Re-imagining Crotonville:

Epicenter of GE's Leadership Culture

SUBMITTED BY GROUP 6:
- AKSHAY SINDHU (18PGHR10)
- CHETNA (18PGHR21)
- HARSHIT GUPTA (18PGHR26)
- RUCHIKA MAHESHWARI (18PGHR40)
- SARANSH GARG (18PGHR42)
- SUNDAR GANESH C (18PGHR60)
What is the leadership development philosophy
of GE?
 Emphasis on Leadership at every level
At the core of a successful organisation is the way that it identifies and develops its leaders, and at GE, leadership development is an
area of strength. GE considers its leaders as its most important products. GE encourages to Lead rather than manage. Everyone in the
company is a leader; regardless of title or tenure, every employee is expected to lead, and to help their teams improve.
 Constantly Evolving with time and context
The truth is great companies and great leaders must continuously reinvent themselves as the world changes. GE is a learning
organization, and we are a meritocracy. And we never stop evolving.
In words of former CEO Reginald Jones – “I am not concerned with developing enough managers per se as I am with developing
business managers who have the sensitivity and concern for external factors to permit them to operate successfully in what I see in the
years ahead as a much more hostile environment.”
 Focus on inculcating responsibility
Our growth values reflect what we expect GE to be, and who we expect our leaders to be. They unite Strength, Integrity and
Accountability to create an ultimate version of leadership.
 Preserving and Building the GE Brand
The GE Philosophy is engrained in the leadership program to get the leaders that are more suitable and aligned to GE’s goals
What is the role of Crotonville in the
process of leadership development?

Crontonville’s Process of Leadership Development-

 Providing ways to connect individuals’ passion to business strategy
 Leadership change efforts are centred around management education
 Developing a broader understanding of the external environment and global context to remain
strategically aligned
 from specific functional skillset to general managerial level
 CEOs themselves conducting the Executive sessions
What is the role of Crotonville in the
process of leadership development?

Goals of Crontonville’s Process of Leadership Development-

 Mission Statement clearly clarifies the goals as:
“Inspire, Connect and Develop the GE leaders of today and tomorrow” Everything we do has to connect to
one of these tenets in a way that is authentic and reinforced in the content, the experience and the
environment.
 Driving the change
In the words of Immelt - When somebody asks me “At your company, what does a leader do?” I always say,
“Drive change and develop the leaders”
 Leaders teach Leaders
In line with GE’s long held philosophy of having teachers teach other leaders, these “Leaders-in-residence”
taught, networked and conducted “speed coaching” sessions with course participants.
How Crotonville has helped Jack Welch in
achieving GE's organizational goal between
1981 to 2001?

GE Organization Goals between 1981 to 2001:

1. To delayer the organization by shedding over one hundred thousand positions
2. Reducing bureaucracy which was constrained innovation and risk taking
3. To restructure the organization by selling of 200 business and acquisition of 370 new ones
4. To exhort executives to “Lead” rather than to “Manage”
5. Sought to engage a new generation of managers to lead a revolution from the middle to change the GE
future
How Crotonville has helped Jack Welch in
achieving GE's organizational goal between
1981 to 2001?

Steps taken by Jack Welch:

1. Invested $75 million in the Crontonville campus which gave a notion of an egalitarian community
2. Selection in executive courses was linked more closely to talent management and succession through a process
known as “Session C” that evaluated each manager’s individual performance and development.
3. New Manager Development Course (NMDC) and CELC (course for new hires) were introduced and the
curriculum was re-focussed around ‘action learning’ projects with real stakes and results
4. GE blue books were symbolically burned to move away from old practices
5. Receiving feedback from course participants
6. Workout sessions to help Learning and Development get materialized into the field
7. Philosophical shift from ‘training’ to a ‘workshop’ atmosphere, which proved a better medium
8. Adoption of a corporate university model
9. Introduction of Chief Learning Officer (CLO), which got adopted by companies all over the world
 How has Crotonville designed and deployed
leadership/management development
programs?

1966- 1970- Jack Welch Era

1956 1964
70 1979 1981-2001
CEO
GMC EDC
Stage 5 –
Officers’
AMC GMC workshop
MDC BMC
Stage 4 – Executive
programs – EDC, BMC
and MDC
Talent
Management MDC Stage 3 – Advanced functional
Program courses – Finance, Marketing,
IT, Relations
Interpersonal
Professional Executive
Communications Stage 2 – New Manager Development
Business Workshop
Workshop Course
Management
Course
First Time Motivation Stage 1 – Corporate entry level Conference
Managers Course Workshop 1&2
 How has Crotonville designed and deployed
leadership/management development
programs?

Re-Imagined in
2010
 Nothing was managed generally anymore, the
focus shifted to more strategic disciplines,
MDC Global BMC Global EDC Global including scenario planning and system
Operator Strategist Entrepreneur dynamics

Learning and
 The renewed focus on content began at the
Leading Self
and Others Adapting Building Inspiring very top with a re-examination of the
Networks change
executive learning curriculum
Leading a Metrics
Business Alignment and Investment  The courses invited senior leaders, including
Systems
Execution and Risk
Management
Thinking CEO, to address the group on the nature and
demands of leadership in GE.
Leading the Decisiveness
Organization Matrix Global
and Mastering
Management Empowerment
Simplicity
What are the principles of Crotonville's re-
imagined learning experience.

1. We are committed to delivering an entirely unique leadership development experience

2. Dynamic content grounded in Growth Values
We teach content that is at the core of GEs leadership philosophy and drives GEs mission forward
3. Cross business learning experiences
We built learning experiences that enhance collaboration across businesses, courses and career stages
4. Unmatched leadership access
We design experiences – in and out of the classroom – that connect participants with each other and with ad with a network of
high profile leaders

The team at Crotonville decided to build the executive courses around the core tenets of what you need to do and and be as a GE
leader. They sought to clarify the unique mission of leadership development by articulating a set of principles, which they called
“The Crotonville Way”
These principles guided the re-design of the curriculum and campus. It helped ensure that changes in each area were aligned and
reinforced one another, which helped GE to move to a long term strategic focus fuelled by organic growth.
How are they relevant to the leadership
development process?

Elements of redesigning that helped take leadership development forward-

1. Enhancement of infrastructure, which made it more integrative, collaborative,
open and inclusive for GE leaders to grow and develop.
2. More engagement with participants before and after the residential periods of
the program that strengthened the GE culture and environment.
3. Operating effectively within GE’s complex matrix organization to more
efficiency.
4. Individual leadership which inculcated accountability and integrity amongst
GE leaders.
5. Fostering global leadership mindset and dynamic courses which help GE
leaders to reinvent themselves for a competitive environment.
THANK
YOU