By Michael Grabarek, Director, Developing Great
People at Entergy
Headquartered in New Orleans, Entergy Corporation is
a $9-billion energy provider employing more than 13,000 people.It furnishes electric power to 2.5 million customers in the U.S.,
runs power plants worldwide, and markets and trades wholesale energy.
Entergy provides opportunities for all employees to
further develop themselves, and it creates additional developmental
opportunities for a targeted group of people who are expected to play a
significant leadership role in the company's future.
To identify the factors that helped its current
leaders succeed, the top 120 executives at Entergy were asked to reflect
on their past and to identify the one to three “most significant things
that made a difference” for them to get where they are today.Five leading factors emerged during the interviews, and the
percentage of the executives identifying each are as follows:
92%Variety of experience
59%Risky and
visible assignments
56%Coaching by
leaders
42%Personal
qualities
42%Education and
training
In elaborating on the primary value of diverse career
experience, the executives emphasized a variety of assignments in
different functions, business units, companies, and even countries. From
these experiences, they said they acquired a better understanding of how
the whole business operates, the ways their decisions affect others parts
of the organization, and methods for transferring best practices from one
area to another. They also singled out the value of building strong
networks both inside and outside the company.
Drawing on this study, Entergy identifies a select
group of high-potential managers through its annual appraisal process for
immersion in a variety of learning events and targeted work assignments.
The learning events include 360-feedback, executive education programs,
and personal coaching. At least half of the learning process entails the
direct application of concepts to real business challenges.
As managers are developed, Entergy believes it is
important for them to experience a variety of fresh challenges. To assess
its progress, the company has created a metric entitled “propelling
careers.”It focuses on the
top ranks comprised of some 700 managers, directors, and vice presidents.The metric is first calculated by summing the annual number of (1)
top people who moved into new positions, (2) professionals, supervisors,
and superintendents who rose into the management ranks, and (3) top people
hired from other companies.This
summary number is then divided by the total number of managers, directors,
and vice presidents.
In 1995, prior to the development initiative, the
measure stood at only 11 percent. Since initiating its development
program, however, Entergy has elevated that faction in 1996 to 19 percent,
and in 1997, 1998, and 1999, respectively, to 41, 40, and 40 percent.From its experience, the company has concluded that the ideal range
is 30 to 40 percent.When
less than 30 percent, strong managers are in their positions too long for
effective utilization and further development of their talents; when more
than 40 percent, they are not there long enough to see an impact and live
with the results.
Michael Grabarek, Director of
Developing Great People, can be contacted at <mgrabar@entergy.com>,
and information on Entergy is available at <http://www.entergy.com>.
