Cultivating Connection

BlueCat Networks, a global provider of mission-critical network infrastructure management, automation, and security solutions, has doubled its workforce in recent years through acquisitions. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and New York, its growing portfolio has offices in Iceland, Japan, Serbia, Singapore, and the UK.

“As the organization has grown, we’ve had to double down on developing our leaders and focusing on engagement so that our employees feel connected to the organization and the work that they’re doing,” explains Sheila Austin, vice president of L&D for BlueCat.

Tactical and interpersonal development

Employees encountered numerous changes: multiple mergers, the company’s adoption of primarily remote work arrangements, and the rapid evolution of the business’s products. Therefore, BlueCat nurtured an adaptive mindset—a shift that had to start at the top.

The L&D team designed and delivered a nine-month development program, the Leadership Summit, for approximately 60 senior leaders. Learning content and activities concentrated on building not only tactical skills—such as how to think strategically—but also communication and collaboration skills.

Participants started the program by conducting an assessment and then meeting with an executive coach to debrief the results and create a personalized leadership development plan to use in coordination with other learning activities and resources. For instance, the summit offered several sessions on performance management training.

As a result of its growth, BlueCat has many new people managers who had areas on opportunity with feedback skills. Training events, Austin says, had to address the gap.

“We need our leaders to be able to guide their teams to work cross-functionally more effectively, but we also need them to be able to have powerful performance conversations with their people,” she states. “L&D must provide BlueCat leaders with learning that will help them better connect with their teams.”

Cohort coaching

Much of the summit’s learning occurred online, and only one in-person learning event with all 60 leaders took place. However, about halfway through the nine-month program, leaders began participating in group coaching sessions to help cement learning objectives. Participants comprised six cross-functional, cross-site cohorts, with group coaching sessions every six weeks.

Each group spent their first session creating a learning contract that outlined what everyone could expect from each session.

“Essentially, the contract states not only what they want to get out of each session personally, but also their commitment to other members of the group,” Austin explains. The groups reviewed their contracts during each successive coaching session to determine whether any expectations or commitments had changed.

Approximately two weeks before each coaching session, the L&D team asked leaders to prepare a PowerPoint slide detailing how they were putting new tools and leadership practices into action with their teams.

“We wanted them to discuss how they were applying the learning,” says Austin. “What were their wins? What were they struggling with? What did they see changing within their teams? What support did they need from the group or from the organization moving forward?”

The group coaching sessions were also about providing a forum for participants to address any issues they were experiencing as leaders. Those problems include grappling with communicating organizational strategy changes to their teams and teaching a team how to communicate and work together effectively across regions and cultures.

“Often, when you have a tough situation, you want to jump to a solution. During coaching sessions, we spent time just asking questions, and that usually brought out the actual problem so leaders could go back to their teams better equipped to address challenges,” Austin shares.

She says she was surprised by how similar the challenges were across the organization. “It was remarkable to me that a sales leader located in North America was often feeling the same pressures as a product leader located in our Iceland office.”

In addition, L&D set up a Slack channel for each cohort, enabling members to interact with each other and share updates and learning takeaways outside of coaching sessions. L&D also used the channel to send reminders and links to other assignments and resources.

“We’ve created this collective of cross-functional leaders that are really learning and growing together over time,” Austin says. “In a world where we feel so disconnected, this is a powerful tool for connection.”

Austin notes that, when individuals didn’t show up to a coaching session, they believed they had missed out and that they were letting each other down. “They developed a feeling of responsibility toward their cohort and peers. It’s about accountability,” she states.

Intentional connections

Austin asserts that being intentional about how L&D helps team members create connections is critical to her team’s success.

“It’s one of our key priorities because everything flows from those connections,” she notes. “If you want to ensure people are engaged, motivated, and connected to the organization, that’s through their relationships and experience with their leaders. This focus on connection throughout leadership development has had a remarkable impact on our organization’s success.”

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