EMC is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver information technology as a service (ITaaS). Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through its products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect, and analyze their most valuable asset—information.
EMC’s ability to drive its business strategy requires a pipelines of strong leaders who are aligned with the needs of the business, can work effectively in a global environment, and can solve challenging problems. CSS Leadership Academy is a six-month program for high-potential managers and senior managers, and senior individual contributors within the company’s Custom Support Services (CSS) organization.
The Program
EMC selected 15 high-performing employees from around the globe to participate in an intense, project-based program designed to help shape the future leaders of the organization. Participants were split into three groups. Each team was given a real business challenge and asked to develop a working solution. Projects included:
- Identifying the root cause of “missing part” service requests and creating a solution to reduce their volume
- Reducing the percentage of parts shipped using expedited, next-day shipping
- Reducing the workload associated with canceled and duplicated service requests
Participants are allocated 25 percent of their working time for CSS Leadership Academy, and continue to work in their existing role. Each team included members from around the world. Participants had to develop methods and approaches to working as part of a globally dispersed team—a critical skill for leaders at EMC. To ensure the success of program participants, EMC provides training and support throughout the program.
At the program kickoff, all participants gather at EMC’s corporate headquarters, where they are paired with an executive mentor and provided with training around team leadership, effective global communication, business fundamentals, and executive presentation skills. Throughout the duration of the project, they meet with each other and their mentors.
At the end of the six-month Academy, all teams again reconvene at corporate headquarters, where they present their solution to CSS business leaders, participate in roundtable discussions with senior leadership, and receive additional leadership training.
Results
EMC implemented the solutions participants created for all three business challenges posed during the first running of CSS Leadership Academy. As a result, CSS leaders decided to extend the pilot into an ongoing program.
