CASE STUDY:
Targeting the Middle Level at P&G
Summary
Starting in the middle enabled us to reach a pivotal part of the organization which was small enough to allow the learning organization to experiment and garner early successes. Despite our beginning with the middle, these participants were able to get the workplace support they needed because of R&D University’s use of trainers who are at higher levels in the company.
By working in teams to create content, the organization benefited from a high degree of shared thinking among senior leaders across business units. Further, those who have agreed to be trainers and deans have become more in touch with the organization and its people. As trainers, they learned through experience that training is not presenting –that people learn better and respond more enthusiastically when there is more interaction and opportunities for informal discussion with trainers and among their own peers. (We will address the training vs. presenting issue in a future CUX article.)
Networking – a major goal for RDU – needed both structured and non-structured time. While the original expectation was that networking would achieve technical connections for greater innovation, we learned that the non-technical discussions were just as critical to the Band 3s to eliminate feelings of isolation.
Overall corporate universities are here to stay (Meister, 1998, Todd, 2006). They help the organization align with the current organizational strategies, aid managers to stay in touch with their organizations, and develop new leadership for the company. If you want to demonstrate the value of leadership training quickly, pay attention to the middles.