January 28, 2008. Shanghai campus -- CEIBS students and faculty filled the Shanghai campus auditorium tonight to hear GE Vice President for Executive Development and Chief Learning Officer Susan Peters explain the company' s successful formula for attracting and retaining top-caliber staff. The message was particularly relevant in China, where many firms are grappling with high turnover rates.
Ms. Peters spoke on "Developing Growth Leaders in the 21st Century," drawing upon her rich experience at GE, especially in her role as Chief Learning Officer. As CLO, she is responsible for talent identification, leadership development, training and succession planning for all GE executives worldwide.
CEIBS Vice President and Co-Dean Professor Zhang Weijiong (left),GE Vice President for Executive Development and Chief Learning Officer Susan Peters (right)
Strong GE values are the main ingredient in the company's success formula, Ms. Peters stressed. These values include a combination of a highly-defined business system and processes; extensive leadership access and training; and ongoing performance management. At GE, each employee maintains an online internal resume and receives regular feedback from supervisors and mentors to ensure continuous career development.
Ms. Peters outlined one particularly successful GE program for the CEIBS audience: five years ago, the company developed its own unique definition of a Growth Leader --referring to employees who showed great potential, had "fundamental" leadership characteristics (high performance, strong values, integrity, business acumen; acted as change agents; intelligent), and stood out from the crowd (problem solvers, courageous, motivators, quick learners, ability to sell ideas; effective communicators, tenacious, optimistic and committed).
Once identified, growth leaders then participate in GE's Leadership Innovation and Growth Programme, which is offered at some of the world's leading business schools. The programme is also available at GE's corporate university in the United States (established in 1950, GE has one of the world’s oldest corporate universities). The programme equips GE employees with the strategic and innovative skills needed to succeed in a globally competitive environment, while helping them hone their development skills and their individual areas of expertise.
One challenge with the programme is that so many employees seek to join it.. "Ninety-five percent of people think they're in the top 10 percent," Ms. Peters said. At GE, approximately 25 percent of employees are categorized at the top level, while 60 percent fall into the mid-level "highly valued" range. The solution, is to manage employee expectations and to encourage them to undergo ttraining and development to focus on strengthening their "depth or breadth" skills.
Ms. Peters' lecture, which was hosted by CEIBS Vice President and Co-Dean Professor Zhang Weijiong, was followed by a lively Q&A session with the audience. GE, which was founded in 1879 by inventor Thomas Edison, invests more that US$1 billion per year in training and development and enjoys a close relationship with CEIBS on customized programmes for their medical division.
