At the 2009 CMI Management & Leadership Development Forum today. The majority of participants (around 40) say they've seen their learning & development budgets cut.
This was warned against several months ago as one of the causes of the 90s recession (which lasted longer than it should of because companies weren't prepared for the upturn). It appears history is once again repeating itself once again.
This was warned against several months ago as one of the causes of the 90s recession (which lasted longer than it should of because companies weren't prepared for the upturn). It appears history is once again repeating itself once again.
Adam Eaton, director of group management development for insurance
giant Aviva, admitted in the day's opening presentation that taking
senior management away on trips to fancy places did not work, because
the information they learned was not passed on to middle management or
regular employees.
A new CEO in 2007 and a new slogan - "One Aviva, twice the value" - was ineffectual because people didn't know what it meant, Eaton said.
"Nearly half a year after this change was announced, nothing had changed," he continued. "People said, 'until you tell me what that means and clarify what you want me to do, I won't change'. So we began steps to change what was a very patriarchal and hierarchical organisation."
He did that by requiring managers to write goals for the next six months which were then published on the company intranet for anyone in the company to see. This lead to a culture of accountability that benefited both senior leaders and middle management.
However, they're only 18 months into what he said could be a five-year process, so there are further changes needed before it is called a success.
Misc notes:
Jo Owen, founding partner of Leadership Partnership and author, admitted that the main difference between leadership and managing is that leadership sells more books. Who was it that said
Svetlana Omeltchenko, global marketing development manager for British American Tobacco, last year's runner up for Personnel Today Talent Management Award, said she was the first in her company to criticise the decision to remove free biscuits from company tea rooms due to the relatively small cost saving but high impact on morale. This was done using a blog on the company intranet.
A new CEO in 2007 and a new slogan - "One Aviva, twice the value" - was ineffectual because people didn't know what it meant, Eaton said.
"Nearly half a year after this change was announced, nothing had changed," he continued. "People said, 'until you tell me what that means and clarify what you want me to do, I won't change'. So we began steps to change what was a very patriarchal and hierarchical organisation."
He did that by requiring managers to write goals for the next six months which were then published on the company intranet for anyone in the company to see. This lead to a culture of accountability that benefited both senior leaders and middle management.
However, they're only 18 months into what he said could be a five-year process, so there are further changes needed before it is called a success.
Misc notes:
Jo Owen, founding partner of Leadership Partnership and author, admitted that the main difference between leadership and managing is that leadership sells more books. Who was it that said
Svetlana Omeltchenko, global marketing development manager for British American Tobacco, last year's runner up for Personnel Today Talent Management Award, said she was the first in her company to criticise the decision to remove free biscuits from company tea rooms due to the relatively small cost saving but high impact on morale. This was done using a blog on the company intranet.
