Background
Ernst & Young delivers Assurance & Advisory, Tax and Transaction Advisory services for clients across the world. Each country has its own partnership structure and hence a measure of autonomy and self determination. In total over 107,000 people are employed in more than 600 locations in 140 countries. There are 7000 partners world-wide.
Ernst & Young Global Limited, which has its headquarters in London, undertakes a role in global support which includes supporting those human resource practices where some consistency of approach is required. Mike Mister, Global Director Executive Development, is responsible for facilitating the design and deployment of structures that will help drive some consistency into those practices that relate to the management and inter-personal development of partners.
The approach
Given the independent structures and sensitivities to the regulatory environment, globally-imposed solutions would not be effective. The emphasis is on creating a shared understanding of what is desired and how this can be achieved. There is also a strong recognition of understanding the importance of local delivery.
These principles guide the work of global learning and development. At each stage, development takes place through a series of interventions and these can be grouped in the following categories:
- Personal awareness: what processes should be in place to generate self-awareness and how should it be delivered and facilitate personal development? Mechanisms include multi-source feedback and career planning discussions – linked in turn to the partner performance management system
- Learning: This category includes structured off-the-job training programmes and other interventions whether delivered externally or internally.
- Experience: There is a general acceptance that most “partner learning” occurs on the job and results from the roles that they fulfil and the challenges that arise as a consequence.
- Enablers: These concern the relationships that are developed, particularly coaching and mentoring and also the opportunity to develop skills capabilities outside the working environment. Some country practices, for example have developed relationships with charitable organisations who can offer partners different perspectives which contribute to their development.
An examination of these four categories reveals the extent to which the global-local responsibilities must vary. The business school relationship and the development and delivery of some off-the-job courses, and evident illustration of ‘learning’, is one area where ambitions and intentions are readily aligned and a consistent approach established. ‘Strategic Leadership for Partners’, for example, is a 5½ day course delivered by Harvard faculty: each year one programme is run in the US and one in Switzerland. A slightly longer programme is run in association with the Kellogg Business School. A new programme for experienced partners to help them to continue to deliver at the highest level has been co-developed by the Netherlands, UK, & Belgian practices and will, in due course, be available world-wide. Mike Mister describes his preferred approach to course provision as “adopt and go”, so he needs designs that can be implemented, with minimal changes, world-wide.
By contrast ‘experience’ and ‘enablers’ can usually only be identified and delivered in the local country. What can be offered at a global level is guidance or a structure on how these can be made most effective as mechanisms for particular learning. The ‘personal awareness’ category is the one that is most sensitive to the country culture; here only a broad approach can be specified and the key mechanisms identified.
Gaining support worldwide
In Mike Mister’s own words:
‘We have some phenomenally capable learning and development people across the world and we need to capture their ideas as well as gain their support. The issue is not simply about framework and processes; it is about collaborating around action and commitment”.
Given this background considerable importance is placed on facilitating a network of learning and development specialists who operate in their own countries around the world. This involves the Global Learning & Development Team, the designated Area Chief Learning & Development Officers in the seven areas and the learning and development specialists in the countries who are focused on Partner Development. Importantly this network is seen as a crucially important contributor to the design of partner development strategy. The network meets around three times a year, but Mike Mister travels extensively to different areas to ensure experiences are shared and the network coordinates.
Progress in implementing the desired structures and processes in individual countries depends on the following factors: Are there people locally, the learning development specialists or consultants, who can understand and deliver what is needed? Are the resources available? Is the business ready for this aspect of development? Culturally will it fit with what is understood to be helpful and appropriate at the moment? Mike Mister recognises a progression through levels of ‘development maturity’ and his challenge is helping accelerate deployment of activities in one area, without slowing down global progress overall.
Cultural issues
In his role Mike Mister is well-placed to offer comments on cultural differences as they effect personal development. His starting point is a clear recognition that it is much easier to achieve an understanding of the ‘harder’ more technical skills than the softer inter-personal skills. As has been noted the technological methodologies (for example in audit) have become global and business strategy processes and challenges are the same throughout the world.
Two examples highlight different attitudes in soft-skills intervention. The first concerns the use of multi-source feedback – where partners use feedback on their performance and capability collected from their boss, peers and subordinates (and in some cases clients) to generate self awareness. In Mike Mister’s experience, the introduction and acceptance of such a system is comparatively easy in Northern Europe. In some countries a complex system will produce a reaction in the form of a demand and requirement for something which delivers what is required in the form of a short summary of the essential points. In other countries, however, using such feedback would present a considerable challenge. A tradition of respect for elders means that subordinates could find it difficult to be candid about a bosses weak points and the boss could find it difficult to accept such feedback from subordinates. A second example concerns outdoor training as a development activity. Mike Mister says that such interventions are still popular, but one factor that impacts the effectiveness of the experience is whether the country has a tradition of compulsory national service. Outdoor activities requiring energy and interactivity are considered far less fun if the participants have been compelled to participate when younger together with the perception of relevance, and the skill with which the process reviews are conducted.
In Mike Mister’s view an appreciation of cultural sensitivity, and the implications this has for managing progress, is something that can only be acquired through experience and observation over time. This challenge is to try to operate the requirement for global partner development in a way which is culturally neutral but still effective and impactful.
“You need to know how people from different national cultures would expect you to react to different situations – for example how you deal with unacceptable service in a restaurant or relate to colleagues when working away from your home country. Only in this way will you gain the credibility to achieve results through a global network”.