About
Charter Manufacturing’s customized, comprehensive leadership development programs, ELEVATE and ACTIVATE, have equipped leaders with the skills, experiences and capabilities needed to future-proof their organization. These multi-award-winning programs produce transformational change, as leaders are enabled to be agile and lead Charter’s growth strategy through ambiguity and disruption.
Charter Manufacturing recognized 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 organization 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 organization 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 programs: ELEVATE and ACTIVATE. These programs 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 organization. 97% of this population completed the program, 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 organization. ACTIVATE was developed for the direct reports of ELEVATE participants, managers or those who “leads others”.
Both programs 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-program accountability actions.
Innovative elements included executive leadership team-sponsored leadership challenges, participant-led development centers and an emotive social impact ‘Hand Project’, where teams are tasked with assembling a prosthetic hand for an amputee in a developing country. All program 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 programs 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 program 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 program 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 programs 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 programs have accomplished this. We are breaking down silos with a better understanding of what the business needs.” – Chris Wells, EVP Strategy and Corporate Development