Corporate Management

Design and roll out of a training program for cultivating next-generation leaders of a major financial institution

Leading financial institution A needed a context in which to have its next-generation of leaders, who were about to become directors, deeply ponder the meaning of　“strategic decision making from a companywide perspective.” In a situation where the market, regulations and technical factors were changing rapidly and the customer environment shifting dynamically, Company A was lacking strategic thinking capability and also stagnating in terms of new service development. Top management hoped that the next generation of leaders would be able to foster issue awareness regarding corporate strategy issues and establish horizontal connections that would enable them to work together in friendly rivalry as the people responsible for the company’s future.

They thus developed a three-month training program, exhaustively taking inventory of the skills required of leaders, holding round-table discussions to broaden the next generation’s perspective by including people from other companies and industries, and leveraging case studies on issues surrounding their company.

Roland Berger consultants were responsible for developing the framework and materials for this training program. They also continuously challenged the participants' standard industry thinking by introducing customer and competitor viewpoints and zero-base ideas and concepts.

The greatest result of this training was that its benefits were not limited to the program itself. Thanks to the training, each participant began to understand how to think from a top management perspective, and this thinking later became a huge asset in internal reform efforts.

Design and roll out of a training program to cultivate the next generation of leaders at a public institution

The top management of Public Institution B was concerned that even after privatization the organization would continue to lack an understanding of such concepts as “the customer” (who is the customer?) and “our value added” that are taken for granted in the private sector. They thus singled out the next-generation leadership group to participate in a program to thoroughly study issues, such as “the management of a private corporation” and “what top managers need to judge situations correctly and make decisions,” and to raise their consciousness regarding companywide strategic issues.

The program was conducted over approximately three months. Participants began by thoroughly examining the most fundamental issue, the management of a private company. Discussions that included external managers and influential individuals were held and participants also studied in detail the concept of marketing from the customer perspective, logic-directed decision making and a top manager’s feel for figures, as well as other skills required of corporate leaders.

Participants went beyond the program, dividing themselves into groups in which they studied future issues for the organization to resolve, even developing action plans which they presented to the entire board of directors. The board not only listened to these reports, but committed themselves to carefully considering them immediately after training. The training was a big success.

- Implementation of training at each office of a major public works company to strengthen the effectiveness of the front line
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- Intensive deliberation in the board meeting of a consumer goods company over the understanding of a specific competitor's strategy and the client's response; pointers included
- A market and competitive strategy simulation by the managers in all the operating divisions of a consumer product manufacturer
- Management awareness-raising training with an eye to privatization for a government-affiliated public corporation

Ken Mori
Managing Partner (Japan)
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Takashi Hirai
Partner
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