How one organization is taking a hands-on approach to developing its future leaders locally

BARCELONA — With the increased focus on local ownership, many global development organizations struggle to find the necessary talent and skills at the national level, and when they do, competition can be fierce. Looking ahead, some employers are investing in efforts to build expertise internally and, in turn, a pipeline of future leaders. The executive team at Marie Stopes International is taking a very hands-on approach to this and seeking to identify and develop its future leaders through an Accelerated Leadership Programme, which is focusing specifically on capacity-building at a local level and moving its people and skills from “south to south.” The program, launched earlier this year, was the idea of CEO Simon Cooke and other members of the executive team. Cooke and the executive team were directly involved in delivering training to the first cohort of candidates in May. It is about taking a long-term view to people development, says Cooke, “as opposed to just hiring from the outside or hiring from the inside but without the skill development.” One of the things that defines the Accelerated Leadership Programme is the focus on goals and results, and not process, he explains. “We want to add an element of performance development to the training, which is not always clear in global development organizations which are mission focused,” says Cooke, who has several years of experience in the private sector with firms such as Procter & Gamble. Identifying local talent As CEO, one of Cooke’s main interests is in developing strong local organizations in the countries where MSI work, as opposed to the tradition of bringing in expats for country director roles — which he says is “expensive and doesn’t necessarily develop the organization.” While there is often an impetus to promote local management, Cooke says there is not necessarily the skill development to allow it to happen. This program aims to find good local talent and help them become future leaders of the organization. In order to drive the organization’s global strategy, known as Scaling-Up Excellence, they needed to think five years ahead, says Cooke. The delegates who were chosen for the program were typically aspiring country directors who met the criteria outlined by the executive team and regional directors — mainly that they had an interest in becoming country directors and were “within a reasonable timeframe (up to five years) of the possibility of getting to a country director position,” Cooke explains. In helping these staff develop professionally within MSI, the company also hoped that it would prevent them moving on to other organizations to do so. A hands-on approach The program brought delegates together in the U.K., where it was, for many of them, the first opportunity to interact directly with the organization's executive team, who were facilitating the training. The week involved sessions on the exploration of leadership and self-reflection exercises, as well as more technical aspects, including sessions on finance and leadership for those who did not have this background. Due to the nature of the work, there was also a day focused on clinical work that aimed to “make sure country directors have an understanding of the pressures on technical staff and the competencies they need,” explains Cooke, noting that the country directors and clinical staff do not always “interact particularly well.” Lessons learned Feedback from the first cohort shaped the delivery of the second round of training in September. The main takeaway was that the week had been quite intense for delegates of the May cohort. The first round, the executive team wanted to get a “hands-on feel for what the courses needed to develop,” and they were heavily involved in facilitating the training. But a coordinator was brought in to run some of the sessions for the second cohort. In many of the countries where MSI works, there is a strong culture of hierarchy, explains Cooke, so it was “extremely intense” for the delegates to have their bosses directly involved. Feedback indicated that it might sometimes be easier for delegates to learn in a less pressured environment. The content was also simplified to accommodate different language abilities as some delegates, despite having generally strong English skills, struggled with the speed of the training. As a result, the September cohort benefited from reduced content and increased time for reflection. “One of the lessons was actually that people need more time amongst themselves,” says Cooke, “to discuss and to learn from each other as opposed to being taught.” He added that the feedback from delegates was also helpful for the executive team, who got to hear a different perspective directly, not filtered through several layers of management. Long-term vision It isn’t expected that each cohort will develop 25 country directors, but, Cooke says he has seen programs similar to the ALP working successfully to “develop long-term leadership from within.” Delegates leave the training with a personal development plan and modules to work on in preparation for the next round of training, in 12 months, when they will meet in the same groups to undergo a “tougher week.” Cooke hopes that from each cohort, there will be between five and 10 very strong candidates for country director roles, with the rest still going on to demonstrate strong leadership in whatever they choose to do. Having brought these staff together, sometimes from different functions, and connected them during the intensive week of training, Cooke hopes the program will help them “continue to talk to each other and continue to use that network.”