Sustainable Leadership Development at Cupertino Electric

“The program was designed to build a foundation of business skills,” Baldwin said. “We’re good at technical, on-the-job training, but we tend to undervalue soft skills, which are the ones that become the most important as people take on managerial roles. This new program really allows our current and future leaders to hone these skills.”

CEI leaders built on management best practices then made them more applicable to employees with company-specific examples. Leader-led forums on topics such as customer focus and business acumen tie into CEI’s core values and strategy, allowing participants to build their skills around the internal competency model as well as apply learning on the job.

CEI employs more than a thousand people, and about a quarter of them are now involved in the new development program. These include new and emerging leaders in the field, a unionized workforce and office administrative staff.

“CEI’s success over the years was built upon satisfied customers and repeat business,” Baldwin said. “Long-term customer relationships allow CEI to weather the ebbs and flows of the construction industry. Our first leader-led forum, How to Create and Keep Customers, tied together the business case and best practices for cultivating strong customer relationships to show employees what differentiates us from our competition.

“Collaboration is also essential in bridging the gap between desired results and a strategy for obtaining desired results. Leaders at all levels of the company — including our CEO and COO — are leading candid development discussions. By sharing their own experiences with the organization, senior leaders are passing along valuable lessons to the next generation of CEI’s leaders to continually improve the way we do business.”

Amy J. Zuckerman is a senior manager in the Corporate Learning Services group at Harvard Business Publishing. She can be reached at editor@clomedia.com.