The client

A mature health benefits company

The challenge

To help change the company from a traditional, inside out, one-size-fits-all selling culture to a consumer-centric, outside-in, customizable marketing culture. To create a culture of innovation, risk, and collaboration. To develop leaders and associates as agents of cultural change in the company’s identity and future.

The program

With input from customer executives, we designed a 10-day campus-based program consisting of two five-day sessions and a two-month intersession. The first week deals broadly with planning and organizing; the second involves leading and controlling. Key pieces of the program include strategy, leadership, marketing, and positioning, with experiential learning at the center of the participants’ journey. An essential tactic is to encourage participants to develop a personal business plan, a living document for them as change agents in their “business of one”—they are the brand.

The outcomes

The success of this executive change program lies in its flexibility. Each year, the program’s content is refreshed based on detailed evaluations by an outside entity. This keeps the content current, enabling participants to flourish. The new version of the program will be built around three modules, each three days long, one month apart. Participants will work in teams from across the organization, working face-to-face in the program as well as virtually during the intersessions. Participants will ultimately be involved in executing the corporate change initiatives that they propose, building new capabilities for their company and themselves as they go.