Inger Buus, Head of Leadership and Organizational Development, JPMorgan Chase & Co

We know from many studies and reports that inspirational leadership and good people management are critical components for the future success of organizations. The current pace of change, digitization and disruption require even stronger leadership and it is incumbent upon us as leadership development professionals to up our game and rethink how we develop our leaders, given this context.

At JPMorgan Chase & Co., we are continuously looking to improve the way we engage our leaders on their development journeys and support them in becoming even more effective and inspirational role models. In this article, we share how we are leveraging new technology to develop our leaders.

Global: Leadership Edge, our Center of Excellence for Leadership and Management Development, serves 40K+ leaders worldwide, so technology plays a crucial role in reaching this geographically dispersed target audience. 

We work with the tools they are already using in their business, e.g. webcasts and telepresence, to make it a seamless experience.

Continuous and on the job: Whilst we do bring our leaders together to network and learn face to face, we want to increasingly enable continuous development and learning on the job, integrating learning into the flow of work. We are looking to introduce assisted learning technology which guides our managers to personalized learning in the moment of need for them.

Data-driven to personalize: We leverage HR data to direct our managers to the learning solution that fits their level of experience and learning needs and to further personalize their learning paths through self-assessments, which guide them to relevant curated learning materials.

Integrated: Our proprietary leadership development platform allows us to provide a one-stop-shop for our managers. They register, download learning materials, and write their reflections notes etc. on the same system. Our digital classroom solution, which incorporates iPads into the classroom, eliminates the need for printed materials and provides a seamless, fully integrated experience – from desk to classroom and back.

Social and collaborative: Adults are social learners and we want to enable our leaders to connect and exchange experiences over an extended period, inside and outside the classroom. 

We are piloting social learning as an integral part of our management development.

Challenge and stretch: Sustainable learning happens when we are challenged and stretched out of our comfort zone. One way to achieve that is to integrate experiential learning methodologies, simulations and gamification.

Impact focus: Investing in leadership development does involve a leap of faith and belief that it is the right thing to do. We continue to challenge ourselves to measure the impact of our investment through a partnership with our analytics colleagues. We have found that managers who attend our programs have higher engagement and retention levels and score higher on the core behaviors we focus on, e.g. coaching, feedback and development.

The learning modalities outlined above require a multi-disciplinary and collaborative team. We work closely with colleagues in Analytics, Technology and Communications, and the traditional leadership development mainstays are transforming—content curation and digital solutions are now integral parts of our leadership development programs. Our leaders need to understand technology and analytics, be curious and continuously learn, and be able to create collaborative, inclusive teams to develop the solutions and products our clients are looking for – and so do we.