- A program that draws on the best knowledge of a diverse team of top Wharton faculty but is tightly focused on Shell's business realities
Shell International needed to prepare its high-potential, mid-level managers to take on these leadership challenges and develop nine key behaviors it had identified as central to its future success. It needed a program that both drew on the best knowledge of top business faculty and was tightly integrated into its existing business needs and leadership development process.
The company turned to Wharton as one of three top global business schools to develop a two-week program for the best of its 4,500 mid-level managers. Wharton brought together faculty experts in diverse areas of business, including value creation, leading change, building relationships, and marketing strategy for a program that runs three times per year. "Wharton has a real spirit of inquiry and willingness to work with us to understand our needs," Fitzpatrick said. "They are responsive to feedback about bits that work and bits that don't and in understanding why." The Wharton program is tied back directly to the managers' business challenges and personal development plans through a variety of "action-learning" mechanisms. Senior Shell executives participate in program sessions on issues such as sustainable development. Managers in the program bring their own business challenges to work on in small groups. At the end of every day, there is a period of reflection in which the participants apply their new knowledge to their own personal development plans. Before they leave, they develop specific action plans for carrying their knowledge back to work. "The whole idea is not to let them go through classroom writing notes and taking notes back but to help them link back to practice and start applying the knowledge," said Academic Director Thomas P. Gerrity, former Wharton Dean and former President of CSC Consulting.
What is the impact? "There are some who change directly by the dint of an insight they gain. There are those who get a model or tool that they can apply directly to the problem they are wrestling with back in the office," Fitzpatrick said. "For some people, the benefit kicks in weeks or months later when they suddenly recognize the value of something they learned."
The success of the program can be seen in the nearly perfect evaluation scores. But perhaps the biggest sign of the value of the program is the willingness of Shell's most senior managers to take time away from their work to support it and participate. "My proxy is that if so many of my senior executives keep turning up to the programs we run, I'm happy they are making the judgment it is worth it," Fitzpatrick said.