A development program to improve leadership capability and employee engagement

A development program to improve
leadership capability and employee
engagement
Jo Redman
Abstract
Purpose – This case study aims to identify the tools and processes used to create a talent management
engagement program to prepare, develop, train and engage SACO employees.
Design/methodology/approach – It illustrates a training and development program to improve
leadership capability and ultimately employee engagement, which was developed following a review of
the company culture.
Findings – Practical information is given on how SACO has rolled out a distinct, measurable program
that can be uniquely adapted to each individual to improve employee engagement.
Originality/value – This case study shows how the program has enabled the company to attract, retain
and develop the best staff and create a more ambitious and supportive company culture.
Keywords Employee engagement, Leadership training, Serviced apartments, Human resources,
Company culture, Training and development, Leadership, Employees attitudes
Paper type Case study
SACO – the serviced apartment company
Serviced apartment company SACO provides business and leisure travelers with a smart
alternative to hotel accommodation, offering the flexibility, privacy and space of a home
away from home whether it is for a short break or a longer-term rental. The company
pioneered the concept of serviced apartments throughout major business and leisure travel
destinations in the UK, introducing travelers to an alternative to hotel accommodation.
SACO was established in 1997, positioning itself as one of the first companies in the UK to
address the requirement for serviced accommodation outside London, where the concept
was relatively unknown. Fourteen years on, the company now manages and operates its own
apartments in 25 locations across the UK, including London, it has a turnover of more than
£14 million and employs over 100 staff.
The company also runs the leading worldwide serviced apartment network, acting as an
agent for other serviced apartment operators and providing travelers with access to over
12,000 apartments in more than 35 countries worldwide.
Retaining its friendly culture during expansion
SACO has rapidly grown over the past few years and ambitious objectives have been set to
further grow and expand the company by 2020. Its unique selling point is the high level of
customer service delivered by people who are passionate about their work and act as
ambassadors for the company. In order to engage employees so that they continue to build
on this vision, it was decided that a program for talent management and employee
engagement was required to help attract, retain and develop the best staff.
DOI 10.1108/14754391111172779 VOL. 10 NO. 6 2011, pp. 11-18, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 jSTRATEGIC HR REVIEW j PAGE 11
Jo Redman is Sales and
Marketing Director at
SACO, Bristol, UK.
Over the years SACO has built a strong and friendly culture. The company prides itself on
being a value-led organization with a central ethic of treating people as we expect to be
treated ourselves. However as the company was expanding, this culture risked being
stretched and diluted. A review of the key elements of the company culture took place to
understand its strengths and what needed to be protected, maintained, grown and
adapted in order to keep this ethos intact and continue to engage with employees
successfully.
Previous training and development initiatives had been fragmented, dealing with
immediate and specific needs rather than taking a long-term strategic view. Individually
the initiatives had been successful for their short-term aims, so it was important to build
on these while introducing additional schemes to produce a long-term program with
longevity and momentum. Historically the company had been very good at setting
objectives but had not been so good at explaining how to achieve them. Therefore it was
important that the new program would specifically equip people with the right tools to
deliver the objectives.
The 20:20 Growing Talent program
In order to meet business objectives and targets, a new scheme was introduced in October
2010 that focused on building strong leadership and a highly engaged workforce. The 20:20
Growing Talent program was set up to prepare, develop, train and engage staff to achieve
the vision for 2020. The program aims to create the following:
B Strong leadership skills.
B A deep understanding of what good management looks and feels like in SACO and the
training to support individuals to achieve it.
B Succession planning for people to progress within SACO.
B A behavior framework for all to understand and work towards.
It has a strong emphasis on managerial skills to reflect the fact that one of the most important
aspects of an employee’s day-to-day working environment is the relationship they have with
their manager. If this is a strong relationship, the employee is far more likely to be motivated
and happy.
Developing the program
1. Identifying a training partner
The first step was to identify an external training company who would work with the company
to devise, implement and evaluate this new program. This process was important as it
enabled SACO to develop and refine its requirements before appointing a training partner –
MG Training.
2. Interviewing staff
Through MG Training a series of meetings and one-to-one interviews were organized for all
managers and a number of other employees from different areas of the business. These
were confidential and participants were encouraged to speak freely and confidentially about
their working life at SACO and the company culture.
These sessions introduced the concept of a new employee engagement program to staff
before it was conceived. This meant that the program evolved from a team approach and
reflected SACO’s company culture.
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A set of questions was followed to assess and evaluate employees’ opinions about what it is
like to work at SACO, paying particular attention to:
B the company culture and team ethos;
B how employees are treated and communicated with;
B staff development and training; and
B leadership and management.
The session produced extremely useful qualitative data that informed the key
recommendations for the program’s development.
3. Outlining key recommendations to shape the program
From the feedback from the staff interviews, a series of recommendations were identified
that would run throughout the program. They were incorporated in the following program
aims and actions:
1. Developing a ONE SACO culture:
B Clearly communicate the message of ONE SACO.
B Work with staff to evolve how systems, culture and people’s behavior can be integrated
to communicate, reinforce and develop a ONE SACO culture. This would include
developing a competency framework.
B Explore questions raised about strategic clarity and communicate the conclusions of
this to staff.
2. Increasing the collaboration and team working between departments and teams:
B Expand the SACO mission to emphasize excellent customer service internally as well
as externally.
B Review systems and processes to see if they can be developed to support this
initiative.
B Develop the skills and confidence to give and receive feedback, address difficult
issues directly and have more face-to-face conversations.
B Continue to develop mutual understanding, relationships and social events across the
organization.
B Continue to improve communication across the organization, both in terms of
processes and management behavior.
3. Focusing on people’s development in the performance management cycle:
B Manage people in a way that focuses on an individual’s key behaviors and skills.
B Integrate a new competency framework into recruitment, the performance
management cycle, succession planning and everyday working.
4. Actively developing a culture that encourages innovation, growth and change:
B Give a clear message to all staff that links their creativity and innovation to the ongoing
growth of SACO. This entails explaining what exactly is required of staff in this area and
how the business will make use of an innovation or a new idea.
‘‘ In order to engage employees and help them develop, a
competency framework was needed to shape and guide the
development process. ’’
VOL. 10 NO. 6 2011 jSTRATEGIC HR REVIEWjPAGE 13
B Explore if any systems or processes can be put in place alongside a management
culture that actively encourages, reinforces and engages with innovation, change and
the development of new best practice.
5. Leadership and role modeling by senior and middle managers:
B Build a SACO model of management best practice that is clearly communicated to all
managers and is integrated into the business model.
B Develop a learning culture based around ongoing learning, on the job development
and a learning journey for all.
B Develop a clear understanding of leadership and management, what these two
complementary skill sets are and when each is required.
B Ensure a consistent approach by all managers, which also enables individuals to play
to their own strengths and personal styles.
B Inspire leadership so that senior managers can lead the way in implementing SACO’s
20:20 program and grow the business.
A detailed program of activity
Using this information, in tandem with company objectives and advice from MG Training, a
program of activity was created under the banner of 20:20 Growing Talent. The program
consists of six key elements:
1. Competency framework.
2. Managing Performance the SACO Way.
3. Inspirational leadership training.
4. Introduction to Management course.
5. In Your Shoes secondment scheme.
6. Every day’s a learning day – Training for Everyone reviews.
1. Competency framework: The SACO Way
In order to engage employees and help them develop, a competency framework was
needed to shape and guide the development process. MG Training ran a series of
workshops to explore the characteristics of an engaged employee.
The workshops were facilitated by MG Training and attended by six to ten employees at a
time, including senior managers. Initially attendees learnt to understand what a
competency was and how it could be recognized before they started to consider
perceived role models in the business – who they are, why are they perceived to be role
models, what they do and how they act in order to give others this perception. From this
we identified three key traits:
1. Care – genuine care and passion for SACO as a company, its customers and the people
who work for the company.
2. Determined to succeed – very focused at making things happen and achieving good
results.
3. Fun and a good sense of humor in their everyday working lives.
This feedback was then adapted into six competencies, which were coupled with
descriptions and indices to define what each core competency meant, resulting in an overall
framework called The SACO Way. The competencies are:
1. be ONE Saco;
2. be aware of people;
PAGE 14jSTRATEGIC HR REVIEWjVOL. 10 NO. 6 2011
3. be responsible;
4. be passionate about excellence;
5. be an expert through learning; and
6. be trusting.
This framework and how to use it was communicated to all managers across SACO and time
was taken to help them understand how they could communicate and explain it to their team
members. This one-day course is a fundamental part of the 20:20 program and is called
‘‘Managing Performance the SACO way.’’
2. Managing Performance the SACO Way
As well as positioning the competency framework, it covers the overall process and
principals around conducting and running appraisals at SACO. In addition to the regular
one-to-one meetings between staff and their line managers it was acknowledged that it
would also be important to roll out a more formal approach to monitor an employee’s training
and development.
SACO decided to revise the existing appraisal meetings that were taking place twice a year.
The aim of these meetings is to give employees individual time with their managers to review
their performance, successes and achievements over a six-month period and then set the
pace and agree objectives and goals for the next six months.
The competency framework is now included as part of the appraisal and encourages the
employee and the manager to think about ‘‘how’’ to achieve the objective, not just ‘‘what’’ the
objective is.
Using the competency framework The SACO Way, involves each employee awarding
themselves a performance rating (between 0-3) against each competency with a description
and example to support the rating they decided on. The line manager completes the same
rating scale for the employee and at the appraisal these ratings are discussed and
competency framework objectives are agreed.
A process of ongoing two-way communication. Feedback is also an important part of this
new appraisal process. It was agreed that employees would be asked to spend time
considering a situation or event when they were made to feel not so positive by their line
manager. This is called ‘‘change feedback.’’ They are also asked to think of a time when they
were made to feel positive, called ‘‘reinforcing feedback.’’ This helps to build on the
relationship between an employee and their line manager and also helps a line manager to
develop their leadership skills.
At this stage, it is decided whether specific training and coaching is required to help achieve
the stated objectives. Long-term targets are also planned out for the next few years to ensure
the employee continues to work towards the bigger picture, which will help the company
achieve the vision for 2020.
Even though these formal appraisals only take place twice a year, the line manager and
employee are responsible for meeting regularly to informally discuss progress and the
objectives between these meetings.
‘‘ Previously staff had not recognized how their skills were
developing on the job. ’’
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3. Inspirational leadership training
Recognizing that an important aspect of an employee’s working environment is the
relationship they have with their manager, a significant part of the 20:20 Growing Talent
program is focused on developing managers’ leadership skills.
The Inspirational Leadership training course is a three-day residential course for all
managers led by an external leadership expert. The course takes place away from normal
work surroundings with a broad aim to develop the capability of managers to lead SACO into
the future, continue to grow the business and implement the 20:20 vision.
The course intends to achieve the following:
B Develop management and leadership skills.
B Set the team up for success with a shared vision, way of working and an increased
understanding of each other’s strengths and preferred working styles.
B Create an understanding of what good management looks like at SACO.
B Build on the strengths of the existing SACO culture and create an environment for the
future that emphasizes ongoing learning, innovation and growth.
B Provide an enjoyable, stimulating and rewarding time together.
Working days are from 9.00-18.30 but the residential aspect enables employees to spend
time with fellow managers outside of these hours. Attendees are split into two groups and
they take it in turns to look after the group as a whole over a 24-hour period. This includes
providing meals and cleaning.
Before the course, all attendees are asked to complete an online questionnaire as part of the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – a practical model that gives management teams an
increased understanding of, and language for, the different strengths and talents in the
workplace. The results of the questionnaire are then reported to each individual during the
course.
After the course a series of one-to-one follow up meetings between managers and their line
managers, team meetings and individual training take place to maintain momentum and
ensure the outcomes of the course continue to benefit the managers and their teams.
The program for the three day residential course has also been adapted to create a reduced
one-day ‘‘Introduction to Management’’ course with the same objectives that can be rolled
out as frequently as necessary to start employees with management potential on the road to
becoming inspirational leaders.
4. Introduction to Management course
This is specifically designed for new managers and those members of staff that have
management potential, in order to support succession planning for the future. Modular in
design, it covers the basics of management, including managing a team, motivation,
communication, coaching and managing performance the SACO way. It will also include the
one-day Introduction to Management course.
5. In Your Shoes secondment scheme
In addition to encouraging the more theoretical training through the one-to-ones with line
managers, the program also includes a more hands-on training scheme in the style of a
secondment.
To encourage a deeper understanding of the role that other teams play in SACO’s success
and the pressures they face, the In Your Shoes scheme encourages all employees to take a
day out and work within another team and location, at least once a year.
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The position and location is selected by the employee but should be commercially sensible
so that the chosen role is partially related to their actual role. The scheme achieves the
following:
B Gives employees the opportunity to share experiences, advice, tips and skills with one
another.
B Builds relationships between employees who may not work together on a day-to-day
basis.
B Emphasizes that SACO is ONE and that individuals are all contributing to one greater
objective.
B Takes an employee outside of the day-to-day tasks, giving time to reflect on their role as
well as those of others.
As well as running this program formally, employees are also encouraged to spend just a few
hours now and again visiting another team or location. It is important that all employees
recognize how the company works as a whole if they are to stay engaged with their work and
the company ethos.
6. Training for Everyone reviews
Two vital elements of the training program are:
1. Educating employees that training happens in your day-to-day tasks as well as defined
workshops and courses.
2. Importance of giving time to employees to enable them to step away from the day-to-day
and not lose sight of the bigger picture.
Previously staff had not recognized how their skills were developing on-the-job so the
program needed to address this and demonstrate that their skills are developing through
day-to-day activity.
Regular one-to-one reviews are one way of doing this. By introducing regular informal
meetings with line managers, employees are given the time to step back from day-to-day
activities and reflect on what they have recently achieved and the new skills they have learnt
and how these developments impact on the company’s progress towards the 20:20 vision.
One-to-one reviews take place at least every four to six weeks, giving a platform to discuss
openly any performance issues or difficulties as well as get regular feedback and praise.
These meetings also help all employees to develop the ability to give, receive and learn from
feedback while improving their face-to-face communications skills.
Creating a positive working environment
This program is still in its infancy and will continue to develop and evolve as it is rolled out. It
is crucial that employees are consulted as the new initiatives are put into effect to ensure they
are successful and will deliver the key objectives.
The program will be assessed by gathering feedback through evaluation forms, meetings
and workshops and each concept will be developed as necessary to maintain momentum
and ensure all needs and requirements are met.
The first Inspirational Leadership course has already taken place and th...