On a beautiful beach in the far flung north of Maui in Hawaii, just last week and on my honeymoon (ahh heaven), it hit me like a brick wall.
No, I hadn’t just snorkeled my head in to a wall of coral. It was a thought not so tropical, but definitely topical. (ooh, did you like that?)
As leadership teams and businesses look at plans and budgets for their 2011 graduate development programs, getting maximum return on investment is #1.
So, what is considered 'return on investment' for graduate development programs? What is 'return' REALLY all about?
Here are some Maui-inspired thoughts. By the way … I didn't have an under-water pen and pad on me at the time and it was too deep to write in the sand on the ocean floor, so I'll do my best to remember my thinking…
1) ROI from graduate development programs is really about providing a workforce-appropriate funnel of high performing, job ready YOUNG LEADERS.
2) ROI is not about improved business etiquette, time management and written communication skills.
3) Assessing ROI requires something to assess against that fits the ideal competencies, culture and expectations of the leadership teams making the investment.
Here’s an idea, a mindset, a theory, that leading graduate employers are latching on to …
STOP RUNNING GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.
Oh my god! Did I just say that? Really? Well, yes! Seriously, why develop graduates to be great graduates? That not what most businesses want! They want young leaders.
START RUNNING YOUNG LEADER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.
Across the industry, let’s get smarter and even more strategic about how we use our graduate development budgets in 2011 to give our businesses what they want from us. Many basic skills can be learned well enough by reading 3 best-selling books, or watching a series of short online videos on the subject and being coached by a manager on the job to apply new skills. They don't require full day workshops.
Lets innovate highly cost effective ways to deliver basic skill development that doesn’t soak up time and budget, and leave a greater share of the pie to invest in actual leadership development.
Let's invest instead in developing real leadership behaviours in young people to give organisations their ideal funnel of workforce-appropriate, high performing, job ready YOUNG LEADERS. That is maximum ROI.
If on the other hand, a graduate development program is really about producing a production line of young monkeys, then obviously I’m wrong. I take it all back and shall return to my beach in the far flung north of Maui and shut up.
Actually … that sounds good … call me wrong ... go on … please!
Josh Mackenzie
Managing Director - Australia
Development Beyond Learning
