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The services offer when it comes to the Learning and Development market seems huge – from online resources and workshops to training or coaching, just to name a few. Each one of them, inspired and developed based on different studies and years of research. However there is still a segment of professionals who don’t seem to be catered for enough. Those roles that keep the business energized, top management. This is especially true in the IT&C industry where the stress and pressure on these positions is very high.

So what type of solutions would be suitable for this particular target audience? How can we make sure that top managers have all the necessary abilities and instruments to overcome any challenge successfully.

1. Mixed training and coaching programs. In order to generate a bigger impact in business, plus the possibility of participants to restart the same ineffective behavior patterns after the training or guided by studies highlighting the productivity gains of coaching, consultants have also started to add it to the mix – whether it is directive or non-directive. In other words they have created the framework for following and disseminating new abilities so that the impact of the change process is amplified. The first type of coaching is used to identify possible challenges and solve them through a ballet of questions and consultancy and the second, helps the person being coached to identity their own challenges and solutions. Coaching involves taking responsibility and commitment.

2. Delegated meetings model. It is a systemic model which aims to reposition the interaction between participants, usually top managers or board members, in order to increase the efficiency of decision making processes in the company. The standard processes of a team are delegated to the managers taking part. As a result you have roles such as moderator, decision driver, host or writer – distinct roles which change cyclically between team members, so that, each of them can digest the abilities of each role and offer coherence to the whole team no matter what the attrition rate is or whether the leader is present.

3. Networking meetings. They appeared as a consequence of existing special groups – professional committees, managers, specialists, expats or investors – or as offline extensions of online communities. These meetings take part on a regular basis and depend on the verbal intelligence and the participants’ needs for partnerships and solutions or the chosen theme for each session and ceremony. In time, relationships built here will begin to be mutual, supportive or develop into partnerships.

4. Peer to Peer Board Meetings. This meeting concept involves being part of a group of managers or entrepreneurs, who regularly meet in simulations of a board of a large corporation. The target audience is made up of people who are involved in business worth over 2 million euro. The purpose of these meetings involves either aligning participants to examples from other participants with regard to efficiency and productivity. Or they can debate critical topics in classic format sessions. As a result you can talk about marketing strategies, strategic decisions, process alignment, expansion, restructuring, recruitment policies, personal development, business ethics, mergers and acquisitions and a lot more. However these sessions have a few particularities:

1. Only one manager per organization is allowed
2. Participants must come from various industries. So one representative per industry
3. The groups range from 12 to maximum 20
4. The supplier in charge of organizing the meeting guarantees that the businesses of the participants will double in the next 24 months
5. The rules for the facilitator are very strict
6. The frequency is fixed, date and time are non-negotiable
7. The facilitator is recruited from top consulting companies or has a lot of managerial and business experience
8. Confidentiality rules are clearly expressed and respected – in writing
9. Missing a session can mean your right to participate may be discontinued

The purpose of these peer meetings is to professionalize participants and transform the entire business: from local to regional or national, from entrepreneurship to corporate. Or it can teach participants how to successfully cover all the steps in the business lifecycle.
Some of the benefits of taking part in these sessions are:

1. The learning experience and the systemic process. Plus being part of a group of valuable managers and entrepreneurs
2. Sharing challenges and getting valid solutions
3. Practicing concepts which are already validated in other areas in your business
4. Transforming your business through strategic tools

These are just some of the tools top managers have at their disposal to continue their journey on the road to development.

Iulian Robert Ionita
Communication and personal effectiveness specialist