Transforming leadership at a global retailer

We created a 9-month development program that transformed leaders globally across the organization

Impact

Challenge

After noticing concerning market indicators, the top team realized the company needed to reset leadership if it was going to thrive in the new realities of consumerism.

They engaged us to co-design and co-deliver a leadership development program for their top 200 leaders, focused on leading through digital disruption. The organization wanted a program that was both cutting-edge and reflective of the company’s core values, integrating the science of learning, technology, world-class faculty, and experiential events.

They set the bar high, declaring that the program should be the single most important development experience in the careers of their most senior leaders.

Approach

Co-designed the learning journey in a series of agile design sprints including rapid “try and learn” approaches, and a separate team to challenge assumptions and groupthink
Gathered a faculty team of more than 30 global experts, drawn from business and academia
Created more than 30 core modules and 20 elective modules, including live workshops and digital content
Provided more than 700 hours of one-on-one executive coaching
Designed and conducted a top team journey to unlock the next era of change, enabling mindset and behavior shifts

Impact

After helping to co-design a leadership development program on digital disruption for their top 200 leaders, one operations leader observed that investing in senior leadership – including more than 700 hours of one-on-one executive coaching – created the resilience the organization needed to navigate the immediate crisis. Their chief human resources officer recognized the transformative effects of leadership development on the organization’s more than 200,000 employees across 30 countries, commenting, “we will now refer to ourselves as the organization before and after this program.” Similarly, the market CEO said, “this is the best leadership development program in our organization’s history.”