Front-Line Supervisor Development
By Kris Zilliox, Manager, Enterprise Learning, ConAgra Foods
There is nothing more important from an ROI standpoint than our human capital,” states ConAgra Foods CEO Gary Rodkin. Our competitive advantage is derived from the unique ways our leaders accomplish business results. Our leadership makes all the difference in achieving our Recipe for Growth—our strategic roadmap for how we operate our business and deliver shareholder value with a goal to become the fastest growing food company. As we grow, conquer new markets, and surpass our competition, we constantly must improve our ability to confront unprecedented challenges and address unexpected circumstances.
Our ambition to become the fastest-growing food company will not happen unless we build a highly skilled leadership population that can deliver against the ever changing demands of our customers and markets. Ongoing learning and development, both individual and collective, will fuel our innovation pipeline, yield new products that meet the needs of today’s consumers, and keep us at the forefront of our industry. Our leadership development programs are based on specific leadership milestones within an individual’s career.
Common to each program is:
- Developing an improved understanding of self
- Leading others
- A strategic understanding of the business
Foundations of Leadership
Our four-tiered Leadership Development Suite begins with developing our front-line supervisors with Foundations of Leadership (FoL). This program has two tracks, one for corporate managers and one for managers in manufacturing locations. We offer open enrollment sessions to all corporate employees, as well as sessions dedicated to Supply Chain, Finance, and RQI (Research, Quality, and Innovation). FoL is focused on providing the fundamental leadership capabilities that are required for first-time managers and supervisors. The objective is to provide first-time managers with the skills, knowledge, and tools needed to effectively lead individuals and teams, increase performance, and drive business results. The program is four days long and classroom based. The content provided includes a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, the power of employee engagement, situational leadership, the importance of high-quality feedback, and other key topics. There is both pre-work and post-work required as part of this program to ensure an ongoing usage of the content.
The learning outcomes of Foundations of Leadership are for leaders to gain insight into what it means to be a leader at ConAgra Foods. Leaders return to their role with the intent to create an environment that positively affects individual and team performance. The sustainment plan asks that the participants continue to develop individual and team capabilities through flexing leadership style, coaching, giving feedback, and addressing declining performance. Ultimately, FoL helps our leaders increase the effectiveness of their teams by working through conflict and building collaboration. They are better prepared to drive business results by targeting high-priority projects and delegating tasks.
Foundations of Leadership continues to evolve as driven by our business strategy and engagement survey results. A recent addition to FoL includes a post-program series in which leaders throughout our manufacturing facilities hold monthly sustainment sessions. These sessions are facilitated by plant Human Resources personnel and are offered at various times to ensure attendance by managers from all shifts. The actual material presented is selected from a sustainment library containing 11 modules with varying modalities— video, e-learning, small group discussions, etc. During the session, they are encouraged to share stories about how they have applied their learning and how it has changed or affected their team.
Additionally, we review our employee engagement data survey results to identify potential gaps in leadership behavior. The curriculum for FoL continues to evolve as driven by the needs of the organization.
Results
More than 1,800 ConAgra Foods managers have completed Foundations of Leadership. We have conducted an ROI study on this program, which indicated that trained supervisors have higher retention and lower turnover than untrained colleagues: 4.7 percent higher retention and 6.1 percent lower turnover. Through the study methodology, we are able to categorically state that implementation of the course resulted in a 276 percent ROI for the organization. For ConAgra Foods, this reduction in turnover reflected $2.3 million in efficiencies in the first year or $116,100 for every class of 28 people trained.
We know that achieving success through our Recipe for Growth depends on the great people leading and executing our strategies every day. We’re focusing on the behaviors that foster the type of environment we want, and employees are enthusiastic about the direction we’re headed. Foundations of Leadership has proven to be an excellent front-line solution to help us create a culture of trust with a passion for winning, and enable our managers to make an impact at all levels.
Front-Line Supervisor Development
By Heather Cushing, Senior Manager, Leadership Development, Afni
In 2011, Afni took a hard look at two areas of business opportunity:
- The rate of attrition
- Employee engagement surveys
We learned it was time to put a focus on front-line leadership development and create a cultural shift. The first step was to identify the competencies that effective front-line leaders possess. Research by companies such as DDI revealed what they believed the baseline competencies should be, but we needed to see where our own strengths and gaps existed.
To do this, we formed our Leadership and Talent Development team to hit the floors of our call centers. After countless hours of focus groups, field observations, and individual interviews, we determined our key leadership competencies.
achieve MORE
In February 2012, the achieve MORE Leadership Development platform was born. Our cornerstone program under achieve MORE is Afni Leadership Foundations. This cohort style experience is a blended approach: Participants read assigned books and articles, complete pre-class computerbased training, participate in 360-degree evaluations, watch leadership videos, and enjoy classroom training targeted to the desired leadership competencies. Our topics include: Leadership Basics, Communications and Interpersonal Skills, Coaching and Developing Others, Time Management, Situational Leadership II, Adapting to and Leading Change, Accountability, Afni Financials, and Driving Employee Engagement.
Each two-day class is followed by a two-week implementation period, where participants receive feedback and have opportunities for reflection. One challenge quickly identified was front-line leaders wanted to make changes, but saw their managers and the needs of the business as roadblocks to change. To improve the support system around the frontline coaches and managers, mid-line managers and directors attended all sessions, provided coaching, and co-facilitated portions of the classroom material.
At the conclusion of the eight-week program, participants are encouraged to continue their development through a final 360-degree leadership competency assessment and the creation of an Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP tracks the ongoing plan for development, including future experiential opportunities, classroom involvement, and recommended computer-based trainings. IDPs take each participant full circle to continue in their growth and development.
Results
The goal is to immerse coaches into the competencies required to improve leadership behaviors, increasing employee engagement and decreasing attrition. After 1.5 years of attrition data, companywide attrition decreased by 13 percent from 2011 to 2013. While isolating what factors influence attrition reduction is difficult, when looking at pre-program 360-degree data compared to post-program 360-degree data, we saw the ratings jump 13 percent from 3.8 to 4.3 (on a 5-point scale). One of our centers had average pre-program scores of 3.15 and jumped 33 percent to 4.15 in this same period.
Looking Ahead
It’s important to us to keep expanding our achieve MORE program. In 2013, we strengthened tuition reimbursement, piloted the Afni HiPotential Employee Development program, launched the achieve MORE Employee Development Center (a physical and virtual corporate library), and started the AfniMentors program. And this is just the beginning as we are planning a continued focus on leadership in 2014 to help every Afni leader achieve MORE.
Tips
Our tips for creating a comprehensive front-line manager development program include:
- Sit back and watch first! See what your best (and worst) leaders are doing.
- Get buy-in at all levels and encourage all levels to participate in the program.
- Look for opportunities to highlight employees as guest speakers and presenters.
- Remember that classroom training is a small component of learners’ experiences. Real learning happens when they implement new tools with the team. So build support around helping with and giving feedback during this time.
- Determine your areas of measurement early on and prove your ROI along the way.
- Measure and track accountability for every participant.
- Begin with a pilot and make changes along the way. People are diverse and companies change. So should your content.
Sales Training
By Robert Bagley, Director, Commercial Carpet Sales Academy, Mohawk Industries, Inc.
Historically, sales training was the responsibility of field sales management who recruited and hired experienced salespeople, sent them to a home office for HR orientation, trained them briefly in the field, and then sent them out with a list of potential customers. Today, however, competition and business strategies necessitate a more structured, ongoing process, which is especially true when mergers and acquisitions bring diverse sales groups together. Flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries, Inc., has embraced the importance of taking sales training to a new level. Each of the company’s business units has structured, consistent, and ongoing sales training developed around the areas of new hire orientation, sales management training, customer relationship management, team collaboration/accountability, and personal and professional development.
New Hire Orientation
The first sales training program focuses on new hire orientation. Mohawk Sales Academy, which serves Mohawk’s Commercial Carpet division, has developed a new hire orientation/integration process that is delivered in three phases over the salesperson’s first six months. This is coupled with a rigorous 365-day Online University that pulls the new hire deep into product knowledge, selling skills, and other soft skills, utilizing video, audio, and published training tools.
Since its inception in January 2012, 55 new sales hires have completed this integration process. Sales have increased, on average, 10 percent per new hire in the first 18 months of entering their new position.
The Dal-Tile University training program is designed to support both the ceramic division’s internal sales associates and external customer sales partners. A comprehensive new hire onboarding process directly supports ongoing talent management goals by providing nine unique multi-course, position-specific training tracks with online courses ranging from company information, benefits, product knowledge, sales training, and safety training to introductions to legacy online information systems. Mohawk’s laminate and wood flooring business unit, Unilin, has developed the Unilin University concept that offers specific customized training for each division. After the Unilin European sales force’s merger with Spano, a laminate core board supplier, a “value-selling training” program was developed for the sales teams to align the two sales forces, providing superior service to customers.
Sales Management
The second approach is Mohawk’s sales management and leadership training. Unilin provides consistent leadership training, including self-awareness, assessing competence, effective communication, managerial courage, giving feedback, coaching, and building effective teams. This training is followed by advanced leadership training, which falls into three categories:
- Appreciative Coaching
- Leading Teams
- Connecting with People
Dal-Tile also offers one-on-one executive coaching and mentoring, along with external coaches assigned for identified leaders throughout the organization.
Customer Relationship Management
The third sales training program addresses customer relationship management. Several divisions use either an internally developed app, called Navigator, or an off-the-shelf SalesForce.com customer relationship management (CRM) system. These tools provide a systematic approach to executing daily and weekly tasks by generating real-time information on all customer transactions: orders, price quotes, call planning and execution, pipeline and dashboards.
Since Navigator was launched at the beginning of 2013, the Commercial Carpet division has trained more than 220 account executives with weekly transactions increasing 72 percent as of press time.
Team Collaboration and Accountability
Team collaboration and accountability is the fourth strategy that the Mohawk Commercial Carpet Group has implemented, utilizing Franklin Covey’s “The Four Disciplines of Execution” (also called 4DX) to complement in-house training programs. More than 250 account executives and their managers now make weekly commitments to act on two lead measures, or behaviors that produce small outcomes, that contribute to the team’s sales goals.
In the first four months of implementation, 84 percent of the sales force is delivering on their weekly commitments. Additionally, 87 percent of the same group of account executives attends weekly “Wildly Important Goal” report-out sessions for a cadence of accountability.
Using the measurement tools in an online scoreboard, results show a 20 percent year-over-year increase in Strategic Accounts sales for the Commercial Carpet Group. These are multi-location, large, and sometimes national accounts
Personal and Professional Development
Fifth, in the area of personal and professional development, Mohawk’s sales teams utilize another Franklin Covey curriculum called “The 5 Choices of Extraordinary Productivity” as a component of the company’s commitment to growing internal talent. Mohawk has certified 20-plus graduates of the program who now can teach and provide one-on-one coaching for four to five weeks beyond the seminar. Attendees receive a productivity coach who assists them in setting goals, scheduling their work activities, and improving personal habits.
Since July 2012, more than 315 individuals have completed the program. Some of the many outcomes include dozens of testimonies of e-mails being reduced by more than 30 percent, work relations between managers and their direct reports improving greatly, marriages improving at home, and overall higher work/life balance satisfaction.
Lastly, sales training for Mohawk and Dal-Tile customers is designed to support both internal sales associates and customer sales associates, since these retail professionals are the direct point of sale for most residential product transactions. Courses offered by Mohawk University and Dal-Tile University include sales fundamentals, time and territory management, strategic account management, sales negotiation skills, business operations, product knowledge, technical product installation, product claim resolution training, and retail selling skills. All sales training programs are delivered through classroom instruction, as well as through e-learning courses delivered via the company’s learning management system (LMS). All of these courses directly support Mohawk Industries’ 2013 profitable growth goals and business strategy by making the company a preferred provider that offers tools and resources that provide a competitive advantage.
Consequently, sales training at Mohawk today is focused on meeting business goals and strategies through a structured, consistent, and ongoing process aimed at the areas of new hire orientation, sales management training, customer relationship management, team collaboration/accountability, and personal and professional development. Mohawk’s management team has embraced a culture of continual learning so as to enhance their sales team’s personal and professional lives, creating a win for the employees and their families, as well as a win for Mohawk and its customers.
Sales Training
By Darren Short, Senior Director, Global Learning & Development, and Danielle Livingston, manager, Global Learning & Development, Avanade Inc.
Avanade is a global IT consulting company that provides business technology solutions and managed services using Microsoft technologies. Founded in 2000 as a joint venture between Accenture LLP and Microsoft, Avanade now has more than 70 offices in 20 countries, with 18,000 professionals serving 4,000 customers worldwide.
The approach to sales at Avanade has undergone a tremendous evolution since the company was founded in 2000. What began as a small group of self-directed, seasoned sellers who primarily focused on growing opportunities resulting from Avanade’s relationships with Microsoft and Accenture, now has transformed into a sophisticated sales organization with an intense focus on direct sales growth and innovation. Over the last two years, the Global Learning & Development department within Avanade has been a key player in the Sales Effectiveness Program, a major transformative effort that, in part, used learning and career development as accelerators for change and growth in the organization. Of the 11 components in the Sales Effectiveness Program, two were focused on learning and development.
Increased Alignment
At the core of the transformation was the alignment of the company’s sales force to skill families and job titles that are representative of what they actually do. Not only did this improve career management within the sales force, it also delivered a better alignment between workforce planning and company strategic priorities to deliver revenue gains. The result was a move for more than 350 employees from one sales skill family and one role to three new skill families, five distinct roles, and a variety of key designations for each role. This allows the sales population to better measure their performance against key behaviors that align with the work they do. Clearly defined career paths highlight career progression opportunities and support long-term development.
Ultimately, the belief is that a clear and relevant career model paired with effective support and mentoring will aid employee satisfaction and retention. Our employee engagement survey at the end of this year showed an increase in engagement from this workforce, with as much as a 14-point lead above the Avanade average and an 18-point lead above industry norms.
Learning Roadmap
From a learning perspective, the transformation allowed Avanade to provide more comprehensive new hire and targeted refresher training to support onboarding and career development. The company now has a distinct learning roadmap for each skill family that defines the prioritized training activities for each level of career progression that allows all sales professionals to create an annual development plan tailored to their role. They also can explore opportunities across the three skill families to assess skill gaps they may need to fill before progressing to another aspirational role.
The transformation also highlighted strategic gaps in our sales training curriculum, many of which were related to the changing nature of sales roles in the company. For example, the new Customer Executive role is accountable for all activities from sales to project delivery for top accounts, and the role requires sales professionals to enhance existing communication and relationship management skills, especially related to meetings with senior executives. Consequently, Avanade launched a new Executive Conversation training that is run by retired CEOs and CFOs, and places a heavy emphasis on role-plays and feedback. Another new training focuses on “Customer Engagement & Collaboration,” and equips Avanade account teams with the tools, skills, knowledge, and confidence to collaboratively engage at senior decision-maker levels in key accounts to sell business outcomes versus selling technology.
A survey conducted of all participants from this training over the last two years found that more proactive customer engagement resulted in a deeper, broader, and faster sales pipeline. For instance, a significant percentage of deals grew 10 percent or more; approximately half of deals are converting to revenue at least 10 percent faster; and most of those surveyed feel better prepared to engage more senior-level customers.