Solid Foundations

According to their website, it isn’t enough to just think big at GE. For the first company in history to be assigned its 50,000th patent way back in 1978, also the year of the firm’s centennial, it’s necessary to think gigantic. For Susan Peters, this concept comes easy. She knows a thing or two about thinking big. Having joined GE’s HR Management Program in 1979 she is now responsible for all of the company’s training and development, all the way up to leadership.

She also knows a thing or two about talent. Not just talent as a raw component, but the necessity to develop it into something complete. Speaking with Peters, the most striking impression you get is that she has an enthusiasm toward training and development, particularly the relationship between these two disciplines. This is no doubt one of the driving factors that have propelled her into her current position.

“We have several points throughout the year in which we do deep dive into our talent,” she explains. Peters notes, however, that it is the day-to-day job experience that really matters. She calls it foundational. “Training is sort of the icing on the cake,” she jokes.

Employees should be growing and learning in their current roles so they can progress and develop, and this is of major importance for Peters.

Yet for a company spending around $1 billion annually on training to say it is, in her words, “additional,” seems a little backward. “We do it in three primary areas,” explains Peters. “The first is leadership, the second are skills that are really developed through the functional training leads; and the third is business owner’s training which is very specific. So between the leadership skills and business training, we spend around $1 billion a year.” Peters makes a positive point. “We actually start with co-ops and interns, people who are midway through their college experience,” in addition to this, by going to campuses around the world, placements are made on complaint training programs. By finding talent this way people can be with the company for three months, which is obviously more beneficial to all than just a stand-alone interview. “From that, we convert people to our corporate training programs,” Peters continues. This is where Crotonville comes in.

Heart of the matter

Crotonville is the epicenter of GE’s learning culture. It is the oldest corporate university in America, and offers a variety of courses to all levels of employees.

What makes Crotonville unique is the opportunity to join with GE leaders in an informal manner as well as on site guest rooms and meeting areas that enable socializing and networking. Furthermore, the 53-acre campus boasts executive, leadership and essential skills courses, plus customer programs including executive briefing and integration.

The campus continues to attract many of the most influential people in both the academic and business worlds. For the 9000 employees who attend every year, the experience of Crotonville is seen as a defining career event.

As Peters explains, Crotonville is where GE “leverages current initiatives.” Presently these initiatives are focusing on growth, “The content of a lot of our executive and leadership training is about how to build on ability,” says Peters, “we’re really focused on five key growth traits right now, and you might call those our corporate values.” These values illustrate exactly what Peters means when talking about building on ability. Words like “decisive,” “imagination,” and “courage” have become central to the learning culture at Crotonville. She is also keen to stress these corporate values are at the heart of GE’s executive development.

Leading the way

So is it possible to make anybody into a leader, or can certain people only progress so far up the ladder? “I think leaders are both born and made and that you can leverage both,” is Peters’ response. In findings from regular feedback tools, she explains how the company knows who the best and brightest are and how these are the ones that come through to lead big businesses. On the other hand, she points out that every individual can and does improve when attention is focused around them. “Our theory of development is that if you give individuals a lot of feedback and development, they will improve.” Clearly Peters is aware this development will be more significant with some than with others, but does she think this is a problem? “As each individual improves within your environment, all boats rise,” she says. “They have higher expectations of themselves, of those around them or people who work for them; and over time, everybody gets better.”

Peters sums up exactly how development is viewed at GE. “The entire entity gets better.” By improving as one entity, there is a holistic effect across the whole enterprise. What is key with Peters is the principle that it doesn’t matter whether you are an entry-level employee or a high-performing executive, but that you are part of the same process.

The skills required for successful business leadership are changing. Peters views these factors in two camps, fundamentals and differentiators. “The fundamentals have not changed,” she says. Peters cites values, integrity and history of performance as prerequisite to any successful environment, “I think that business acumen and a comfort with change are real fundamentals.”

The opposing camp of differentiators, for Peters, isn’t as crucial, “The world is more complex and dispersed. So people have to be more focused on how they use those skills.” What does remain key for Peters is the continuation of the learning process, and great relationships internally and externally will add to this. “People who are always absorbing and learning in the environment around them tend to be the ones that become the most successful leaders,” she says.

So do the priorities move around as a result of outside factors, like a downturn in the economy? “Well this may be surprising, but very little,” she says. “We’re committed to the external and internal process no matter what’s going on in the economy.” Peters refers to the recruitment process as the external. “We stay on campus recruiting talent even in a downturn. Even if it means we’re taking people out of one business, we’ll be adding them someplace else because it’s very important to have that continuity.” This demonstrates the commitment and longevity GE has in the market and, that Peters says, will continue to have. Internally, GE remains committed to the constant reviewing of their talent even in a downturn. “Their strengths, their development needs, careers etc;” Peters explains how important it is t understand these things in employees at all times.

Giving feedback to workers is a huge part of the GE development process. But this is something that works both ways. “After every training class, there’s a survey,” Peters tells us. “We ask people at the end of every one of their feedback discussions if they had a good discussion with their manager. So not only do we measure how many people get feedback but how good the quality was.”

“You want to make sure you get understanding,” says Peters, “but also want to make sure the quality is good.” What remains essential to GE is that by listening to the people who work for them, the company can understand what their concerns are and, even more notably, what their impressions of their employers are. This remains the foundation to every aspect of development at GE. Asked if understanding is what GE considers to be most important, Peters responds without hesitation: “Absolutely.”

Crotonville: What’s it all about?

At the forefront of the real-world application of cutting edge thinking in leadership, organized development, innovation and change, Crotonville is the oldest corporate university in America. It allows authentic human connection coupled with the invigorating pursuit of ideas.

Also known as the John F Welch Leadership Development Center, it has a 53-acre campus offering 188 guest rooms, full dining facilities, recreational facilities and the latest in audio and visual technology. Situated about an hour north of New York City, the institute celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006. Classes range in duration from day classes to three-week courses and approximately 9000 employees attend classes annually. Some of these classes are off campus and recently classes have been conducted in Munich, Tokyo, Shanghai, Delhi and Dubai. At Crotonville, the idea is to never stop learning.

GE: The facts

• Origins of GE trace back to Thomas A. Edison
• GE is only company listed in Dow Jones Industrial Index today that was also in the original index in 189
• 93% retention rate
• An average growth in earnings of 10% annually over the last 5 years
  
• $24.7 billion in cash in 2006 giving flexibility to invest and return more than $18 billion to shareowners
  
• 310,000 employees worldwide as of Jan 2007