Technology company Open Table & KAYAK created its Director+ Development Program to mobilize a trusted leadership layer below the executive/L1 team to ensure clear cascading of communication on strategy and objectives and key results (OKRs), while also fostering a greater opportunity for feedback to be shared upward to senior leaders. The hybrid experiential learning initiative is designed to develop strategic leadership skills for managers at the director, senior director, and vice president levels.
Program Details
Partnering with an external team from Coverdale OD Limited, the program spans four months and includes both in-person and virtual components. Participants are invited to the program based on completion of previous leadership development programs and recommendation by their HR business partner and/or executive leader. The program consists of:
- A 90-minute, virtual kick-off workshop
- Completion of a 360-survey by up to seven participants on Open Table & KAYAK’s Leadership Principles
- Two one-on-one coaching sessions with an external coach
- An in-person week of workshops
The primary method of content delivery is through experiential learning, where participants undertake tasks and activities, then review these experiences for insights and learning. Participants practice and review multiple concepts throughout the program, including giving thorough and valuable feedback in a one-one setting with each individual in their working group.
Participants are split into two working groups and given a “neutral task” to complete together. These neutral tasks include topics such as “Categorize the vehicles in the parking lot” and “Create a scale model of the training room.” The purpose of the neutral task is to remove company- or department-specific hurdles that could make working with colleagues difficult in a training environment. This neutral task allows every individual to approach the work with the same level of knowledge and skill necessary to execute the task.
Upon completion of the task, group participants debrief and reflect on the successes and struggles faced throughout. The two groups then are brought together to compare results and discoveries made through the process. A leadership concept is taught and shared with the group by a program coach. Participants then are split again into their original working groups and given a new neutral task to complete, with the expectation that they now will apply the new concept taught in the main session. This process is repeated five times throughout the training.
The external coaches leading the working groups take notes throughout the week of in-person workshops, using this information for feedback and documenting behavior change during the training.
Each participant is paired with another individual to meet monthly after the conclusion of the in-person portion of the training. They are given topics to discuss at each meeting and are expected to share updates on the application of the processes shared and experienced.
Six months after the in-person portion of the training concludes, participants meet twice with program coaches for personalized, executive leadership coaching based on each participant’s individual development goals crafted as a result of the initial 360-survey.
The program is evaluated through anonymous feedback surveys to participants, external feedback on program performance and long-term behavioral change from facilitators and coaches, as well as 360-feedback results comparisons.
Results
In the first cohort of the Director+ Development Program, 13 percent of participants received a promotion within six months of the program’s conclusion.
