Talent Management in the current climate Brewing up ... - Ashridge

What did people gain and learn?
The Danfoss participants were unanimous in their
view that the Virtual Leadership Programme had
been an intense but unique experience which
gave them the skills, the confidence and the belief
that they could be a leader virtually. “The big eye
opener for me was that Ghislaine managed to
persuade me that as a leader you could master
working virtually so that you could discharge most
of your leadership duties effectively,” commented
Hanne Ovesen.
Others identified specific skills. For
Bahlachandra Pasupthy it was the attention to
listening that was the greatest take-away. “It
made me listen so much more carefully than
before. It made me pay attention to silences –
did they mean consent or did they mean people
didn’t understand?” Roland Fritsch would
concur and added the importance of practically
experimenting with conflict resolution virtually
and being sensitive to what triggers arguments.
For Anne Vibeke Madsen it was the theoretical
discussion and practical applications about
building trust that were most salient, and for Seng
Mein Tan from Singapore, it was the techniques
for creating informal ‘coffee’ conversations
virtually that was most useful. She has applied
the techniques with success ever since, holding
a coffee corner conversation twice a month with
her team from seven countries across Asia.
There is no agenda, people just speak about
what is on their minds and it has built a real sense
of belonging, community, trust and connection.
Another participant was able to shift between 35
16
Conclusions
and 40% of his meetings abroad to virtual ones
as a consequence of the programme.
Ghislaine endorses the importance of
listening. “You have to be constantly aware of
the subtleties in your voice. These skills are like
muscles: you need to keep exercising them
but then it comes more naturally,” she says.
The group also learned about creating the right
conditions for developing trust, establishing
meeting etiquettes, techniques for collective
decision-making and awareness of inter-cultural
communication. The latter “really enabled me
to get to know my colleagues better” felt Hanne
Ovesen.
Who does it work for?
Anne Vibeke Madsen’s conclusion was that the
Ashridge work was “the Rolls Royce programme
in Virtual Leadership development.” A lovely
compliment, but it raises the question as to
whether this type of development programme is
right for everyone? Is it right for all organisations?
“This works best for organisations where there is
no way of avoiding working virtually and where
the leader really wants to improve the way
people work and connect together virtually,” says
Ghislaine Caulat. For her co-lead, Sally Hulks:
“It’s ideal for organisations where relationships
are important because they are dealing with high
complexity issues. If the work is very transactional
it probably wouldn’t be worth the investment”.
For Roland Fritsch, the leader of Danfoss
Global Services and the key client sponsor, this
is a programme for people who are already good
and fairly sophisticated leaders. “For me the virtual
The main conclusions from the Danfoss participants in the Virtual Leadership Development
programme were that you really can “get together without being together”, to quote the
leader Roland Fritsch, and leaders can be helped to enhance the way they lead virtually. For
Ghislaine: “At the end of it, participants really know what it means to have a good phone call;
they know how to discuss things properly on the phone and when and how to use email.”
Sally’s advice to a leader considering starting something similar: “If you are going to
do it, you must be fully behind it, be part of it and help us to design it so that it works with
the practical needs of your people, then trust us to do the rest.” Ghislaine is in complete
agreement and adds: “In some respects you have to experience it to believe it, which is why
we now run taster sessions for potential clients. This is something that anyone interested, but
still with some degree of scepticism, might want to consider.”
If you would like to learn more about the Virtual Leadership development programme
or Ashridge’s other areas of virtual working, such as engaging people in strategy
virtually or starting up virtual global project teams, email Ghislaine Caulat at
ghislaine.caulat@ashridge.org.uk
leader is a further developed leader,” he opines.
Hanne Ovesen agrees, and commented: “This is
not something all leaders will master to perfection,
just as not all leaders are amenable to coaching.”
She also mentioned that in the Danfoss team,
a key criteria for involvement in the programme
was having a good command of English, even
though most weren’t native speakers, as well as
having cross-border responsibility and already
being a good leader.
The question around which there was
most debate and fewest conclusions amongst
participants, was whether colleagues actually
open up more in the virtual space? Are people
less aware of status and talk more because they
can’t see and therefore be attempted to second
guess the body language of the leader? Is it an
easier medium in which to participate for introverts
as there are fewer distractions and more paying
attention to each other and to silence? The jury
seems to be out on that but everyone agreed
that the Ashridge facilitators were very good at
creating an open atmosphere so that participants
felt at ease, could trust and could therefore speak
up freely.
However, one certainly shouldn’t think
that this type of virtual leadership development
programme is only something for multinationals
and global teams. Ashridge Consulting ran a
similar leadership programme for the UK sales
force of British Gypsum who, as a consequence
of the development programme, managed to shift
several of their meetings to virtual ones, making
significant savings on travel time and removing a
sense of HQ versus the rest.