CTHRA's Spotlight On...

Symposium 2008: Innovation for the Competitive Advantage
Looking for creative ways your HR department can contribute to short and long-term business goals? Then you can't afford to miss the industry's only national HR event of the year: CTHRA's Achieving HR Excellence Symposium on October 13 in Atlanta.

Best-selling author Stephen M.R. Covey will kick off the day by sharing insight on trust. Covey advocates that that establishing, growing and restoring trust is the critical leadership competency of the new global economy—more important than vision and strategy.
      
Best of all, attendees can customize their Symposium experience by selecting from compelling, interactive breakout sessions led by industry experts and leaders.

In addition, the Symposium will feature an awards luncheon honoring CTHRA's 2008 Excellence in HR Award winners Mae Douglas, SVP and Chief People Officer, Cox Communications and The Weather Channel.

Not to mention, CTHRA promises plenty of time for networking with colleagues! As an added bonus, each attendee will receive a free hardback copy of Covey's The Speed of Trust. Don't delay! Register now for next week's Symposium!

Strategy Showcase

Homegrown Sales Leaders: The Weather Channel’s Award-Winning ESLP

The Weather Channel’s Emerging Sales Leader Program (ESLP) earned CTHRA’s 2008 Best Practices Award. We took a few minutes to chat with TWC’s Jan McKenzie (photo left), Director of Training and Development, to gain insight into the development, implementation and impact of this winning program.  

What business objectives prompted The Weather Channel (TWC) to develop a sales leadership development program?

Jan: Paul Iaffaldano, our executive sales leader, has a history of successfully partnering with The Weather Channel’s Human Resources/Training team to develop his people.  He contacted me in 2005 about creating a program to develop a pipeline of sales leaders who would not only be equipped to drive outstanding and profitable revenue but who could also grow and develop others.  Rather than hire from the outside, Paul saw the opportunity to develop qualified leaders with real insight into our company and industry from within TWCC. The purpose of ESLP is to have a ready pipeline to fill our open sales leadership positions quickly with qualified, high potential internal candidates.

What skills or capabilities does the program seek to develop in enrollees?
Jan:  ESLP was designed to build knowledge and effectiveness in the following areas:

1. Knowing/developing yourself and others
2. Business acumen—strategy/profitability
3. Sales Leadership
4. Business acumen—execution

What are the key elements of the year-long development program?
Jan: There are four:   

1. Developing yourself and others includes a variety of personal and leadership assessments such as Gallup Strengths Finder, Right Path 4/6 Profile, and a leadership 360. Participants are given an opportunity to gain valuable insight into themselves and others, create development plans, and align with peer support groups.
2. Business acumen/profitability includes learning financial principles and language, doing case studies on business profitability models, and meeting with high level leaders (speed mentoring/ethics discussions, new venture overviews, etc.).
3. Sales leadership includes strengthening our core sales process by learning to coach others, flexing your leader style, hiring well, hearing from key customer groups and moving from an individual contributor to a management role.
4. Business acumen/execution focuses our participants on managing everything from time and process to products and marketing.

Who teaches the development training sessions?
Jan: I teach along with Jean Lamkin Ph.D., Director Career Development Landmark; Ken Kukla Ph.D., Training Consultant, a variety of MBA professors from William and Mary, and external vendors including Gallup, Paradigm Learning, Weber Associates and Better Communications.

Have you made enhancements to the program since its launch in 2005? If so, what prompted the changes?
Jan: ESLP has been constantly evolving since we first launched. After each of the four sessions, we asked participants for feedback on what they’d learned and what they were missing.  If something didn’t have the impact we wanted, we found a new way to do it.  As we discovered new venues or had better ideas, we used them.

What criteria are used to screen potential program candidates?
Jan:  We evaluate candidates on three key criteria:

1. Ability to hit sales goals consistently
2. Ability to maintain performance over time
3. Demonstrated leadership potential

What “next steps” occur after someone completes the program?
Jan: Participants meet with their VPs and plan next steps.  They also evaluate how to use what they have learned to impact others in the sales organization.  Many moved into sales leadership roles right away.

What impact has ESLP had on The Weather Channel’s performance and ability to meet business goals?
Jan: We use a system that tracks “success stories” to evaluate the program, the growth of the participants and the increase in our business results. So far, we have identified over a $30M impact.  We also track promotions as an indicator of program success.

We promoted a large percent of the graduates, we have exceeded our revenue goals consistently, we are rated among the top sales teams in our industry by Jack Meyers, and we won the first Long Term Achievement in Sales Award from the IAB.

What key factors contributed to the success of the ESLP?
Jan: The progression of learning (beginning with self awareness and building peer support groups in order to better build business and sales results); the consistent presence of Paul Iaffaldano and other key executives, including leaders from our parent company, in every session; the support of my EVP, Lisa Chang; a clear vision from the start; and the ability to create out of the box solutions.

Do you have any advice to other organizations seeking to develop a sales leadership program?
Jan: Have a compelling vision. Partner from the very beginning with your executive sales leaders.  Find ways to let participants share their successes at every juncture.  Try something new!

Is there anything else you’d like to share about ESLP?

The Weather Channel's Training and Development Team Ken Kukla, Jan McKenzie, Jennifer Ganyard

Jan: No program of note is ever created and delivered without the hard work of many people.  Our partnership with Jean Lamkin of Landmark enabled us to bring in several Landmark companies outside TWC for the ESLP experience which enriched everyone’s experience.  The TWC Training and Development team, which consisted of Jennifer Ganyard, Ken Kukla, and a Training Coordinator, was a constant source of energy and creativity.  Karen Ferguson, Executive Assistant to Paul Iaffaldano, was invaluable in creating exciting and rewarding venues for meetings and celebrations. The lesson?  Partnership made the vision a reality.

This Just In...

CableFAX names Leading Minorities in Cable
A few weeks ago, CableFAX Magazine unveiled its picks for the 2008 Most Influential Minorities in Cable. We applaud these HR colleagues who made the top 100:

Charisse R. Lillie, VP of Community Investment at Comcast, and EVP of the Comcast Foundation

Mae Douglas, SVP & Chief People Officer, Cox Communications

Raymond Gutierrez, EVP, Human Resources and Administration, Showtime Networks

Chris Powell, EVP, Human Resources, Scripps Networks

Loretta Walker, SVP & Chief Human Resources Office, Turner Broadcasting System

Lisa Chang, EVP, Human Resources, The Weather Channel

Gene Hawkins, SVP, Human Resources, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel

Debbie Smith Rayford, VP, Diversity and HR Services, Discovery Communications

WICT Benefit Gala Geers Up for 24th Year
For 24 years, the WICT Benefit Gala has brought together distinguished leaders and exemplary companies to salute the year's outstanding individuals, organizations and achievements in cable. This year's event will take place on Thursday, November 20 at the Grand Hyatt Washington D.C.

Interested in hosting a roundtable in your city? Contact cthra@cthra.com

Member Connection

CTHRA congratulates the following members and colleagues on recent promotions:

Teresa Fasick elevated to division vice president, compensation, benefits and HR administration by Comcast's Southern Division in Atlanta. She had been senior director, division compensation and benefits.

Please send promotions/new hire information to CTHRA's editor.

NEW MEMBERS
We welcome these individuals who joined CTHRA in July-August 2008

Susan Bishop, President, Bishop Partners
Ron Blumenthal, Manager Training and Development, Cablevision Systems Corporations
Christine Brown, Corporate Recruiting, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
B. Isaac Fennell, Director of Administration & HR, Cablevision Systems Corporations
Chad Finley, HR Specialist, Employee Service Center, Comcast
Sam Galloway, Sales Trainer, Time Warner Cable
Emerio Gonzalez, Human Resources Director Interactive, The Weather Channel
Brian Hoffman, Sr. Director, Talent Acquisition, Time Warner Cable - Corporate
Deidre Iannelli, HR Manager, Cox Communications, Inc.
Mati Jones, Director of Human Resources, Time Warner Cable
Jean Kubiszewski, HR Coordinator, Time Warner Cable
Rachel Lee, Manager, Compensation, MTV Networks
beverly Malone, HR Director, Turner Broadcasting/CNN
Alisha Penick, Director of Benefits, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
October Pittman, HR Manager, Comcast Cable
Michelle Rickard, HR Consultant, Harpo, Inc.
Carlos Romo, Technical Trainer, Time Warner Cable
Sheila Sanders, VP of HR, Auction Network
Chuck Scoggins, VP, Operations, PGA Tour
Michael Smith, Technical Trainer, Time Warner Cable
Craig Vakiener, Human Resource Manager, Blue Ridge Communications
Betsy Waak, Compensation Manager, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Terry Warren, Director, HR Operations, Time Warner Cable - Corporate
Lee Watts, Marketing Director, Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson
Cindy Weber, Director, Human Resources, Time Warner Cable Kansas City
Cyndi Wikstrom, General Manager, Click! Network
Jillaine Williams, Safety Coordinator, Time Warner Cable