Why
The Board of Directors at Dudley Building Society (DBS) identified a strategic need to invest in the growth of a core group of individuals to ensure the business had a well prepared next generation of new board members.
The Executive Development Programme (EDP) was a talent development initiative aimed at those who were current leaders and considered to be future leaders of DBS. It’s aim was to provide bespoke development needs for each individual in support of the business succession plans.
The objectives were to:
- Provide participants with a bespoke accelerated development programme that was linked to both the business needs and their leadership development needs
- Fast-track individuals in their current role and to challenge and stretch them for progression towards a Board position
“The process allowed discovery of my strengths and weaknesses and a suitable development plan to be placed against these.
With the support of the Coaches from the Conversation Space, I found that I was able to truly develop my all round leadership skills.”
Megan Price, Head of People and Governance
What
The 18 month programme incorporated four key elements:
- Stakeholder engagement: A workshop with the key Stakeholders including representation from The Board and Chairman.
- Assessment: A selection of assessments. Psychometric testing and interviews to establish what the development needs were.
- Executive Coaching: a program of 1-1 coaching based on the assessment report to prepare the candidates for board level responsibility.
- Executive Team Coaching: To create a ‘peer level’ collegiate approach to their development so that they not only learnt from each other and received feedback, but also became stronger as a group.
Impact
Seven participants were put through the programme, and as a result, are ‘more confident, better able to communicate and understand more deeply the responsibilities they all carry.’ (Jeremy Wood, Chief Executive)
From a stakeholder perspective, the programme has successfully delivered on it’s purpose, namely to fast-track individuals in their current role and to challenge and stretch them for progression towards a Board position.
Specific participant learning highlights included:
- “Understanding how each others personalities and preferences can be extremely powerful in allowing us to work more collaboratively and efficiently”
- “Deeper insight into my leadership style”
