Developing Future Leaders: A Conversation with Cox Arizona Faced with a competitive and tightening labor market, Cox Arizona looked inward to expand its talent pool. The system launched its Leadership Development Center (LDC) in 2005 to accelerate development of potential leaders and prepare them for future positions. Why does Cox emphasize training internal candidates? Cox Arizona emphasizes growing talent within the organization to achieve increased productivity, employee satisfaction and employee retention. In addition to the LDC, Cox Arizona fosters the training of internal candidates with the Employee Bill of Rights and our efforts to be identified as an employer of choice. Cox Arizona understands that as employees have a greater strategic awareness of business initiatives, their increased knowledge helps achieve bottom-line business goals. What are the goals of Cox Arizona's Leadership Development Center (LDC)?
What are some of the typical exercises that candidates participate in? We created scenarios that reflect typical leadership challenges to assess candidates against Cox's competencies and standards of excellence. Scenarios include:
Please explain the role of the assessors and what they do? Assessors observe the candidates participating in the scenarios during the LDC and provide behavior-based feedback on how well the candidates performed against the company competencies for the level of leadership under focus. There is a 1:1 ratio of candidates and assessors. There are 16 candidates and 16 assessors for each of the three annual programs. In addition, two to four additional assessors are secured as alternates to serve as back-up in case of last-minute emergencies. Assessors complete a one-day training program which develops their competency in providing quality feedback to the candidates. Assessors conduct exercises, interview candidates, evaluate performance during scenarios, role play and note observations. In a group format, assessors discuss the results of each candidate and write a 26-page report based on the collective feedback of all assessors on each individual candidate. Each assessor then meets with their assigned candidate to review the written report and provide critical verbal feedback on the results of their performance. Assessors' total time commitment is three days. Assessors must be nominated by their vice president and human resource manager, based on the following criteria:
What kind of follow-up is there after the candidate has completed the LDC program? Candidates attend a follow-up meeting with their assigned assessor approximately one week after the LDC. All candidates then continue their development by participating in a three-month workshop lead by a leadership development trainer. This workshop offers a blended learning approach by having classroom discussion partnered with an online course titled, “Capturing Brand You” by Ninth House. How does the LDC benefit Cox and its employees? This program serves as an important component of development for establishing future bench strength within the organization and further promotes internal opportunities for advancement at Cox Arizona. Not only does this program identify a talent pool, but also the ultimate goal is to create focused development for the candidates who participate in the LDC. How successful have you been in deepening Cox's talent bench? Of the 126 total candidates who have participated in the LDC programs, 49 have received a leadership promotion (39 percent promotion rate). There have been 82 assessors who have contributed to the success of the program, some serving more than one time. These leaders have returned to their workplace having further developed their own skills as well. They were able to take what they learned from the LDC and integrate back into their teams the enhanced leadership qualities. Is there anything else you'd like to add about the LDC program? The LDC has exceeded our expectations in terms of accurately assessing our bench strength and providing a tangible way to ensure we promote employees when they are ready. It has allowed us to develop robust development plans that are specific to each candidate further increasing their skills and competencies. The LDC has also increased the importance of employee and leadership development and that development takes many forms, not just classroom training. Since it's launch in May 2005, the LDC has completed 8 sessions year to date. Seven of the sessions were focused on assessing frontline employees for team leader and supervisor roles, and one session was aimed at current team leaders being assessed for manager-level positions. Two team leader sessions and one manager-level session are planned annually for a total of 48 candidates assessed annually.
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