Background
KPMG is a leading business advisory firm with over 9,400 staff in the UK and 100,000 worldwide. It offers clients audit, tax and advisory services.
The UK firm embarked on a new project to prepare managers for the motivation of people in their teams, to embrace diversity and to recognise that people approach problems with different perspectives. Managers were selected to develop new skills by working in teams on an external project in the community.
The participants on the event outlined below are current managers. Many will have joined the firm on graduation and gained a further technical qualification, maybe qualifying as an auditor or tax advisor. They will have typically been working for about 8 years after graduation. They are 'emerging leaders': the top 10 - 15% of a particular year group and their next role will involve managing a large, diverse team of people and moving up to senior manager level.
How to learn
Emma Grundy, KPMG Learning and Development Manager and part of the team responsible for the programme, believes that a project-based approach is more appropriate than the classroom-based course. Classroom training can cover practical steps as well as theoretical knowledge, but the learning only really comes to life when you use it in a real situation. The event outlined here tested participants' skills using a corporate social responsibility project.
Sixty emerging leaders were split into three groups each charged with creating a development day for 40 sixth-form students from schools in Reading. The KPMG learning and development team interviewed teachers, pupils and other stakeholders to prepare the way. It was then up to emerging leaders to work with facilitators, conduct a training needs analysis, design and deliver.
Students from different schools and backgrounds wanted sessions on topics such as:
- self-esteem
- problem-solving
- interviewing
- team working
- making an impact
The event began with two days of planning, where the brief was explained, participants presented their training needs analysis and their outline for the development day and the subsequent review day. The learning and development team covered topics such as 'learning styles', 'coaching young people' and 'managing virtual teams' to help the teams focus their thoughts. At the end of the two days, each group had a plan of how they were going to pull their design together ready for the arrival of the sixth-formers in two months' time.
The next stage involved action learning in sets. In the intervening two months participants were required to:
- focus on the needs of the students, not the teachers,
- project manage the exercise,
- design a programme that met those needs. Market it at the school, for example, by addressing the school assembly,
- organise enrolments. They needed to have 40 delegates for their event but each school had more than 40 students in the relevant year group,
- liaise with caterers,
- organise transport to get the students to and from the event.
Different groups adopted different approaches. One group working with an all-boys school realised the importance of combining mental activity with physical; they chose a rocket-launching exercise, where students had to complete certain exercises to allow them to buy apparatus for building a rocket-launcher. The team that sent their rocket furthest won. Other groups incorporated sessions on career planning, interview techniques and team building. However, each group delivered an event that met user requirements and the feedback was positive from all the students. KPMG received feedback after the event last year from the teachers, who said there was such a buzz on the coaches on the way home - unlike anything they'd seen on previous 'corporate' events. KPMG participants commented that 'It was good to see the firm prepared to make this investment in development - also a courageous idea' and 'A real step into the unknown, a refreshing change of environment and rewarding to see the kids getting involved, having excellent ideas'.
In 2005, KPMG is working with the same schools - all are keen to repeat their involvement. Other schools are interested, so the project could expand.
What did participants learn?
The purpose of the event was to challenge the KPMG staff and draw out the learning to turn it into positive experiences to take back to the workplace.
People felt more motivated when they were involved in the project. Sharing how they felt led to a lot of honesty amongst the teams as they broached issues such as whether or not they had let their team down or taken more/less of the burden during the action learning stage on themselves. In particular, the review revealed that all participants had been able to:
- identify the specific skills they would require as senior managers,
- practise these skills in a non-work environment and receive feedback,
- stretch themselves and move out of their own comfort zone
- achieve learning through the use of a real, practical community project
They had achieved these advances because the process required them to:
- self-manage their teams,
- recognise that, in some cases, leaders just emerged,
- allocate the tasks fairly amongst themselves,
- take responsibility,
- stick to their schedule and hit the critical points.
Most importantly participants realised that 'the more you put in, the more you get out'. As managers they learnt that they need to engage people more to ensure that project outputs are reached. This has also been true in the ongoing learning sets. Those who took the process seriously have asked for input from learning and development professionals into sessions and the budget to allow them to invite speakers/complete diagnostics because they want to develop themselves further.
Constraints and limitations of the approach
This project-based approach to action learning is complex and difficult to manage. KPMG's learning and development team identified a number of issues that needed to be considered to ensure that student needs were met and KPMG staff enjoyed a good learning experience. These include time pressure, bonding between team members, time for face-to-face contact due to geographical spread, applying the learning to their daily roles and ensuring participants stretched themselves and worked on their development needs.
Some conclusions
Emma Grundy emphasises that good action learning can be hard to achieve. To be successful it must:
- aim to bring about personal and organisational change,
- be based in a real project connected to the business' objectives,
- receive high-level sponsorship,
- push participants out of their own comfort zones,
- be supported by good facilitation to relate the learning back to the workplace,
- offer participants a memorable experience.
All these require commitment and resources. But, in Emma Grundy's words:
"Under the right circumstances action learning based on an external project can be very effective. Participants have to consolidate all their skills and produce tangible results, but once they know they can do it, they can embed the learning elsewhere".