Leadership Development at Goldman Sachs

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wide systematic approach to leadership development.

3. Key design features that should be included in the new leadership development program must consist of the following.

a. The physicality of the program was an important element. A physical location for training and development would enunciate the organization’s commitment towards leadership development as well as create an aspiration among the employees to being chosen for the program.

b. The next design element of the program was the faculty. Goldman Sachs needed to identify the right mix of internal and external faculty so as to have the desired impact. Relying solely on external faculty would rob the program of exclusivity for Goldman employees while their absence would be a stark omission as they are expected to bring in the diversity in perspective needed for developing well rounded leaders.

c. Content mix was yet another key design element of the program. The content needed to cover generic general management principles while addressing the need for inculcating the distinct traits desired in Goldman leaders.

d. The mode of delivering the program to the employees was the next design element. Goldman Sachs clearly intended to reinforce and not replace their traditional apprenticeship model. The program needed to be the right mix of classroom and on-job training.

e. The program needed to be able to cater to the potential candidates from diverse business units. The design of the program therefore needed to consider the appropriate mix of audience as to whether the participants should be selected from across the breadth and depth of the organization or should there be customized programs for the various business units and experience levels.

f. The last but equally important design element of the program was its ownership and governance. It was intended to maintain consistency in the program content while sustaining the distinct culture of the organization. Hence, it was important to implement the program via a corporate team while ensuring the business unit specific knowledge development didn’t suffer. In order for such a program to succeed at any organization the Senior Leadership’s sponsorship was vital and hence the governing structure needed to be sufficiently close to the leadership while not losing touch with the individual businesses.