7Cs you must consider when running Leadership Development Programs globally

We at KNOLSKAPE touched 20,000+ leaders across the globe the past year under various leadership assessment and development programs through experiential learning. And we have grown 100% in revenue last year.

A big shoutout to our customers for choosing us as their trusted learning partner.

After working with several clients in multiple countries last year, We believe one must consider the following 7Cs — Cost, Convenience, Context, Culture, Content, Cohort Mix and Cohort experience(LxD — Learner experience design) for a successful global delivery. The past year we had several flavors of delivery based on the customer’s business need, budget, timelines and other constraints and based on learner’s persona and the learning culture in their organisation.

Our delivery is a 3-phased approach that encompasses the 7Cs

• Planning Phase — Cost, Convenience
• Designing Phase — Content, Context, Culture
• Implementation Phase — Cohort, Cohort(LxD) Experience.

Phase 1- Planning

Thanks to digital, businesses are going global faster than before. And increasingly organisations are looking for newer ways of running leadership development programs globally that caters to different learner personas which can prepare and align them to the organisation’s global business goals.

KNOLSKAPE’s program designs and products support Omni channel and Blended learning approach using new age learning methodologies. We work with our customers to co-create the program design, format, duration and to prepare the participants to achieve their business objectives

During the Planning phase — we consider the first 2Cs — Cost, Convenience

1. Cost

We have delivered programs in multiple flavours based on the customer’s budget/time/resource constraints. The idea is to ensure a win-win keeping the learning intervention’s outcome intact.

Examples:

• A leadership development program for sales leaders was delivered virtually through web conferencing tool for a cohort from different geographies.
• A leadership development program for first time managers was delivered in multiple countries in a physical classroom like set up.
• A leadership development program for mid-senior managers was run in a boot camp style where participants from different locations assembled in a central location for this learning intervention.
• Leadership development program for first time managers of a PSU Bank where we followed a blended approach of both classroom and virtual sessions to deliver in 10+ cities across India.

2. Convenience

KNOLSKAPE’S products use new age learning methodologies by leveraging technology. We use AI based tools, Neuro games, Business Simulations, Gamification...etc to ensure Learners Delight.

At this stage it’s important to understand the technology constraints in the customer’s organisation.

Some questions worth asking:

1. How comfortable are the participants using technology?
2. How are the current learning interventions conducted?
3. Do the participants have access to laptops or desktops or smart phones?

Learners will lose interest if they are not comfortable using the proposed technology to learn and it becomes a herculean task to ensure adoption afterwards. KNOLSKAPE recommends an Omni-channel approach that allows the learner to choose the channel they want to learn from.

By the end of the planning phase, we have a clear picture and information that can feed into our design phase seamlessly.

Phase 2 — Design

In the design phase we will cover the next 3Cs — Content, Context, Culture

3. CONTENT

While designing the content of the program, we consider the following:

• Each one has a different way of learning and One size fits NONE
• Learners are impatient and are easily distracted. The average attention span is getting lesser and lesser.

KNOLSKAPE provides experiential learning for the learners by including interactive business simulations, Gamification, Neuro games, Case study based learning, Role plays, Quizzing, bite sized learning, Videos based learning, Social learning via discussions, ideathons so on and so forth in the program design.

KNOLSKAPE firmly believes learning by doing. The content is designed in such a way that the concepts that are taught are applied in a real-world like business simulations by the participants for greater retention. This experiential learning provides a safe-learning environment. Right from leading & coaching a team to leading change and Leading business, we have covered it all. Here’s a complete list of our simulations.

4. Context

Bringing in the organizational context and the industry context is very crucial in order to get the intended learning outcomes. The learning outcomes should be aligned to the organization’s business goals and intent. We work with multiple stakeholders from the customer’s business teams to understand the challenges of these learners. And while running programs globally the complexity increases as we also have region-specific challenges. Here’s an interesting article from HBR on customizing leadership development.

To ensure the learning objectives and outcomes are not compromised, while the core concepts remain intact, few things we do in order to bring in the contextualization element are:

1. The learners get to work in groups to solve a real business challenge via action-learning projects
2. The learners share best practices and key learnings through activities, case studies, peer/social learning etc
3. The facilitators who deliver these master classes have relevant industry experience
4. Connect with industry experts. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, provide an opportunity to observe and learn how other companies from a similar industry deal with these challenges

5. Culture

Learner persona varies based on the culture too. Right from choosing the language to communicate, picking the right facilitator/coach for that region, choosing the activities for learner engagement all plays a crucial role in the success of the program. Choosing the right mix to balance cultural nuances — learning objectives is key.

We have delivered programs where we chose to use the local language as the primary means of communication. KNOLSKAPE’s products are in 7+ languages that can go hand in hand to ensure a seamless learner experience. Activities in the classroom are also carefully designed keeping in mind the cultural nuances. For instance, in some cases participants are very enthusiastic and participate actively in a classroom session and in some cases participants prefer to contribute more passively via discussion forums etc.

Phase 3— Implementation

In the implementation phase we will cover the final 2Cs — Cohort Mix, Cohort (learner) Experience.

6. Cohort Mix

Typically the cohort is a homogeneous group, meaning the learners with similar experience and designation are grouped for the leadership development program. In some cases, we have also had a mix of mid-senior set of learners in the same cohort. In that case, it’s important to understand their organization culture in terms of openness to give/receive feedback, transparency in communication, hierarchy vs flat structure …to ensure the learners interact/participate without any inhibition. Significant learning happens when peers share their experience and ideas with each other. This helps them to work and learn from each other while doing their group projects.

7. Cohort Experience

Given the fact, the learner is in control of how when and what they want to learn and also having access to the best resources for learning puts a lot of pressure on the learning interventions that organisations implement. It’s not top-down anymore where the decision makers at the top decide what or how each one should learn.

Right from the first touch point inviting learners for the program to the course completion, we keep learner at the centre of everything we do. We monitor the feedback and analyse learner analytics through our LMS Aktivlearn, continuously to answer questions like these:

(i)Is the learning experience consistent and connected throughout the program?

(ii)is the learning content easy to understand?

(iii)is the learning content relevant & engaging?

(iv) is the learning experience novel that can hold learner’s attention for a longer duration?

These factors we believe are fundamental for a learning intervention to be successful. What other factors do you consider while running a leadership development program? Leave in comments.