 |
Please select a case study from the following list:
Back to the Future
-- By better understanding its roots, Life Technologies has been able to successfully plot a future course.
Gamesmanship
-- VIMA International uses a behavioral simulation of a fictional company to help Mitre Institute managers understand their behavior.
Lighting Up
-- VIMA International shows Lockheed Martin Corp. executives the importance of continuous learning.
Back to the Future
By better understanding its roots, Life Technologies has been able to successfully plot a future course.
 |
Everyone has heard stories about unknown rock-n-roll bands starting out in a garage but becoming huge successes, making zillions of dollars playing before adoring fans.
But have you heard the one about the bio-tech company that started in a garage and went on to be a major supplier to bio-pharmaceutical companies and institutional research facilities?
No? Well, that's exactly how Life Technologies, Inc. (LTI) of Gaithersburg, Md., began. Each separate piece started in its own garage more than a decade ago. And while it is certainly a classic American success story, about five years ago LTI acknowledged it was having trouble shaking loose of the garage mentality.
"The different camps were very much in evidence," recalls Phil Melita, director of organizational development for LTI. "We needed a leadership kind of experience that would help us develop a sense of being."
Still, LTI shunned traditional, off-the-shelf training. It wanted a flexible training group that could fit the needs of a young and eager company.
Enter VIMA International of Burke, Virginia.
Emile A. Robert, Jr., VIMA chief operating officer, points out that although Life Technologies was thriving, the company had no real sense of direction and "told us they didn't really know where they were going."
Robert quickly determined that one of the reasons for that was because there was no clear historical perspective of the company - different people simply had different stories to tell.
"You can't see any further into the future than you can reflect into the past," Robert says. "So we decided to compile the LTI history."
Robert says that as a part of the dramatic but simple presentation of the company's history, employees were asked to reflect upon when they were at their best - not simply doing the day-to-day "fire fighting" that is part of any job.
That feeling of a shared history and goals and dreams for the future began the process that would show LTI employees how to become part of the leadership team - and how to break out of individual "garages."
VIMA teaches LTI people to think like leaders, not managers, by putting them through an intensive leadership experience which allows them to reflect on their own leadership and how it impacts others. A true-to-life experience coupled with extensive debriefing allows them to see their individual roles in the future success of Life Technologies.
"We focus then on specific business issues, and then let them evaluate their process of addressing these issues," Robert says. "We sit down in small groups and discover what was learned from the process. And yes, it can be exhausting, but they find out a tremendous amount about themselves."
For example, there might be some discussion about a particular problem known to one person. However, a key decision-maker in the organization didn't even know of the dilemma until hours later. That discussion can quickly show how employees need to work together better and can demonstrate what steps can be taken to correct the team's process, Robert says. VIMA's focus on team learning allows all employees to practice leadership and to learn together to move the team and organization forward.
At the same time, these leadership sessions have often led to "war stories" about the early days by old-timers - another key ingredient to forming a shared vision of where the company has been and where it is going.
Melita says he believes that the leadership training is critical to LTI's growth because it educates workers about themselves and others. "I think they not only get a fresh perspective on their leadership abilities, but come to have a greater appreciation for their compatriots," he says.
With about 1,600 employees scattered throughout the world, LTI believes the program is key to keeping individuals from heading back into the garage. "Without it, I don't believe we'd be as far down the road of our 'LTI-ization.'" Melita explains. "VIMA has really accelerated the process for us. There has been significantly less identification of 'where you're from' - we're all members of one team now."
Both Melita and Robert say that they have grown together, some times blurring the line of client and supplier, becoming partners in LTI's future success.
"I think that just because VIMA has had some major success with LTI it doesn't really give us a blueprint for the next organization. It's a discovery process," Robert says. "There isn't an off-the-shelf solution. It's a matter of being attuned to the organization and knowing that people are just like you. They come to work each day wanting to do a good job.
Gamesmanship
VIMA International uses a behavioral simulation of a fictional
company to help Mitre Institute managers understand their behavior.
When kids play Monopoly boredom often sets in before the game is finished. But as players grow into adulthood, the game often takes on new dimensions - no longer a game, and not yet real life.
Still, the game is real enough to bring out our most natural instincts, a reflection of who we are and how we grow and learn and exist with those around us.
 |
When the Mitre Institute in McLean, VA., wanted to rethink the way its management worked and refocus its training on the effect its workforce has on the organization's business goals and objectives, one of the tools it turned to was a game.
Mitre wanted to focus not only on how its managers addressed a problem, but also how they used their skills to solve problems within a team environment, all within a context of organizational change.
This scrutiny of how they do their jobs, how they solve problems and how their work affects others is key to the Mitre Institute's commitment to provide the resources and knowledge employees need to do their jobs better, say Mike Hansen, director.
"We want employees not to just solve problems, but understand the process of solving those problems," Hansen says.
With a human resource homepage that provides on-line information ranging from upcoming events to manager's lounge to available resources, the focus remains on making sure everyone has a shared understanding of management goals.
"We really want to set ourselves up as a resource for our people," Hansen says.
With that in mind, VIMA International implemented for Mitre a product developed by the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C. It involves a fictional employer called the Looking Glass Co., says Chum Robert, COO for VIMA in Burke, Va.
"It's a large behavioral simulation with 21 top manager positions, three business units and interactions across those units," Robert says. "It lasts two-and-a-half days and they work for six straight hours with homework at night. Believe me, they forget it's a game and it gets intense.
"What the simulation does is aid managers in looking at how they performed, and why they took specific actions. Their behaviors are analyzed, with the realization that what they did in the fictional company simply mirrors their performances at their real jobs," Robert says.
One of the things they are amazed at is the amount of information they did not know when making some of their decisions at the Looking Glass Co.," Robert explains. They find out there were turnover problems in a department they worked closely with, or another manager may not have thought it was important to inform colleagues about a union situation where the membership is growing, he says.
Another key ingredient is that participants also reveal how they felt in a certain situation-and how they may have felt that same way in their real position.
"The next day we give them a 360-degree feedback instrument, because at that point, they are very ready to mentally look at everything affecting them," Robert says. "Then it's time to do some action planning."
Then we got them together at the end of that period and had them report on their teamwork efforts," Robert explains. "Reports ranged from wonderful to lousy. but no matter what the report, they realized there were significant things they learned from the experience." >Robert explains that VIMA's role has been to facilitate management teams over a six-month period, to help members get to know one another and then identify a problem, and find a way to solve it - whether specific to their department or not. p>Based on that information, Robert and his partner, Barbara Pate Glacel, published a fictional account of the experience called Lightbulbs for Leaders (published for Mitre internally and for VIMA by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. for $19.95). Specifically, the novel/workbook features a section of 88 "epiphanies" culled from the Mitre experience - moments when the team "got it" - critical elements for creating high-performance teams, Robert says.
VIMA continues its relationship with Mitre, altering its focus as the organization moves forward. "Now we're focusing less on change and more on working together synergistically," Robert says.
Lighting Up
VIMA International shows Lockheed Martin
Corp. executives the importance of continuous learning.
"We believe in a philosophy of continuous learning." Says Harold Manger, Manager of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Leadership Institutes. "Part of that learning is self-awareness."
|
Self-awareness, he explains, includes the knowledge of how individuals impact one another, their work groups and the organization's mission. Continuous learning means applying this knowledge to the continuing development of oneself and the team in which one participates.
Ten times each year, groups of the company's senior-level leaders from various parts of the organization attend a four-day professional development institute that focuses on individual and team behavior in a organizational setting.
At the opening of the workshop, Manager sets the stage by emphasizing the need for participants to be willing to grow, change and adjust as business circumstances require. He explains that the managerial skills that helped them land their present jobs may not be the same skill sets that will help advance their careers. As an example, he points to technical abilities, which usually take a back seat to interpersonal or communicative skills as people rise in corporate rank. As leaders are developed, their interaction with others on their teams becomes more important, he says.
When the program starts, participants are apprehensive. By the end of the four-day program, however, they have come to appreciate and value this continuous learning experience.
One segment of the course in particular, the Light Bulbs for Leaders team workshop, ties together all the elements of the program, says Emile "Chum" Robert Jr., chief operating officer for VIMA International in Burke, Va. This assessment is based on the best-selling business book, Light Bulbs for Leaders, written by Robert and Barbara Pate Glacel, CEO of VIMA.
The Light Bulbs team workshop allows participants to view their behaviors during the first three days of the workshop in terms of how well they worked together to form a high-performing team. Participants share experiences that offer insight into their behavior and the impact it has on others, on the team as a whole and for meeting the organizational objectives.
They also identify behaviors that demonstrate the importance of paying attention to process toward task accomplishment, analyze how those behaviors impact them at their job and generalize what they learned from the process. Available for their immediate application are the 13 tools of the book which enable groups to analyze their own process on the job.
"The uniqueness of the workshop is its focus." explains Robert. "After participants interact in several exercises in a team, we ask them what they are going to do differently on the job in terms of their individual and team work behavior. We provide them with easy-to-use team learning skills which are immediately transferable to work setting." The team learning experience and the assessment survey are objective tools that allow participants to remove themselves from the situation and view the feedback as a learning tool.
"One of the cardinal rules of the workshop is that it remains purely developmental." Manger says. By actually trying out the exercises in team development and utilizing tools for self-development, participants are provided then opportunity to choose future actions which allow them to be more effective. Manger says people can choose to change behaviors, or not, without blame or fear of repercussion.
Norman Augustine, former chairman of Lockheed Martin, also comments on the value of the Light Bulbs for Leaders message. "The 'light bulbs' in the book have a very important value to me, and that is they are real world, actionable ideas. Some of the 'light bulbs' strike me as particularly important. One is the notion that leadership can be learned-not easily, but it can be learned. Another is the point that leaders need to seek common ground when they try to resolve difference."
The lessons learned from the Lightbulbs workshop and family of products are often profoundly simple. As simple as they are, they are also eye-openers which contribute to continuous learned and improved performance for leaders and teams at Lockheed Martin , according to Manger
