Issue: To build a culture where leadership and business excellence defined the organization

Solution: Comprehensive leadership development supported via action learning and coaching

Results: A leadership culture that supports day-to-day interactions and execution

With 109,000 client companies in 120 countries generating more than €12.5 billion annually, one might think that SAP’s future was on autopilot for success. But SAP had a goal of doubling its revenue and expanding its client base to a billion application users by 2015. When deciding how best to accomplish this aggressive goal, the organization focused on two key avenues: create innovative solutions and ignite employee passion.

The challenge then became to shift the current organizational focus from an engineering culture to one where transformational leaders were skilled at change management, customer-oriented innovation, and creating a shared leadership vision.

SAP’s leadership mantra is: Learn It (be a lifelong learner who seeks feedback), Live It (lead by example and put learning into practice), and Love It (be an authentic, inspirational, passionate role model). This mantra is supported by a leadership curriculum the organization put into place to help their leaders take the organization to the next level. In order to maximize their goals, SAP selected The Ken Blanchard Companies as a partner in their journey to success.

Ricardo Kazuo, Business Operations Manager in Brazil explains SAP’s choice this way, “We reviewed multiple vendors and chose Blanchard for several reasons, one of which was their ability to customize best-in-class content and case studies to mirror situations SAP leaders faced on a daily basis.” Kevin Kelley, Senior Consultant for Global Talent, Learning and Organizational Development agrees, “What Blanchard offered wasn’t a cookie cutter approach. They worked with us to tailor their content and curriculum to the needs of our business and our corporate culture. The program provides individuals with multiple ways to obtain feedback from colleagues, leaders, and coaches so they can build it into their professional development plan.

The solution entailed the development of different programs for different audiences with content focused on supporting SAP’s core competencies delivered via assessments, self-study, blended learning, and classroom interaction that paired small teams to work through real SAP issues using action learning with the support of an SAP coach.

SAP utilized Blanchard’s Leader Action Profile and DISC assessments to give leaders personal insight into their strengths and weaknesses as well as custom solutions utilizing content from Blanchard’s Situational Leadership^® II, Situational Self Leadership, Building Trust, DiSCovering Self and Others, and Situational Team Leadership solutions.

Content was delivered via two tracks: Managing People@SAP for first-level leaders and Leading@SAP for mid-level leaders. Both tracks began with a virtual kickoff followed by training that focused on developing self, others, teams, and the organization. The learning experience included assessments, prework, classroom time to work through real world issues, then coaching and follow-up. The coach-to-participant ratio was kept intimate to ensure personalized feedback and coaching. Since sustainability was key to SAP, the organization focused on strategies that would enhance and reinforce the learning curve.

Impact studies demonstrated positive results and trends in the areas of adapting concepts of SLII® and leading others to the organization. The organization also learned it needed to further support leaders in developing their own teams, so SAP redoubled its efforts to support their leaders in leading in these areas.

Now, several years into the leadership development journey, SAP is reaping the rewards for their efforts. They have developed a leadership culture that supports day-to-day interactions and execution. All leaders have a clear understanding of the business and a vision of the future. The organization is able to directly link team and individual goals to their corporate strategy and provide coaching necessary to effectively develop their people. And finally, SAP is benefitting from a clear plan to develop the necessary skills, resulting in all employees working toward a common goal—one SAP.