PRESS RELEASE: February 26, 2001

Milgard Takes The Leadership Challenge

Pacific Palisades, CA – How did two hundred Costco warehouse managers learn to train 8,000 new staff people in eight months and open thirty-five new stores? They challenged their Senior management team to get involved with the Leader-Led Leadership Development program developed by Eric Herzog, President of Quest Consulting & Training. These events caught the eye of Milgard President and CEO Gary Milgard.

The largest window manufacture in the Western United States, Milgard, was facing similar growth issues. The strategic plan called for long-term expansion. "But the chief obstacle to growth," according to Milgard, "was finding leaders who know how to manage the Milgard way."

After reading The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy, Milgard was convinced that Leader-Led Leadership Development was the solution he was seeking. Then he heard Quest President Eric Herzog's presentation at a management conference. "When I learned that Eric was the person who introduced the Leader-Led Leadership Development program to Costco, I decided right then and there to bring Quest on board and get my senior people involved."

"Leader-Led Leadership Development is based on the premise that it is management's responsibility to develop tomorrow's leaders," said Herzog. "It does not rely on traditional methods. It allows a company to capture the knowledge and best practices of their senior management team, then uses senior managers as training facilitators."

But in practice how does Leader-Led Leadership Development work? With management's help and input, Quest develops customized case studies that are specific to each business. These cases address vital issues of managing the company. The case study approach creates the comfort zone leaders need to facilitate in-depth discussions of difficult business issues and to define "best practices."

"This represents a new paradigm in training. Leader-Led Leadership Development not only allows for a rapid training, but also has the added benefit of addressing issues like retention and aging managerial staffs," said Herzog.

As today's senior managers, the baby boomers, approach retirement age, every business is faced with the problem of capturing their knowledge while at the same time developing new leaders for the future.

Traditionally, professional instructors train managers. This method emphasizes textbook Management Training. The expectation, which often is unrealistic, is that managers will be able to take these academic principles and apply then to management issues they face everyday.

Leader-Led Leadership Development charts an entirely new course. Senior leaders help design the training. They also facilitate it. Managers view Leader-Led Leadership as an ‘operations based program to develop our people, not a program we send our people to.' This commitment and involvement of senior leadership makes a powerful statement.

Human Resources also plays a vital role in the process, according to Herzog. They partner with leadership and help design the program, provide needed support services, materials, and scheduling. "When you have a company as large as Milgard, with locations in fourteen states, H.R.'s participation is vital to the program's success."

Leaders identify specific issues that need to be addressed, keeping in mind the company's strategic goals. Leaders are then asked to identify the company's preferred methods and ‘best practices' for dealing with these very real issues.

Quest staffers then design custom case studies, weaving in important related information like company history and culture. This allows the company to capture the expertise of their senior staff and have it documented for future reference.

Next, the senior managers get a chance to pilot the training program to a group of their peers. The Quest staff sits in on the pilot. After the presentations, Quest makes any necessary revisions to the cases and coaches the presenters on their facilitating techniques.

When the training is rolled out to future company leaders the focus of the case studies is tied to the company's strategic objectives. The case study approach and the introduction of ‘best practices' teaches how a leader makes tough decisions in complex situations. The situations they see in the training are real.

"We were so pleased with the immediate results we saw after the first round of Quest's Leader-Led Leadership Development program, that we asked them to come back and help us move into phase two," said Gary Milgard. "It not only works well for us, it is the most cost effective training program we've used to date."

Quest Consulting & Training, founded by Dr. Eric Herzog in 1979, is located in Pacific Palisades, California. To find out more about Leader-Led Leadership Development call 800-581-2825 (outside California) or 800-481-2914 (California only), visit their web site at www.questcorp.com or email them at info@questcorp.com.