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Maximize the Impact of Leadership Training
Pharmaceutical company uses The Advantage Way to increase the business impact of a key leadership training initiative
 Challenge
This large pharmaceutical company is a rapid-growth, highly competitive market leader that had been implementing a leadership development course for three years. It used The Advantage Way to increase the impact of the course and evaluate whether and in what way trainees were using learning to create measurable business results. The company also wanted to ensure that future training investments would achieve maximum business impact.
Solution
The company set up an experimental group of trainees whose managers used The Advantage Way tools and process before and after training. These trainees were compared to a control group. After training, both groups reported the business impact they were able to achieve from the leadership training; after which high and low-impact trainees from both groups were interviewed in-depth. Data was gathered from a subset of those interviewed to identify the economic business value that trainees were able to achieve and which factors were most instrumental in their success. Finally, The Advantage Way process identified ways that the company could design and implement future training in order to help future participants maximize business impact.
Approximately 100 participants were randomly divided into control and experimental training groups. All participants experienced a three-day leadership training program followed by three, one-on-one coaching sessions. Both groups had identical learning experiences, except that the experimental group and their managers participated in The Advantage Way process. Using this process, managers of participants in the experimental group attended a brief, facilitated session to help their direct reports link the leadership development training directly to business goals.
Afterwards, managers and their direct reports completed an Impact Map that helped the training participants create focus and business purpose. During this important dialogue, managers helped participants plan where to apply new learning back on the job, and understand how this would improve the participants’ individual results, contribute to team results, and impact overall organizational goals. The managers reported that this dialogue, supported by The Advantage Way process and tools, was instrumental in helping them get alignment on unit and job goals. One manager put it simply, "At last, a simple tool that can make training work!" Managers and their direct reports also committed to a support and action planning strategy that they completed after training.
A month after training, both groups of trainees were asked if they had used the new training to produce any business impact and if they could produce concrete evidence to that effect. The results were telling: only 23 percent of trainees in the control group reported a positive impact from the leadership training. Not only did more trainees in the experimental group report positive impact (88 percent), but those impacts were far more substantial and measurable. For example, the control group reported vague outcomes like "better relationships with their staff" and "more productive meetings with their manager." Whereas, experimental group outcomes included leading a critical plant start-up team; and quickly achieving targeted plant budget, productivity, and quality goals.
Why did these results differ? Experimental group trainees pointed directly to The Advantage Way tools and process, saying that pre-training conversations with their managers regarding how they would apply the new learning were central to their success. These trainees also said that post-training coaching support from their managers was very important. In contrast, control group trainees had very little interaction with their managers about course purpose, or linkage back to their job or unit goals. They also received little or no manager support after training.
Results
In-depth telephone interviews of 30+ trainees from both groups revealed that only the experimental group (The Advantage Way group) produced measurable and quantifiable business results from the leadership training. From those interviews, eight trainees were randomly selected to be profiled for comprehensive Success Case studies.
The profiles revealed dramatic, empirical business results: one manager increased an employee's productivity by 30% (est. impact $52,500), a valuable senior performer was retained and re-energized (est. impact $100,000+), a successful product launch achieved FDA approval in record time (est. impact $200,000 minimum). Among other findings, the study showed that two things contributed most significantly to positive business impact: the purpose and focus of the participant before training began, and the opportunity to apply learning within days of completing the course.
Training ROI was higher for everyone in the experimental group and The Advantage Way trainees alone accounted for a 12 to 1 return on training investment. Cost of training using The Advantage Way process, including the cost of the managers' participation, was $3,805 per person. Average positive economic impact of the eight Success Case trainees alone was $46,480 per person. Clearly, The Advantage Way tools and processes made a significant difference in the business impact created by the company's leadership development initiative.
In addition to quantifying the business impact that was achieved, the evaluation process identified factors that would produce even better results. (It was estimated that if 35 of the trainees who generated little or no return on training investment could realize even half of the business impact of The Advantage Way trainees, the pharmaceutical company would realize an additional $813,000 in economic impact.) These factors included:
- that the company train managers how to select the best candidates for participation in the leadership development course, and how to plan for an immediate application of the leadership skills learned
- that the company not only continue to use The Advantage Way process with the leadership development model, but also follow the training with coaching that would enable participants to immediately apply new learning to business goals
By incorporating these factors into its training approach, this company could expect future leadership development trainees to make a greater quantifiable business impact, and could anticipate that other training initiatives could achieve a similar, positive business result.
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The Advantage Way is a logical extension of our commitment to "get training right," and is incorporated into all Advantage Performance offerings.
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