Empowering transformational change through leadership with Charter Manufacturing
About
Charter Manufacturing’s customised, comprehensive leadership development programmes, ELEVATE and ACTIVATE, have equipped leaders with the skills, experiences and capabilities needed to future-proof their organisation. These multi-award-winning programmes produce transformational change, as leaders are enabled to be agile and lead Charter’s growth strategy through ambiguity and disruption.
Charter Manufacturing recognised gaps within their leadership bench strength while preparing to execute a long-term growth strategy to expand into new and emerging markets. Acknowledging constraints in “ready talent”, they were determined to future-proof their organisation and build leadership capability by:
- Engaging the right people with the right skills to support growth
- Accelerating development to address skills and knowledge gaps while building a pipeline of future talent
- Growing leaders who help their organisation and employees successfully adapt to ongoing changes in technology, economic conditions and the workforce.
Charter identified Impact as their design and delivery partner to co-design a learning solution that would future-proof Charter and build leadership capability. Together we designed two innovative, enterprise-wide leadership development programmes: ELEVATE and ACTIVATE. These programmes equip leaders with the skills, experiences and capabilities needed to develop and nurture a sustainable and scalable leadership culture across all levels of the business.
ELEVATE was designed to support employees at the director-level (leaders of leaders) of the organisation. 97% of this population completed the programme, leaving with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to lead highly engaged and effective teams.
The success of ELEVATE led Charter to cascade their leadership development initiatives, ensuring a common approach across the next level of the organisation. ACTIVATE was developed for the direct reports of ELEVATE participants, managers or those who “leads others”.
Both programmes were implemented using a consistent, blended learning framework that introduced learners to world-class leadership models and theories, gave them space to put their learning into practice, and challenged them to apply their learnings through real-world application. Learners experienced pre-work assignments, two in-person modules, bridgework and post-programme accountability actions.
Innovative elements included executive leadership team-sponsored leadership challenges, participant-led development centres and an emotive social impact ‘Hand Project’, where teams are tasked with assembling a prosthetic hand for an amputee in a developing country. All programme aspects link clearly to Charter’s culture and values.
ELEVATE and ACTIVATE engaged learners in a challenging process of discovering their own capacity and readiness for taking effective leadership action within their business context.
Results from Charter’s Annual Engagement Survey data, specifically relating to how people feel about their immediate manager, show that there has been a consistent improvement since these programmes began.
- Overall engagement is up from 76% to 83%
- 89% agree that managers treat employees with trust, respect and dignity, up from 84%
- 87% agree that there is a culture of discussing challenges and opportunities without fear of consequences, up from 81%
Furthermore, ELEVATE participants noted a 30% average increase in skills and abilities related to the programme objectives. And 98% of ACTIVATE participants agreed that “I have a better understanding of the importance and impact of my role as a leader.”
Award winning
Charter Manufacturing won a Brandon Hall Group gold award for ELEVATE and ACTIVATE in the Best Unique or Innovative Leadership Development category in 2024.
Charter Manufacturing have been shortlisted for the Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards in 2024. They are finalists in the Innovation Award category.
Testimonials
“This training programme is the best training I have attended in my 35+ years of leading operations. Why? it’s easy, intentional, creates alignment/collaboration verses controlling/directive and is rooted in leadership/relationship building.” – Plant Manager
“These leadership programmes exposed us to a broad level of outside-in thinking and increased our ability to have strategic level conversations. We are seeing more promotions internally and do not have to hire outside. Driving business improvements is essential and these programmes have accomplished this. We are breaking down silos with a better understanding of what the business needs.” – Chris Wells, EVP Strategy and Corporate Development