ABCBS's Customized Program Works for Them

This week, supervisors from across the Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield enterprise attended the first session of their company's fourth set of customized Supervisory Leadership Series workshops, facilitated by trainer and Associate Director of Executive Education, Greg Fike.

ABCBS has scheduled six series of this workshop for 2009 and is committed to having all their supervisors attend over the next three years. Since the program's inception, it has proven to be a valuable tool for employee development and preparation for the leadership roles that are the next natural step in ABCBS's career ladder.

The workshop's content is designed to prepare and support existing supervisors in their roles as team leaders, decision makers, managers, and process experts. Through exercises and interactive content application, these supervisors have experiences that will enhance their strengths as leaders. This workshop hones their skills to facilitate leading productive teams, developing employees, and acting as performance coaches.

The participants look forward to learning and want to take back as much as they can to support their own development. The success of the program has warranted a waiting list of future ABCBS attendees. This creates a supportive environment that allows for learning new behaviors and testing different leadership strategies. Open dialogue is fostered in such an environment, and feedback is expected. The climate is upbeat; participants are open to new methods and enjoy discovering their own effective leadership styles.

One focus of this week's session was utilizing the research from Influencing Strategies. With interactive exercises, the participants learned how to apply the different strategies and worked on expanding their influencing-strategies repertoire. The goal is to expand the use of these different strategies, which gives the supervisors many options. The chosen strategy can thus be catered to the context of any workplace situation. For instance, one participant discovered Logistical Persuasion is a useful tool for successful communication with his boss.

It is important for supervisors to send the message to all employees that they are capable, effective, and significant within their own activities. What leaders do now sets up what can be done later. Leaders should assist all employees in becoming more capable and effective in their work, therefore encouraging them to play a more significant role in day-to-day operations. Each participant in this program will learn how to make this happen in the workplace.

Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield's Supervisory Leadership Series workshops are a customized version of Executive Education's Supervisory Leadership Series. For more information about program customization, visit our website.