Leading from the frontline

PricewaterhouseCoopers has taken the leadership challenge further than most by seconding high-potential individuals to the UN to help project in countries in extreme circumstances. Noel O'Reilly reports

A leadership development scheme which seconds young executives to projects in some of the world’s most crisis-hit areas could pay dividends for HR as well as improving the company’s reputation for corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The Ulysses project at consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) demonstrates some of the reasons why HR practitioners should be willing to take a leading role in promoting CSR.

The project was launched by a special think-tank in the US, but involves executives from around the world taking part in projects for the United Nations and other organisations in countries hit by war, poverty and disease. 

CSR raised its profile earlier this month when Business in the Community’s second Corporate Social Responsibility Index was published, indicating those among the UK’s top companies who take CSR seriously. The evidence is that CSR is low on the priorities of most of the 500 who were invited to participate, with only 139 entering.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was among the participants and finished in 63d place in the top 100, although KPMG was the highest placed in the accountants and consultants category.

HR departments in general have been slow to embrace CSR, despite the fact that the potential HR benefits have been emphasised by the movement’s supporters, with improved recruitment and retention seen as the biggest bonus as blue chip companies fight to attract the best talent.

The Ulysses project shows that involving high-potential staff with leadership potential can be a way to give participants a trans-cultural and international perspective on leadership, to develop a range of competences and even to experience a change of attitude towards some of the world’s biggest problems.

Management experts often argue that the new generation of potential leaders are looking for more meaning in their work, with greater challenges and opportunities to contribute to the greater good. The Ulysses project is a demonstration of one way to approach this.

The project is not the traditional CSR secondment where executives paint the local community centre or help out in a neighborhood school. The four projects which have taken place since the scheme began in 2003 include work on a United Nations Development programme in Zambia, where participants worked with unemployed youths to convert natural resources into economically viable products.

Another UN project in Moldova involved rebuilding local governance structures after the civil war, while a programme in Namibia set about designing a project management system for local communities to respond to the HIV/Aids virus.

The final project involved participants assessing the feasibility of eco-tourism as a source of sustainable development income in Belize.

The Ulysses project aims to develop competences in independence, mobility and diversity among those taking part by creating a challenging context for their development and by linking them to the principle of sustainable development.

The participants are all executives who have been identified as high-potential future leaders and are volunteered by sponsoring managers. They spend four weeks in preparation, followed by a week’s residential course to prepare them for eight weeks’ field work. On their return from the project they spend a week reviewing how the programme has gone, and there is follow up and regular communication with the network of participants when they turn to their day-to-day jobs.

The learning and development teams use a range of approaches with a strong emphasis on experiential learning, including individual coaching, learning maps, 360-degree feedback, an intranet site, and access to a reference site for academic research on experiential learning at St Gallen University in Switzerland.

The feedback from delegates to the course reads more like reactions to a religious convention than a typical leadership development programme. Words like adventure, commitment, inspiration and accountability pepper the reports from those involved, as well as expressions such as 'oneness' and 'connectedness' more reminiscent of the Glastonbury rock festival.

One executive described the experience like this: “It has enriched who I am and the way I have started to look at things with new perspectives, a new openness and a greater sense of personal confidence. I have learned that leadership is not a title, it’s a lifelong journey.”

Speaking at a conference on leadership this month, organised by occupational psychologists Pearn Kandola, PwC learning and development director Paul Bennett told delegates that the future success of international brands would depend on meeting social expectations and being accountable. To achieve this, companies concerned with CSR will have to look beyond charity walks, human rights and refusing contracts to corrupt suppliers. As with the Ulysses project, organisations will have to work at changing the mindset and values of their future leaders.

If such things are not enough of a carrot, however, the Government may wield a stick. The DTI has warned that it aims to publish regulations requiring 1,000 of the largest firms to report on social and environmental impacts.