We recently asked Greg Flint – President and COO of Coldspring and an Anderson Center board member – if he could tell us how Anderson Center forums are integrated into Coldspring’s leadership development. Here’s what he said:
How has Coldspring utilized the Anderson Center over the years?
We believe in supporting leadership development in a comprehensive way. The Anderson Center helps us achieve this by providing a supportive education and peer network for the leaders at every level in our organization – our executives, our managers, and our emerging leaders who may be moving into supervisory roles for the first time.
Some members of our executive team have had the opportunity to participate in forums in a facilitator role. These leaders are people who go deep with their thinking and enjoy new challenges and promoting growth. Several managers participate at a level I like to call “sharpening the saw,” where they may already know the concepts or tools, but they utilize Anderson’s programming to refresh and re-learn so they can bring a fresh mindset back to their role at Coldspring. And, certainly, many use the program as in introduction and a way to learn leadership basics. They may be entering new supervisory or team management roles, and they need more background before they are ready to dive in.
What is the value in investing in leadership and management development for Coldspring?
We see the result of investing in leadership simply being better leadership. As the baby boomers retire, we have a lot of roles to replace at Coldspring. Our aspiration when doing so is that when we replace the various roles, we upgrade the caliber of people filling those roles. With that said, the value of the development programs really is better leadership for our people.
How does the Anderson Center align with Coldspring’s values?
Coldspring operates by values we refer to as HONOR, an acronym that stands for:
H: Honesty and Integrity
O: Organized and Purposeful
N: Nimble and Innovative
O: Open and Transparent
R: Respect and Trust
In many ways we see alignment between the values we live by and the 13 behaviors of high trust leaders that are taught through FranklinCovey. This is something we have brought back to our organization and it has been valuable in creating transparency as to where we live out our values the best, and where we have room for improvement.
How do you communicate with your employees before and after a forum?
Right now this is best done at the Manager level. When an employee goes through any of the forums, the follow up is typically addressed with their direct report or Manager with regards to how they will implement what they have learned into their daily work.
How are participants selected to attend a forum?
We have a leadership process as well as succession planning efforts in place as we are preparing for the future at Coldspring. The most common way for participants to be selected to attend the forum is through these efforts. We identify future leaders and/or people in current roles that have a stated desire to want to grow.
Anything else you would like to add about your experience with the Anderson Center?
There are many different forms of learning/ training that can be utilized. I’m a big believer in the case study methodology used at the Anderson Center. In my opinion that is a key differentiator from other training programs we could be aligned with. There is an inherent value to learning through stories and I appreciate how the Anderson Center molds that into their programs.
Thank you, Greg – and thanks to the team at Coldspring!