LEAD Awards 2018: Interview with Dr. Nathan J. Hiller, Florida International University

Accelerating Leadership Development

  Category: Open Enrollment - Continuing Education Program with Emphasis on
  Leadership and Organizational Development
  LEAD AWARD RANK: 1
 
  Organization: Florida International University Center for Leadership
  Program: Executive Leadership Development Program
  Program Director: Dr. Nathan J. Hiller
  Email: hillern@fiu.edu
  Visit: Lead.fiu.edu
 

 
Our editorial team interviewed Dr. Nathan J. Hiller from the Florida International University Center for Leadership at the LEAD2018 Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.
 
What is the overall objective of your program?
The overall objective of our program is to foster and accelerate leadership development through two primary mechanisms: Enhanced self-insight and a focus on concrete skills/behaviors that are teachable and practiced in-program.
 

Who do you impact with your program?
The FIU Center for Leadership’s programs target individuals ranging from director level individuals up to C-suite executives. Each of the programs share a similar framework but each program is carefully tailored to meet the needs of specific groups such as women leaders, executives with a public sector or civic focus, or company-specific custom programs. 
 
What are the lessons you’ve learned this year from facilitating your program?
It’s not the first time we’ve seen this lesson pop up – but it was certainly reinforced this year: different industries are facing many of the same core leadership challenges. Getting people from different industries and organizations together in our programs helps us (and participants) see and deal with these common issues. Many times we’ve seen an individual be helped with a leadership challenge by other individuals from a completely unrelated industry, where intuitively, one would think the learning from that second industry would not be relatable. What we are reminded of, therefore, is that the richness of problem solving and innovative ideas are most likely to be born from a diversity of individuals coming together and sharing ideas and experiences. We are glad our programs facilitate these kinds of discussions.
 
How do you measure the return on investment and success of the program?
We have always solicited feedback in a very structured way from our participants – both during and after our programs. This has allowed us to see what is having an impact, what is proving meaningful and also what we might want to consider including in future programs. The feedback is consistently excellent with ratings between a 4.7 and 5.0, on a 5-point scale. Additionally, we regularly receive unsolicited feedback from participants who, on returning to work, hear from coworkers that “something is different,” that “the way they lead is different” – these are the stories we live for. Further, a large portion of our enrollment comes through referrals by our alumni – who see and live the value of our program on their leadership.
 
What lies ahead for the program and how will it continue to succeed?
As part of our own research, we’re completing a comprehensive “check-in” survey project with a sample of CEOs and CHROs to ensure that our program modules are aligned with their strategic leadership needs. And we’re constantly engaging in and monitoring the academic research literature so that we can incorporate the most cutting-edge, validated principles into our programs. It’s this combination of practitioner feedback and a vigilance for new leadership research information that allows us to keep our programs relevant and current- ensuring that participants find practical use for the content they receive during their time with us. We always want to ensure that on returning to work, participants can immediately make use of what they’ve learned.