Roxanne
I'd be very surprised if an "executive development course," per se, is the
answer. I think you had it right when you first described the need for an
"executive development experience."
One model which you should consider is GE's "Workout!" program. I (along
with scores of other consultants) was involved in the early stages of this
culture change initiative, a central element of which was a series of
"town meetings" in which every one of GE's tens of thousands of employees
worldwide was involved. At these meetings (1/2 to 1 day), small to medium
sized (5-50) heterogeneous groups of people were asked to brainstorm about
ways to improve the function of the organisation with no limits on the
scope of the discussion. Topics ranging from where to place the office
coffee pot through improvements in machine set-up procedures to required
behavioral changes in senior managment were raised and debated (at least
in the meetings which I facilitated). At the end of each meeting the
group was required to prepare a list of recommendations for change which
it would then present to senior management (normally Sector head level and
above). The management was then required to either agree to or veto each
recommendation on the spot. This forced choice made the process real, and
invariably provided some immediate success stories, which encouraged other
groups, which led to more successes--overall a very good example of
positive feedback loops at work.
I've used the process subsequently in helping organisations develop and
communicate their business strategies in a continuous
top-down-bottom-up-top-down-bottom-up-etc. cycle. Invariably, the ideas
and recommendations which come from the bottom-up part of the process are
extremely valuable and serve to both open up the eyes of senior managers
and facilitate dialogue across divisional and hierarchical boundaries in
the organisation.
For your CEO, one of the benefits of the process--he doesn't even need to
talk with the people if he doesn't want to. All he has to do is listen,
and give thumbs up or down, as he sees fit. Of course, unless he is a
complete troglodyte, he'll at least start to learn to talk constructively
with others (and maybe even come to like it, some day!).
The tools for the process are simple. A room, a flip chart, some pads of
paper, markers and a facilitator. The process is simple. Give the people
a brief (1-2 page) statement of the issue at hand (preferably before the
meeting), ask them what they think of it, how they could improve it, and
record these thoughts. At the end of the meeting summarise these thoughts
into a small list of recommended actions. Have the group present them to
the CEO. Insure that he makes decisions.
The hard bit is in writing the brief statement and in getting the CEO to
agree to the process (particularly the on-the-spot decision making part of
it). Maybe you use the executive development course to soften him up
first? If so, be very careful that it is one that sends the right message
and one whose whose methodology is such that your particular CEO will hear
the message he is being given.
Hope this is of some help.
Cheers
Richard Goodale +44-1383-860660 (phone)
The Dornoch Partnership +44-1383-860857 (fax)
"Linking Organisations with their Strategies"
--Richard Goodale <fc45@dial.pipex.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>