Illinois Mutual

Illinois Mutual, a Midwestern life, disability and work life insurance company with about 200 employees wanted all of their leaders to possess the same leadership nomenclature in order to provide their employees with a clear cultural foundation to work within. We delivered supervisory, mid-management, and executive-level leadership development programs over the course of two years. Private leadership coaching was interspersed with the on-site training.  As a result, all leaders learned and practiced more effective approaches for engaging and developing employees.

The CEO and HR leader found past leadership development offerings which had either been online or provided as needed to a particular manager inadequate. Management skill-level varied by leader and the organization lacked the common management principles to be consistent in the treatment of their employees.

Since none of the leaders had together experienced in-house leadership training, we recommended starting from the top-down by first offering the executive team a mid-level management program followed later by an executive-level program. With the mid-level managers, we recommended starting with the supervisory program followed by the mid-level program. Last, we recommended the supervisory program for first-time supervisors.

Our leadership development solution began by delivering our Foundations of Management program to all mid-level managers.  This program included 10 of the 13 modules and was offered weekly in half-day training sessions. In addition, 6 coaching sessions were provided. Then, we delivered this same program to their supervisors.

In addition, we provided the Art of Leadership program to the executive team. This program consisted of six one-day sessions offered bi-monthly with coaching sessions offered in between. The following year, the ALP program was delivered to their mid-managers.

Last, we delivered the Leadership Culture Effect program to the executive team. This program consisted of three one-day sessions offered per quarter with two coaching sessions offered each quarter.

All leaders and their managers have claimed they feel more effective in leading others. They now have the techniques needed to communicate more effectively, conduct crucial conversations, provide constructive feedback, coach and motivate employee development, and conduct more effective meetings, hiring and performance management processes.