Alisa Judge
VP HR, Sequenom

"As our business changes the pressure on our leadership team to continuously improve is ever more critical.  We sought customized 360 feedback and a development process.  We believed that an off the shelf 360 would not meet our needs, as we needed to specifically define the unique competencies required for our leaders.  In addition, we did not need a web site or book to offer development, we needed a trusted local resource to interpret the feedback and offer action-able, just in time learning tailored to each individual executive.

Brainard Strategy had partnered with us for strategic planning and they had done our employee engagement survey every 18 months.  Michael and Jennifer were able to quickly and practically build an executive competency model for us that was easily validated.  We then created the items, scale, open ended questions, and report format that would meet our needs.  Their platform and expertise in crafting the assessments are truly unique in this now commoditized industry.  In addition to creating the assessment and managing the process, Michael and Jennifer offered an emotional intelligence assessment, a personality assessment, and an assessment of cognitive style to those executives who wanted to go through a broader assessment.  They were able to do this because these assessments are a part of Jennifer Konkin’s dissertation.  We truly appreciate that Michael, Jennifer and the team at Brainard Strategy are partners in learning and always striving to learn and grow; they practice what they preach.  Lastly, Michael and Jennifer delivered the feedback in the spirit of growth and development and our executives reported that this type of process was among the richest of its kind they have ever experienced."

	Steve Becker Senior Vice President, Human Resources Golden State Foods
"We are a 3+ billion dollar company who is among the most values driven corporations you will ever experience.  We have provided one-off training and learning solutions throughout our history, and it became clear that we needed a strategic approach to learning and development in 2009.  I attended the Disney Institute, we had executives attend Ivy League programs, and we had hired firms like PDI and CCL in the past.  All of these approaches were effective, but none of these solutions were right for us holistically.  What we needed to do was to build a comprehensive training and development program that might include the best elements from the above firms, but one that was highly customized for us.   As I began to seek advice about a resource or partner to help us to build this infra-structure I was referred to Brainard Strategy by a number of trusted colleagues. Michael met with me and our CEO to collaborate with us relative to the outcomes and options for the process.  Michael was clearly a technical expert in building and delivering corporate learning initiatives, but fit was to be critical.  Additionally, we needed a web-enabled solution as our managers and employees are spread out around the globe.  Brainard Strategy was selected based on our comfort with Michael and his team, their technical expertise and experience, and their flexible Learning Management System.  We are just finishing design and implementation for this year long project.  It is a highly complex project and we are delighted with the substance of and interpersonal interactions with the Brainard team.  We look forward to a successful implementation in 2010."

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Leadership Development

Start with the end in mind… Brainard Strategy works with you to develop your “emerging leaders,” “developing leaders,” and “strategic leaders.”

Expected Outcomes:

• Enhance leadership courage and agility
• Increase each leaders ability and visible behaviors around your competencies
• Develop leaders’ knowledge and skills in applying key leadership and management tools
• Increase leaders’ abilities to develop and engage others in achieving compelling goals
• Increase leaders’ abilities in the areas of communication, teamwork, and support: down to their direct reports, across functions and within department

Objectives of Integrated Leadership Development:

• List the key characteristics of companies that were able to make the leap from good to great performance
• Describe the behaviors of leaders who have successfully transformed companies
• Create a “leadership pipeline”

Companies successfully leverage their human capital when they ensure the optimal utilization of leadership & management resources. Leverage is achieved when a company has:

• The right numbers and kinds of human talent
• With the right levels of skills
• In the right positions
• At the right time

Courageous & Agile

• Our customized and pragmatic approach to developing leaders is rooted in best practices and ultimately helps individual leaders to better implement, execute, and help their organizations “get things done”
• People who are agile are focused, flexible, facilitative, and fast; and they become agile through constant, focused learning from change experience“

Leaders are a key lever for change and for the successful execution of strategy; a leadership strategy should include the development of leaders at all levels.”

Our Leadership Point of View

• Leadership is evidenced and defined primarily through Industry awareness, organizational savvy, and interpersonal interactions
• Leaders are found at every level of the organization
• Leadership behavior is learnable
• Leadership behavior is expressed differently than management behavior
• Managers must demonstrate both management and leadership skill
• Leadership is dynamic and evolving

Business Outcomes

• Development is to be discussed (drives commitment, satisfaction, and retention)
• Organizational knowledge of talent (strengths and weaknesses)
• Strong Culture “brand” builder
• Agile organization
• More competence in more places throughout the enterprise
• Knowledge management and leverage based on internal promotion opportunities

Success Story

Challenge: A mid-size organization in the entertainment and gaming industry wanted to assess the strengths of its leadership team and determine whether the organizational leaders had the necessary competencies for their positions.

Action: Brainard Strategy administered three assessments measuring management acumen to the leadership team in an effort to identify the current strengths and areas of opportunity for each leader. A talent map was also created that painted a picture of the capabilities and development areas by level, function, and overall organization.

Result: Each member of the leadership team received feedback based on his or her individual reports and created a personal development plan. The talent map was used to compare those of high management acumen to those with low management acumen in an effort to see the overall core strengths and areas for improvement within their leadership team.

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