properly documented challenge, an effective partnering commitment, the appropriate L&D initiative, and a proven business impact.
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