Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2018 - 52
CASEBOOK
ELEVATING
NEW LEADERSHIP
BY CHRISTI MOOT
Building strong leadership teams can
make or break a company. Investing
in managers to help them inspire
action, instill company values, increase
retention, and ensure every employee is
fired up to come to work can generate
exponential value for the business. This
investment can create a multiplier effect
- a powerful cornerstone that is essential
for an organization to be successful.
With over 500 global employees,
AdRoll strives to build the most
powerful marketing platform through
performance, usability and openness.
The company's core values are embodied
by its spirit animals (see Figure 1 on page
53). The owl resonates most with the
values of the training and development
team, as it represents the value of "Hire
great people and help them grow."
Growing our people, keeping them on
an Everest-steep learning curve at all
times, making sure they feel challenged,
motivated, pushed out of their comfort
zone, and they have resources to help
them learn and grow - that is the crux
of our job in training. It's a mission that
is backed by our company values, and
that comes through in every project and
initiative we work on.
THE PROBLEM
Over the last several years, AdRoll has
offered strong people development for
the greater organization, and leadership
development programs for its managers.
However, we noticed a gap in our
offerings in early 2017: While we serve
| 52
our current managers well, we've lacked
a curated, purposeful path for new
managers who get promoted or join the
company. Our initial solution for newly
promoted managers was to enroll them
into any upcoming leadership trainings;
however, having them join programs
mid-cohort felt disjointed and ineffective.
We needed a direct path for new managers
- a cohort program where new managers
could build strong relationships with
leadership across departments. Where we
could assess skills, provide foundational
new management training, and build
from there.
This is what we set out to solve for in
Q2 of 2017. The project team consisted
of two representatives from the people
team and two representatives from
the training team. We wanted to build
a program that was deployed twice a
year, after each promotion cycle. We
also needed this to be a global solution
that would work for all regions. Our
goal was to see a clear improvement in
manager skill sets after they completed
the program.
THE ANALYSIS
Research that went into building the new
manager training paths was extremely
comprehensive. We gathered intel in
the form of qualitative assessments
from HR Business Partners (HRBPs),
who have had ongoing dialogue with
every manager for several years, and
we looked for any themes that emerged
from the conversations.
The project team interviewed seasoned
(and newer) managers on what they'd
like to develop within themselves.
Themes of strategic decision making,
motivating teams to perform, and
retaining top talent were top findings
from this research.
We
went
deep
into
industry
benchmarking and research. What
are similar companies doing? What's
working/not working at other companies
our size, with similar cultures? Having a
resource group for this type of datageneration really helps. I have a San
Francisco-based
monthly
meet-up
with peers across quite a few tech
companies that is always a valuable use
of our time. We learned that we weren't
alone in this gap; not many companies
have established new manager ramp
programs that are separate from
ongoing leadership development.
Lastly, we wanted full executive buy-in
for the new program, and to get their
point of view on how new managers
can best drive value for AdRoll. We
presented a strawman proposal to
our exec team, and they were fully
behind the idea. They shared some of
our company's top initiatives for 2017
so that we could build a program that
would help new managers drive results
around these top goals.
Doing robust and varied research helped
give us a strong baseline before diving
into program creation. We huddled
in a room (and over video conference),
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20201112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20191112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20181112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20171112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20171112_se
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20161112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016sales
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015outsourcing
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015leadership
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008spring
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com