IT HAS to START
BY DAVID JAMES
Leadership
Launching, embedding and maintaining any new L&OD initiative will be fraught with any number of challenges. Whether you're changing your organisation's culture, enhancing the way you performance manage, or developing the leadership capability. But there's one phrase at the outset of any new initiative that erks me more than any other...
"It has to start from the top"
It's the phrase that I find most difficult to palate from L&D practitioners.
I know that an initiative can gain more credence and traction with the engagement and participation of the MD, CEO, President and the board. But it's not the be-all-and-end-all and often the ideal level of engagement and participation are not gained and we still need to deliver.
So why does this phrase trouble me so much?
As an experienced leader in People Development, I thrive on the responsibility that comes with that
role and have spent years honing the skills, awareness and tactics of getting the right things done.
For example, when it was identified via the engagement survey that we needed to do more to address career management at Disney, I pulled together a team to define the requirement, I sought base-level approval from my boss and then designed a solution and approach to best-fit the need.
I decided that it didn't require a grand launch with a message from the Company President but that it needed piloting in an area of the business that was readiest with a project sponsor senior enough to have influence and who was willing enough to take part.
We made a huge success of the pilot and drew attention towards our test subjects, thus creating interest in doing things the same way from other areas of the business.
I've also overhauled induction and gained absolutely no senior engagement but profiled the work once we had some initial wins to gain further support when I wanted to increase the number of days I kept new starters for when they joined.
‘For this to work, it has to start at the top".
When I've heard this from vendors, it makes me wonder if they are managing my expectations before their proposed intervention fails.
Whenever I hear this phrase from in-company colleagues I wonder if it's an excuse for not beginning in the first place for fear of failure.
For me, this phrase represents the easiest way for us to not take full responsibility.
1. I'm a realist and I know that not all initiatives will be started by anyone other than me.
2. I'm a leader and I therefore take responsibility for my own initiatives and use sophisticated approaches to gather the requisite support.
So, in my opinion, it doesn't have to start at the top.
It'll be useful if there is engagement there but the L&D leader needs to apply vision, pragmatism, influence, determination, resilience, organisational savvy and their network.
"But if it doesn't start at the top, where else can it begin?"
26 | TRAINING MAGAZINE EUROPE FEB 2015
FROM THE TOP