Leadership development is a big challenge for Walmart. They employ more than 2 million people, about three times the population of Charlotte, NC, where I live. Those people are in 27 different countries. You need lots of leaders for all levels of a company that big. And you want the quality to be high enough that you can promote from within as the company moves into its second fifty years.
That’s why Walmart CEO Bill Simon brought in Damian McKinney, a former Royal Marines officer to help create a leadership development program. The result is the Walmart Leadership Academy, featured in Chief Executive’s article: “How Walmart Trains Better Leaders.”
Most companies try to adapt the wrong things from the military. One of the right things is a training philosophy. As Field Marshal Erwin Rommel noted: “The best form of welfare for the troops is first-class training.”
Military training has to be good because both lives and the outcome of the mission depend on the right responses under high stress. That’s why, as Chief Executive notes:
“The underlying premise of the academy is step-up development, to always train people for the next job or two up the chain. In addition, all training is built around real-world-based simulations that mirror actual or likely conditions specific to a company’s challenges.”
Train people for the challenges two levels up. That changes their perspective and makes it more likely they’ll be effective if they suddenly find themselves in a new situation.
Use real-world-based simulations in your training. That means basing simulations on actual situations in your company. It also means developing realistic simulations to the level that’s possible. If it’s all head work and if no one is ever uncomfortable, it’s not good training.
Is this how you develop talent? Or do you settle for something less.
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