Scaling For Growth – Your Succession Pipeline

September 12, 2018
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One of the biggest challenges facing organizations is developing a robust pipeline of scalable leaders. RHR’s Executive Bench® suite of services is designed to build the next generation of enterprise leaders. As part of this suite of services, RHR first launched Readiness for Scale℠, an in-depth assessment that pinpoints strengths to leverage and gaps to close in preparation for executive leadership. RHR is now introducing Scaling for Growth℠, a best-in-class executive development program that closes gaps in scalability and accelerates readiness for enterprise leadership. Together, the Readiness for Scale and Scaling for Growth programs provide companies with a comprehensive solution for building a strong pipeline of enterprise leaders.

The Scaling for Growth program differs from other development programs in a number of ways:

Focus on building scalability

RHR’s Scaling for Growth is more targeted than most development programs in its focus on building scalability. Companies often customize development programs based on competency models and/or current business challenges. While programs of this type can add value, Scaling for Growth focuses on the capabilities most essential to developing scalable leaders. These capabilities remain constant regardless of industry, competency model, or the particular challenges an organization currently faces.

Tight link between assessment and development

Readiness for Scale and Scaling for Growth are programs built around the same model of scalability. Through the Readiness for Scale assessment, participants obtain deep insights regarding which areas to target in the interest of promoting scalability. With Scaling for Growth, they then have the opportunity to close gaps in scalability.

Strong emphasis on behavior change

The Scaling for Growth program places a primary emphasis on behavior change. Instead of overwhelming people with content, they receive repeated opportunities to practice new behaviors and build new habits, all in the interest of strengthening scalability. During the program, participants make 21-day behavioral commitments, self-reporting on their progress via weekly surveys. Participants also learn how to continue making behavioral shifts beyond the end of the formal program. Over time, behavioral changes extend the boundaries within which leaders can operate effectively, ultimately allowing them to drive impact in roles of increased scope and complexity.

A compressed action learning project

Often used in development programs, action learning projects give participants an opportunity to develop new leadership skills by tackling an existing business challenge. Despite their many benefits, action learning projects frequently occupy a disproportionately large amount of participants’ time and attention, providing an opportunity to “dive deep” into one area but inadvertently distracting them from others. The Scaling for Growth program employs a compressed action learning project spanning one-and-a-half days, during which an innovative idea is generated and then proposed to a panel of internal executives for consideration. The project encourages participants to adopt a more future-oriented outlook they can apply with their own teams.

Partnership with the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute®

To excel in enterprise-level roles, leaders must cultivate the physical, mental, and emotional resilience needed to thrive in demanding and rapidly shifting environments. Through a partnership with the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, leaders in RHR’s Scaling for Growth program learn to optimize their energy level and unleash their best performance in high-stakes situations.

Timing of development plan

Typically, development plans are crafted at the front end of a program. Using Scaling for Growth, the development plan is built at the conclusion of the program, after participants have acquired and consolidated insights regarding gaps in scalability. By this point, participants also have had ample exposure to—and are thus well-equipped to reapply—the model for creating sustainable behavior change.

Measurement to demonstrate ROI

Measurement is a cornerstone of the Scaling for Growth program. Before entering the program, participants receive benchmarked ratings of their capabilities as part of the Readiness for Scale assessment. During the program, participants complete a brief, weekly survey evaluating progress against behavioral commitments. At the 12-month mark, a 360-degree assessment measures changes in scalability, thus quantifying the program’s ROI.

To learn more about how we help companies develop a pipeline of enterprise leaders, please visit the Executive Bench section of our website and learn more about RHR’s Scaling for Growth and Readiness for Scale programs.

Michael Peterman is a senior partner at RHR and the head of development for Executive Bench. He builds next-generation leadership solutions, each of which is grounded in science and research.