Interview: Bill Shedden
Executive Development Journeys
Steve Macaulay
We are going today to look at the book Executive Development Journeys:
The Essence of Customised Programmes by Cora Lynn Heimer Rathbone.
Now we are going to discuss the issues arising from the book with a
close colleague of Cora Lynn’s, and that is Bill Shedden. Now Bill, you
have worked a lot in customised programmes over the years, you are
the Director of Customised Executive Development here at Cranfield;
why do you think that customised programmes have grown so much
over the last few years?
Bill Shedden
Well, I think there has been a general trend for a number of years
towards customised executive development. I think one of the reasons
was as companies started to question the value for money they were
getting out of traditional ways of developing their executives.
I think they also began to feel as they got more professional in their
talent management processes that they wanted to link their
development much more to their internal processes and internal
structures.
I think also they quite frequently wanted to get a bigger pay off by being
able to send a larger number of people on development programmes
than they traditionally could if they just sent people on open
programmes or to a university – or even their own internal programmes.
Steve Macaulay
Now you have worked on a lot of programmes over a good number of
years. One of the things that we have been able to do is to work out a
fairly clear process and one of the things that is quite noticeable for a
new client is the amount of time that is spent on looking at, and
clarifying the aims of the programme. Why is that so?
Bill Shedden
Well, quite frequently you have got to challenge the organisation to
make sure they know what the aims are. The aims tend to follow a
continuum; at one end of that continuum is a focus on developing
individuals – either individuals in their present job or individuals for a
future job. So frequently we are talking about particular transition
moments in an organisation that we are asked to help with.
But also, at the other end of the spectrum, there is what we often refer
to as initiatives that are much more focused on organisational
development, where the organisation is going through a significant
change and they want us in executive development to help them
implement that change. And therefore it is very, very important to
know what the expected outcomes are – that is the first thing. And
Bill Shedden
secondly, it is very important to know what the context is. So it is very
important for us to be aware of the cultural context – both from a
national, if we are doing work in various countries, and an organisational
point of view. And even sometimes a departmental point of view. So
that is critical.
It is also important for us to be able to challenge the organisation.
Sometimes there is no doubt you get a briefing from a particular group
of people in an organisation that, let us say, doesn’t necessarily match
what other people in the organisation feel is required. So it is very
important to clarify all those issues before we go ahead and it is also
important to clarify that there is a relationship that can be developed
between the organisation and the provider – in this case obviously,
Cranfield. And that takes some time to develop and a high degree of
professionalism, because after all the organisation is usually spending
quite a lot of money on this intervention and therefore the critical thing
is to get it right. Therefore we often say that the difficult part of the job
is setting up the programme. We usually think we can deliver
programmes pretty well, but making sure we are delivering the right
stuff in the right place in the right way is often what is more critical.
Steve Macaulay
One of the things that surprises some people is the number of
people involved in delivering a good programme. One of the
things that people would often say is well, all I need is a few faculty
and they deliver to the client. But in fact there is quite a linked
partnership relationship, isn’t there?
Bill Shedden
There is, and I think not only do we pride ourselves on that, but I
think that has stood us in very good stead over the last five years.
The critical part of that relationship is the role of our Executive
Development Director who has to be able to meet the needs of the
organisation as I described earlier. But part of that role of the
Executive Development Director is to act as the representative of
the organisation within Cranfield; so to ensure that we get the right
faculty, faculty that have the right expertise, faculty that we feel
will match the culture of that organisation. So that is important.
It is also important for us to be able to develop in a very
professional way the logistics and organisational side of the
programme. For instance, more and more of our programmes are
run away from Cranfield. That may put quite a strain on the
organisational and management side. Quite frequently
organisations don’t have that back up anymore; so that we have to
take on that logistics role. So we have an Executive Development
Director, a Client Project Manager and we have a range of faculty
that we can involve in that.
In addition to that, and we might talk about this later, we are
expected now to provide a much wider range of services and
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Bill Shedden
therefore we need people who are skilled in a wider range of areas
other than just delivering in a classroom on a programme.
Steve Macaulay
Well let’s talk about that because I guess most people would think
faculty come into a lecture and deliver, but certainly with incompany work that is not the case at all, is it?
Bill Shedden
No, clearly faculty – the best faculty – have that ability to deliver
their expertise which will add to knowledge within the
organisation, but the critical part is setting up a process that
enables people to work with that expertise on their own problems.
So the style is very different, full stop. And more and more we are
being asked to match what we do to the other talent management
processes within the organisation.
So for instance, we will be asked to run development centres or
psychometric work to establish where a particular individual stands
within his role in the organisation. And we have to develop the
skills of giving feedback in that area; so we have a psychometrics
service, we have a range of people who can give feedback – that is
a very skilled job – and can do that in a confidential and
developmental way with individuals.
We are also expected more and more to deliver internationally. So
we have a little strap line that says one of our aims is to make
location irrelevant which we can deliver and we give as back up
much more emphasis to networked learning ie, online learning. So
there is a whole range of different processes that we are asked to
deliver on which certainly weren’t done traditionally and most of
them weren’t done even three or four years ago.
Steve Macaulay
You mentioned that, rightly, companies are very concerned that
they have made a big investment now they want some return for
that and I know that is high on our agenda, as well as theirs – in
theory it should be pretty easy shouldn’t it? Is it so in practice?
Bill Shedden
Well it is the $64,000 question; and no it isn’t easy in practice
because our return on investment can be completely
overshadowed by some other economic activity that either makes
the organisation less profitable than it was, or less turnover than it
was – and we have had examples of that over the recessionary
period. We could argue our programme was successful, but the
organisation wasn’t.
But nevertheless, you are absolutely right, there are things we do.
So if we are focusing on a programme to develop individuals for the
next challenges in management, then at a minimum we have to be
able to demonstrate to the senior management team that we are
delivering that. So they should, with us, be looking at have we got
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Bill Shedden
a cadre of people who are now suitable for promotion. So that is a
major requirement.
We also do, once we have established a programme and worked
through what it is we are supposed to be doing in term of
competency development, then we can check whether we have
indeed developed those competencies. So that is a kind of ROI.
More practically, quite frequently, a lot of the work often depends
on action learning, working on projects, and with our help
organisations can actually establish whether things are
implemented, what the organisational increase in revenue or
decrease in costs are and we pay quite a lot of attention to that.
Quite legitimately organisations have a right to ask us that.
Quite frequently, in fact more and more now, we are being asked
to work with organisations in non traditional ways. We did have a
client earlier this year where our client really wants us to support
and help senior directors implement strategic projects. Our
development was done through that. If you are doing that then
you can see what pay off is – you can practically see what the
payoff is.
More and more we are being asked to work with organisations on
what they often refer to as the 70/20/10 approach to talent
management, which is 70% of management and development is
done on the job, 20% is mentoring and coaching and 10% by formal
interventions. We more and more are working in areas other than
just that 10%; because of the services we provide we are at a
minimum operating in the 20% area as well and also helping
organisations develop people on the job. So I think we are trying
to move much more, we try to see development much more as a
holistic activity rather than something people just come and have
an injection of and then go back to the organisation.
Steve Macaulay
Bill that is some useful insights, thank you very much.
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