Page 280 - The extraordinary leader

The Organization’s Role in Developing Leaders • 257

stretch to as many as 13 weeks. (We are reminded of the executive who
asked his boss about attending a 13-week executive development program,
and the boss replied, “If I can spare you for 13 weeks, I can spare you.”)
What we are advocating is not multiweek-long programs. Instead, we are
strongly advocating the practice of making any development process part
of ongoing work activities and that it be viewed as part of “lifelong
learning.”
In conducting focus groups with senior executives, it is clear that they
prefer short bursts of time off the job with meaningful activities taking place
between such meetings. With the majority of people in leadership roles work-
ing more than 50 hours per week, the pressure to minimize time off the job
is very real. For example, in the Goldman Sachs leadership development
operation, the longest time anyone is off the job is two days.
One useful trend is toward “blended solutions,” or programs that combine
Web-delivered content along with facilitated sessions. This allows any con-
ceptual material or content to be delivered over the Internet. When com-
pleted, participants then attend a facilitated session in which those ideas are
applied to real situations and during which participants can practice new
skills. Afterward, the participants have access to online simulations that rein-
force all the content and the skills they have learned.
The blended solution, by its very nature, becomes an extended process of
development. Many of these include the creation of a coaching relationship
with another person in the organization, and they may also offer online men-
toring for people with questions or issues they wish to address. This combi-
nation of multiple learning methods, all provided over an extended period of
time, is a good example of learning being a long-term process and not a one-
time event.

Build Accountability into the Development
Process
One of the strange anomalies of leadership development programs in the past
has been the issue of accountability. There has been accountability on the part
of those who were organizing and conducting the process. Some have jokingly
described these as the “F” measurements. That is, we have collected data about
how the participants liked the facilities, the food, the faculty, and the fun.
Where there has been no accountability has been on the participants’ side
of the equation. Did the participants learn and retain that information? Did