Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2020 - 39

daily work, thus enabling a higher rate of
success and change management.

START ON DAY ONE
During every five-day, new hire orientation,
Procore trainees receive three hours
of dedicated leadership development
content. During this time, every new hire
participates in a values clarity exercise
where they focus on understanding and
distinguishing which values are most
important to who they are as a person.
They then engage in conversations to
explore other participant's core values.
Lastly, participants compare their
core values with the company's, and
assess how well their values align with
the organization.

Organizational circumstances
tend to change, yet the same
development tactics are applied
over and over again.
Agility is needed for scaling
effective leadership
development by:
/// Building from a singular
operating system framework.
/// Starting with everyone from
day one.
/// Focusing on frontline
managers.
/// Leveraging your leaders as
your best marketers.

Clarifying one's personal values serves
as a strong indicator of employee
engagement. By putting every new hire
through this exercise in their first week,
a company can increase the likelihood of
developing and investing in employees
who are committed to the organization
as a whole as opposed to spending time
and resources on those who are never
truly aligned. This activity also fosters a
strong connection to direct management.
Fuller leadership development programs
focus on values-based leadership and
encourage leaders to understand and
respect the values present on their teams.
In addition, an online curriculum was
developed to allow anyone in the
organization to advance their leadership

skills. This leadership curriculum is
comprised of 20 online courses with 10
focused on leadership behaviors and 10
dedicated to business acumen. Laying
the foundation for developing leadership
skills early on in a person's career enables
them to better position themselves for a
promotion and allows them the immense
benefit of knowing themselves in order
to lead themselves.

FOCUS UP FRONT,
INCLUDE EVERYONE
It is true that, for any organization to
succeed, it needs strategy and direction
set by senior leaders and executives. Yet,
for that strategy and direction to move,
it needs the willing efforts, drive and
commitment of everyone who is nearest
to the products and the customers.
These individual contributors make
up the bulk of most organizations and
are led and managed on a daily basis
- not from the senior leaders but from
frontline managers.
Procore's L&D team shifted all leadership
development focus to these frontline
managers. In doing so, workshops
and lunches typically reserved first for
senior leaders and executives extended
invitations to frontline leaders at all levels.
As a result, leaders across all levels of the
organization formed strong bonds and
cohorts. First-time managers were sitting
next to department leaders, all sharing in
the realization that every leader struggles
with the same or similar obstacles.
These programs foster a strong sense of
camaraderie and community throughout
all levels of leadership.
As one high-potential senior leader
reflected, "It's paramount that new
and existing leaders go through this
program and take the needed time to
get feedback, have space to reflect and
a cohort to look to the future with. You
shouldn't be in senior management if you
haven't completed this."

LEADER AS MARKETER
When you give people strong content
that can be readily applied and enables
leader-driven discussions in the classroom
alongside an annual, quality 360-degree
assessment, your leadership development

program takes on an effective, grassroots
approach that is bigger and better than
any breakroom flyer, mass email or HRmandated training.

LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS
FOSTER A
STRONG
SENSE OF
CAMARADERIE
AND
COMMUNITY
THROUGHOUT
ALL LEVELS OF
LEADERSHIP.
MAKE IT STICK
In the end, all anyone can do is put together
a leadership development program they
find effective for their company and scale
it as they see fit. As more companies find
themselves in constant change, the path
laid out in this article can provide insight
on adapting at the speed of change.
At Procore, this approach has taken hold.
Leaders and their new hires are having
values-focused conversations within
those critical first 90 days, senior leaders
are learning and developing alongside
front-line managers, and program agility
remains at the forefront. One senior
leader summarized, "I really felt like,
for one of the first times, I can take
direct and actionable steps to change
my leadership approach for the better
and improve those around me."
KJ Jenison is the head of learning and
development at Procore Technologies.
He has experience in leadership
development and talent management
in the industries of SaaS, airline
management and telecommunications,
as well as improvisation at The Second
City in Chicago. Email KJ.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - MODERN LEADERS 2020 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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