In tough times, organisations need strong and effective leaders to help navigate uncharted waters. Teresa Russell looks at the award-winning approach to leadership development at 3M
Each year, the Hay Group/Chief
Executive’s Best Companies for
Leaders survey identifies the top
20 best-in-class companies, as well as the
attributes that make these companies
known for great leadership. In 2008,
after the dramatic changes in the world’s
economy, the survey showed that peo
ple valued “authoritative and democratic
styles of leadership in comparison to the
other four styles of coercive, facilitative,
pace-setting and coaching”.
3M Company – a leading diversified
technology company famous for its
innovation and global brands such as
Post-It, Scotch, Scotch-Brite and Com
mand – topped last year’s list of Best
Companies for leaders. Greg Teagle, HR
manager for 3M Australia, says leader
ship development is integrally linked to
the company’s business strategy.
“Program impact, content and lead
ership needs are reviewed annually to
assure alignment to our business strat
egy,” says Teagle. He explains that the
company’s performance management
system and its human capital planning
process determine the content of and
nominates potential participants for in
3M’s leadership development programs.
Formal leadership development programs
3M’s high-potential employees are divided
into four groups, depending on their cur
rent positions and perceived future poten
tial. They may then be nominated to
attend one of five different leadership
development programs, ranging from
its 17-day Accelerated Leadership
Development Program, held annually
in the US, down to a program for first-
time supervisors, held in his/her own
local subsidiary.
Teagle says that leadership develop
ment at 3M reaches beyond those people
in supervisory or management positions.
“Everyone in the company can assume a
leadership role, demonstrated from the
way we make decisions to the way we
behave. All general employee develop
ment programs support leadership for
everyone in every role,” he says.
Leaders teaching leaders
One of the company’s six leadership
attributes is “develops, teaches and
engages others”. Its leadership develop
ment programs use a blend of internal
and external resources. “The practice of
leaders teaching leaders has become the
cornerstone of 3M’s leadership develop
ment courses,” says Teagle. “Each year,
over 300 executives participate as faculty
in our top three leadership development
programs, teaching 1500 leaders from
around the globe.”
Alongside the formal development pro
grams, Teagle describes the practice of
high-potential employees identifying a
particular area they need to develop, then
giving a one hour “Lunch and Learn Mas
terclass” on the topic. For example, a mar
keter might need to work on financial
skills, so he/she might take an e-learning
module on finance and deliver it to staff
via a master class. Apart from sharpen
ing the facilitator’s knowledge on a topic,
it builds a connection between employ
ees and leaders and makes the leaders
committed to the programs they teach.
“The commitment to leadership devel
opment by our senior executives is out
standing,” says Teagle. He goes on to
quote HC Shin, the company’s executive
vice president for its industrial and trans
portation business, who said: “I have a
philosophy that our business will grow
at the speed we grow our leaders.”
Teagle says this is consistent with the
views of the CEO and all 3M’s senior
leaders, who believe that the stronger
leadership is throughout the company,
the better the company will perform.
External thought leaders are also
used in 3M’s leadership development
programs, to ensure “outside-in think
ing” occurs. (This means understand
ing the customer’s needs from their
perspective, and then looking back into
the organisation to identify potential
solutions). Selection criteria of external
faculty are fairly strict. These learning
professionals must be recognised as a
world-class expert in their field;
demonstrate strong speaking and
teaching skills; and their field of
expertise must align with key learning
objectives.
HR’s role
“We own the key processes [performance
management and human capital planning]
and partner with line management to
develop leaders within the organisation,”
says Teagle. “We measure for outcomes
and observable behaviours and ensure the
concept of action learning is built into all
leadership programs and experiences.”
He adds that, where possible, HR will
document the impact of learning, includ
ing actual attainment compared to the
initial business plan and the internal rate
of return, when appropriate. “This has
become an important part of the busi
ness case for retaining leadership devel
opment programs during challenging
economic times,” he says.
Leadership: best practice
Create clarity - people know exactly what is expected of them
Encourage development
Drive accountability - hold senior managers accountable for commitments
Recognise successful leaders
Increase the number of matrixed roles in organisations
Make leadership development a priority - rather than across-the-board development for everyone
Source: Hay Group/Chief Executive Survey 2008
Tips on leadership in a downturn
Be careful you don't do long-term damage to human capital and skill sets by slashing jobs in response to short term (one-to-two-year) cost pressures
Be honest and up-front about the rationale and processes followed to identify and select whose jobs are to be cut.
Be consistent in dealing with people. Good leaders don't change their leadership style because of the economic times. People can detect spin.
Don't damage the psychological contract you have with employees. Lay-offs affect everyone, not just those made redundant. Colleagues who remain have an expectation level about job security and how staff should be treated.
Source: Dr Bruce Hearn-Mackinnon, senior lecturer in HR Management at Deakin University
