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Would you like to achieve an 8:1 return-on-investment on leadership training while contributing to the success of your organization and community? How about creating a safe environment for managers to learn new skills, practice them, and use them for the good of both the company and community-creating a measurable difference? That's the idea behind the Challenge projects of the Simonton Leadership Challenge, developed by Lake Forest Corporate Education. Planning for the company's continued success and expansive growth, Simonton's training director, Pete Rawlings, envisioned an innovative leadership program that would help build Simonton's leadership bench strength at all levels of the organization. Experts from Lake Forest Corporate Education and trainers and senior management from Simonton worked closely to understand what capabilities Simonton leaders needed to achieve the objectives of the company and identified the key competencies those leaders would need in the future. The result: the Simonton Leadership Challenge, a nine-day certificate program.

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACHIEVE an 8:1 return-on-investment on leadership training while contributing to the success of your organization and community? How about creating a safe environment for managers to learn new skills, practice them, and use them for the good of both the company and community-creating a measurable difference? That's the idea behind the Challenge projects of the Simonton Leadership Challenge, developed by Lake Forest Corporate Education, a business unit of Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, and Simonton Windows of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Planning for the company's continued success and expansive growth, Simonton's training director, Pete Rawlings, envisioned an innovative leadership program that would help build Simonton's leadership bench strength at all levels of the organization. "As our success climbs to new heights, so does our demand for effective leaders. Our partnership with the Lake Forest Corporate Education helps ensure we'll be able to meet this need," says Chris Prince, director of human resources for Simonton Learning. Experts from Lake Forest Corporate Education and trainers and senior management from Simonton worked closely to understand what capabilities Simonton leaders needed to achieve the objectives of the company and identified the key competencies those leaders would need in the future. The result: the Simonton Leadership Challenge, a nine-day certificate program.

Leadership Challenge defined

The Leadership Challenge includes three, three-day courses, each building on the knowledge and skills learned in the previous sessions and culminating in a leadership certificate. Participants focus on such core competencies as strategy execution, financial acumen, and communication. The program uses various learning tools to help participants hone their skills, including an online communication assessment, experiential learning through creative activities, and role play with actors.

A key to learning

Identifying how managers would practice and become comfortable using their new skills-in a setting that closely resembled work-was key to the Leadership Challenge. Prager and Rawlings hypothesized that removing managers from their dayto-day responsibilities would lessen the pressure on them to be perfect, while providing an opportunity to apply their new skills in a real-life setting. That time devoted to practice would, in turn, better ensure that learning transferred from the classroom to the workplace.

Simonton's corporate values meshed well with the idea of encouraging community service. "Encouraging participants to become active in community service, not only helps Simonton build future business leaders, but also advances 'The SBR Way'-Simonton's corporate philosophy of commitment to its people, service and community," observes James Strader, vice president of organizational development. And with the advice of Steve Schad, who creates learning experiences based on community service projects, the idea of the Challenge project was born.

A Leadership Challenge project is a task outside the normal scope of a manager's responsibilities. It could involve either a community project or a company assignment outside the usual work parameters. The idea was to remove managers from the flurry of daily work while they began to use their new skills.

After identifying their projects, participants were partnered with coaches who would act as sounding boards to help managers finalize their projects. The first group of Challenge participants returned for the next installation of the program to act as coaches to keep the learning, enthusiasm, and experience alive.

Participants tracked their progress through a journal and reported on both the results of the project and the learning that occurred from it to senior executives. "What we learned was that participants are more likely to gain new leadership habits when they have the opportunity to push new skills to the limit and directly apply the learning to tangible situations," notes Kathy Leek, executive vice president of Lake Forest Corporate Education.

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Return on learning

The financial results were surprising. Because of the investment in the program, the Leadership Challenge was identified as a good candidate for LFCE's Return on Learning Investment-or ROLI-study, a unique tool for garnering training results. Before each course, participants were measured on their ability and use of the skills to be covered in the program. Three to six months after completing the course, participants were surveyed on their ability and use of those same skills.

Participants and their managers were also asked to identify any savings, productivity improvement, and increased business that brought financial returns to Simonton, and their level of confidence in those numbers. Financial reports were multiplied by a percentage to provide a conservative estimate. (For example, if participants and managers suggest a savings of $5,000 per year and attribute 50 percent of that to training, then the dollar result reported is $2,500.)

The result: an 8:1 return from the Leadership Challenge on the Simonton projects. That return didn't include results from the participants who worked on community service projects-half of all participants. It is assumed that if those community projects were rolled into the calculations that the ROI number has the potential to be greater.

What were some of the community service projects?

Community impact

The community projects selected covered a wide spectrum. One project used leadership and training to help reduce new-hire turnover in the plants, which was much higher than desired. Two managers felt the way to combat turnover was to develop and deliver an educational program. To practice their high-impact communication skills, they developed a high school curriculum in manufacturing principles and general human resource requirements. The one-day program targeted local area high schools and was well received. Ultimately, that curriculum was approved by the school, and interest in the project has led to the board of education approving the curriculum throughout the state. The curriculum is also being reviewed for use in other areas throughout the state.

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Another participant sought to build his coaching and interpersonal communication skills. He left an indelible mark on the lives of four at-risk high school seniors who were not on track to graduate, with three graduating from high school along with their class, and one graduating afterwards, in part because of the efforts of this Simonton employee.

In addition to those projects, participants helped raise money for such worthy community efforts as the Shriners and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the United Way, and the Boys and Girls Club. Each project set a new level of success and money raised, while providing great leadership and financial practicum for participants.

"He has been a huge help," states Harold Gilkerson, president of the Shriners in Edgar County, Illinois, describing Bob Tague, Leadership Challenge alumnus who worked on his communication skills by leading fund-raising efforts for a community-based organization. "It takes a lot of time to organize events. Bob has been able to communicate with everyone very well and has done a good job." As a result of Tague's efforts, the level of fundraising significantly increased compared to prior years.

Lisa Cronin, controller for Simonton Windows, chose a project that most would consider a big challenge. She chose to develop her communication and coaching skills by working with a group of children at the Boys and Girls Club in St. Mary's, West Virginia. The program, Goals for Growth, is designed for youth ages eight to 12, and includes lessons and activities that

* enhance self-esteem through successful goal setting

* help guide and motivate children to set goals

* practice skills that will help them achieve those goals.

"Lisa tackled this project in an extremely organized way; therefore, it was highly successful in terms of attendance and completion rate by participants," says Kristi Venderlic, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of St. Mary's. "Having extra volunteers at the club who are willing to offer programs and activities is always appreciated, but Lisa went above and beyond what most volunteers do. We felt that her time spent was highly valuable to those children who participated regularly."

Simonton success

Other participants chose to work on special company projects, attracted by the opportunity to work with other departments and use different skills. One participant used his knowledge of the Simonton customer to propose a new delivery system for returning sash and screen reworks to customers, designed to cut the company's response time and save money. The participant calculated a potential savings of $200,000 per year for his facility alone. A trial implemented on the screen repair process, a small piece of the overall change, produced more than $36,000 in savings.

Two internal quality managers from different plants collaborated to design an ergonomic assembly table that increased worker efficiency and decreased workplace injuries. The innovative solution to a pervasive company problem was so successful that the design materials were shared organization-wide to enable other plants to duplicate the results.

Another Leadership Challenge project made it possible for Simonton to benefit from a smaller parts inventory. Innovative participants designed and installed a radio frequency inventory system throughout a new vinyl facility, allowing more just-in-time material, fewer shortages, and quicker inventory turnover.

"In establishing Simonton University as our corporate university, a key objective was to create a cornerstone program that would illustrate, in real terms, the true impact leadership development can have on individual employees, organizational results, and the broader community," Strader explains. "Looking at the results the first group of Leadership Challenge participants achieved, in terms of delivering individual skill development, corporate business results, and community goodwill, I think it's safe to say we've achieved that objective and are looking forward to the future."