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The Challenge: Developing Leaders in a Technical Environment
Facing unprecedented business, political, and technological change, The MITRE Corporation identified a critical need to cultivate a group of effective managers and leaders. In 1993, company officers recognized that to keep pace with an evolving business environment, the organization required multiskilled, multidisciplined leaders. The quality of management was deemed more crucial than ever to enhance service to sponsors and manage projects and people more successfully.
MITRE, a not-for-profit company operating research and development centers for government agencies, had a workforce promoted primarily for technical expertise. These managers often had intense schedules and did not always recognize the importance of the managerial and leadership aspect of their roles. The challenge was to create a leadership development program that not only produced results but also sparked a cultural shift toward new ways of thinking and working.
The Solution: Action Learning Programs
In response, the MITRE Institute—the corporate education center—designed comprehensive leadership curricula built around action learning. This approach leverages training, development, and performance improvement by having participants work on real organizational challenges. The goal was to help managers examine their operating styles and demonstrate new ways of working.
Two flagship programs were created, each with unique designs but aligned in their core philosophy:
- The Management Development Program (MDP)
- The Leadership Academy
These programs provided a forum for team members to examine assumptions about others, the organization, and themselves, enabling them to reframe how they think and work.
Program 1: The Management Development Program (MDP)
The MDP is an experiential learning process tailored for first-level, middle, and senior managers. It was designed to build a leadership cadre capable of responding to a rapidly changing environment.
Core Component: The Learning Team
The key mechanism for achieving the MDP's goals was the "Learning Team." These are small groups of 6-8 managers with complementary skills who commit to a common purpose and performance goals. The purpose of these teams is to:
- Enhance learning and professional development.
- Model effective team development.
- Establish cross-organizational networks.
- Collaborate on a project with organizational value.
- Provide mutual support and problem-solving.
Implementation and Structure
Learning Teams are intentionally formed to maximize diversity, integrating managers from different centers, functions, and sites. The process follows four main steps:
- Formation: Program leaders select team members based on diversity criteria. The teams move through the classic stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, and performing.
- Facilitation: An external professional facilitator works with each team during key meetings, serving as a coach and providing tools for team development. Team members are encouraged to share leadership roles.
- Project Selection: Teams identify and select a project that has value to them and the organization. They are guided to choose initiatives that capitalize on member experience, represent a substantial challenge, and provide a learning lab for problem-solving.
- Adjourning (Capstone): The program concludes with "Capstone," a day of presentation and reflection. Each team presents its project results and lessons learned to the class and MITRE Institute staff. These summaries are then shared with corporate leadership.
Outcomes and Lessons Learned
The Learning Teams proved to be a critical part of the development process. They created an arena for technical and administrative managers to understand each other's perspectives and share expertise.
Organizational Benefits:
- Encouraged innovative solutions to organizational challenges.
- Fostered cross-organizational knowledge sharing.
- Promoted a culture of continuous learning.
Participant Benefits:
- Provided a space to practice leadership skills.
- Established valuable personal and professional networks.
- Offered experience in collaborative work outside one's own area.
Key lessons learned include the critical importance of early facilitation, the need for projects to be relevant to all members, and the challenge of maintaining focus on team process in a task-focused organization.
Program 2: The Leadership Academy
While the MDP focuses on bringing together managers from across the organization, the Leadership Academy is designed specifically for intact work teams. Its purpose is to improve organizational performance by enhancing the team's effectiveness and individual leadership capabilities.
Program Objectives
- Solve and manage business problems.
- Strengthen collaborative relationships.
- Increase customer focus and responsiveness.
- Align team performance with strategic goals.
- Develop a sense of shared team leadership.
Implementation Over Six Months
The Leadership Academy unfolds in four parts over a six-month period, blending assessment, skill-building, and on-the-job application.
- Part 1: Assessment Center (2 days): Teams work through realistic, job-related simulations observed by trained assessors. Each individual and team receives detailed, confidential feedback on their effectiveness and behaviors.
- Part 2: Team Development Workshop (2 days): Facilitators lead modules on team dynamics, conflict resolution, and effective team leadership, helping teams integrate the skills into their project work.
- Part 3: Coaching and Just-in-Time Training (4 months): Each team's designated coach works with them on the job for up to four days, providing "just-in-time" training and support to help the team work more effectively.
- Part 4: Review and Evaluation (1 day): All teams reconvene to share lessons learned, receive post-assessment feedback, and evaluate the program. Graduation includes a celebration with directors and vice presidents.
The Philosophy: Learn, Reflect, Do
At its core, success at MITRE is rooted in the philosophy of "Learn, Reflect, Do." Both the Management Development Program and the Leadership Academy are designed to facilitate this cycle. Participants gather knowledge through structured learning and then reflect on its application in real-world situations, leading to tangible actions and behavioral change. This integration of learning and work has been central to developing leaders who can guide the organization through complex challenges. '''