In 2013, the Leadership Development team at Paychex, a provider of payroll, Human Resource, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small to medium-size businesses, faced three challenges:
- Continue to build director bench strength (top 105 jobs under VPs)
- Develop leaders with an enterprise-wide mindset
- Increase use of the Individual Development Planning tool (IDP)
To meet these challenges, the team created and launched Leadership Evolution, a year-long development program for high-potential managers. Managers assessed as “high potential” as a result of Paychex’s enterprise-wide talent management process were selected to participate. The objectives of Leadership Evolution were to:
- Prepare participants for director roles, as well as cross-functional and/or lateral roles to diversify and balance the organization
- Strengthen participants’ leadership skills and competencies to deliver even better results in current and subsequent roles
- Broaden participants’ perspectives, internal network, and cross-functional knowledge of the business
Program Details
The program leverages three one-week classroom learning experiences. In between the classroom sessions, participants complete 20 activities that encompass education, exposure, and experience-based development focused on Paychex leadership competencies. Program hallmarks include:
- Completion of a 360-degree assessment and personality profile. These assessments provide an understanding of how the leader’s behavior was perceived by others and why the leader may lean toward those behaviors based on his or her personality infrastructure. Assessment results guided participants in creating targeted IDPs.
- Receipt of a Transitioning Leaders Toolkit that helps leaders successfully transition to a director role.
- Completion of three leadership-shadow experiences with directors in cross-functional areas, and then presentation of their insights during classroom sessions.
- “Voice of Experience” presentations from Paychex executives that gave participants exposure to leadership at the next levels.
- Monthly coaching and career development conversations that occurred between participants and their managers. The Leadership Development team provided additional coaching support.
- Journaling and reflection worksheets to document their daily development “aha’s,” and learning application plans to document business application and track business impacts.
Results
- 60 managers graduated in May 2014.
- 95 percent of the graduates were named on at least one bench for the FY’15 talent assessment and succession planning process.
- Individual Development Plans increased from zero to 93 percent.
- 45 percent of the graduates experienced career progression, with the majority receiving director promotions (23) and five taking on lateral moves within or outside their functional area of expertise.
- More than $1 million in business revenue and savings were estimated by the participants based on the outcomes from their learning application plans.
- More than 70 percent of graduates received top performance ratings in the 2014 performance appraisal process.
- Leadership competency ratings (assessed as part of the talent review process) improved 144 points, with the greatest improvement in strategic thinking, followed by problem solving and relationship building
- The Level 1 satisfaction rating was 95 percent; the Level 2 learning rating was 96 percent.
- Evolution graduates have become program coaches and mentors for Paychex’s new Leadership Emergence program and subsequent Evolution programs.
