Hitchhiker's guide to developing leaders: technology is changing the way managers gain skills and knowledge

HR Magazine, Sept, 2008 by Elizabeth Agnvall

When Tammy Henderson, an assistant call center manager at Staples, started her Management Certification Program (MCP) with Staples University in late September, she began meeting with a diverse group of students from all over the United States and Canada. The nine-month program recruits some of Staples' top leaders to train high-potential junior managers in financial and strategic management, coaching and development, selection and hiring, diversity, and ethics.

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Henderson attended 90-minute workshops with senior leaders, participated in group activities, took tests and worked with two other Staples junior managers on a presentation delivered at the end of the course in April.

Staples' MCP program is usually held at the office-supply retailer's Framingham, Mass., headquarters. But Henderson's cohort experienced one key difference--it was Staples' first virtual MCP program. Henderson completed the entire MCP program without leaving her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, until the April graduation in Framingham.

Henderson and 14 classmates used Microsoft Live Meeting, Element K and Adobe Acrobat Connect to access courses and projects. To complete her final project on reducing call transfers within different business units, Henderson and two classmates--one in Kentucky and the other in Framingham--created their report and presentation using e-mail and conference calls. She says the project benefited from the different points of view.

Henderson says the course was geared to different learning styles and included plenty of graphics and audio. Web-based tools made it easy to bookmark references, and many test scores were available immediately. One challenge: The enthusiasm of the group sometimes caused everyone to talk at the same time. Facilitators solved the issue by using the function on Live Meeting that allows participants to virtually "raise their hands" to be called on.

Henderson says part of the fun at the graduation and presentation of projects was connecting faces with names of her fellow students. "They didn't look at all like what I expected," she chuckles.

Staples is just one company moving beyond corporate web sites and basic online courses to use technology for leadership development. As the technology that drives webinars, multiplayer online games, podcasting and videocasting advances, companies will continue to experiment with new types of training.

Cost and Effectiveness

Developing leaders with new technology can cost less than $1,000 for the simplest podcasting to hundreds of thousands for virtual worlds created in multiplayer online games such as Second Life. Many times, though, virtual training can be cost-effective compared with traditional training. For example, it would be prohibitively expensive to fly call center employees to Framingham every month, but Staples' Virtual MCP program enables participation by customer service managers who otherwise couldn't take part.

Response to the program has been "absolutely stellar," says Ray Stevens, director of Staples University and learning technology. "To a person, from the participants as well as the business leaders, it was a huge win."

Staples University's online offerings also include 250 courses and use blended learning, training via satellite, video broadcasting and management training webinars.

Although many employees have adapted rapidly to online courses and getting the latest company information through podcasts, leadership development may be one of the last frontiers of learning through technology.

Nancy Persson, vice president, organizational development, training and internal communications at Staples, says corporations may experience push-back from managers and employees.

"When it comes to management development, there has been an assumption that you have to do all of that live." The complexities of skills training, observation and feedback have been difficult to deliver through anything but classroom or person-to-person training, Persson says. Yet rapidly developing technology combined with a changing workforce mind-set has affected that: "We've demonstrated through the virtual MCP that you can still set a lot of the same type of learning objectives and accomplish them without using the traditional classroom."

Infusing Leadership With Company Culture

Training experts say that the content and style of the new technology used in leadership development must fit company culture.

Carlo Veduga, district manager responsible for 10 Jamba Juice stores in the Sacramento, Calif., market, usually kicks off his monthly meetings for store managers with a video podcast from Karen Kelley, senior vice president of operations. Veduga downloads the videos from San Francisco-based Jamba Inc.'s Reel Juice password-protected web site. It features training videos, podcasts from employees and a Media Buzz section with media clips on Jamba Juice stores.

Veduga takes his PowerPoint projector to meetings so he can show the videos on big screens. "It's a great way of training," he says, adding that the website also showcases training videos on new products and advice for "wowing customers" every day. "It's a way to get them pumped up and energized."