HD Supply
Situation
A rapidly expanding organization with demanding growth objectives wanted to improve the leadership capacity of their sales management team. Cosgrove Partners (CP) launched the project by interviewing more than 35 management team members and conducting a leadership survey of the sales organization. The questions included:
What are the critical leadership skills for the sales organization?
What types of training and development programs currently exist?
How are leadership skills assessed during the hiring process?
Describe effective leadership?
Cosgrove Partners Action
During the eighteen-week engagement, CP collaborated with a multinational non-profit homebuilding organization to design a highly experiential learning environment in which the leadership development participants worked in small groups to build a modest home while facing extreme time and resource constraints.
Specifically, the 5-day program focuses on the following skills and attributes:
Communication skills (under pressure)
Understanding and managing diversity
Giving and receiving feedback
Empathetic listening skills
Overcoming adversity
Facing fear and anxiety
Outcome
The leadership development program is invariably rated as one of the most impactful programs of its kind. The graduates consistently cite the experience as a pivotal point in their leadership careers. Many of the graduates have been promoted to 3 or more levels above the initial leadership role after attending the program.
