LEAD Awards 2018: Interview with Lamont Gilbert, CSAA Insurance Group
Focusing on Virtuous Leadership Practices
Posted on 05-23-2018, Read Time: Min
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Category: Best Experience/ Senior Leaders Program
LEAD AWARD RANK: 3
Category: Best Use of Simulations
LEAD AWARD RANK: 1
Organization: CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer
Program: Leadership Institute – Leaders Development Program
Program Director: Lamont Gilbert
Visit: www.csaa-insurance.aaa.com
Focusing on Virtuous Leadership Practices
Our editorial team interviewed Lamont Gilbert from CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer, at the LEAD2018 Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.
What is the overall objective of your program?
The objective of the Leadership Development Program is to improve business results by focusing on virtuous leadership practices: doing the right thing, for the right reason, on purpose. The program transforms training to practice, adoption, absorption and learning by:
- Creating shared line of sight to execute strategy across our organization
- Enhancing leaders’ behaviors to transform company culture and the marketplace
- Instilling the notion of enterprise ownership where the needs of the company are considered first
- Increasing capacity for and demonstration of curiosity and risk-taking
- Strengthening our leadership bench and pipeline
Who do you impact with your program?
- Executives
- Managers
- Top Talent (high-potential) Supervisors
- Top Talent (high-potential) Individual Contributors at the Consultant Level
What are the lessons you’ve learned this year from facilitating your program?
Opportunity
As stories and knowledge are shared between employees and leaders, the program is evolving to inspire and equip participants in optimizing performance and psychological alignment, and fostering a mindset and behaviors that address and promote an improved capacity for learning and change.
Validation
Our various learning modalities (face-to-face, eLearning, virtual debriefs, leaders-as-teachers, etc.) effectively enable leaders to learn, practice and apply leadership behaviors/practices to ensure a culture of performance. Participant quotes:
- “The simulation experience was one of the best I’ve participated in. It was challenging and so educational too. In addition, the team spirit from cross-functional folks that the exercise fostered was invaluable.”
- “The interaction throughout the session reinforced the learning and built connections and understanding cross functionally! Very efficient way to achieve multiple objectives.”
- “The program was a good mix of practice and theory without being too prescribed. This module specifically helped me answer a question I have been asked numerous times in my career – which I have always answered – but now I have a complete thought and reason.”
How do you measure the return on investment and success of the program?
Program success and ROI is measured through:
- Internal evaluation by participants and a control question for each program module reveals the following on a 10-point scale (where 1 = “strongly disagree” and 10 = “strongly agree”):
- “I am able to perform the leadership practices the organization is expecting of me as a leader”= 8.6
- External evaluation by BTS:
- Business simulation rating = 9.7
- Coupled with a Net Promoter Score of 88 (world class).
- Business simulation rating = 9.7
- Leadership index, as below, which is a subset of employee engagement questions administered to all employees annually by a third-party vendor:
What lies ahead for the program and how will it continue to succeed?
As leaders continue to apply and cascade key learnings throughout the enterprise, program adoption, absorption and impact remains high. While these positive findings are continually reinforced by internal and external evaluations, we continue to refresh the program to adapt to future trends.
For example, the insight and innovation simulation will be updated to integrate a dynamic design question, which will serve as a key lens for the company’s transformation. Further, the capstone business simulation is undergoing an overhaul aligned with our business strategy evolution and needs of future leaders. Lastly, an additional program objective will frame:
- Desired participant expectations
- Priority learning outcomes
- Effective methods for producing key results
- Best business contributions and impacts.
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