Leadership Journey at Bloomberg
Originally from the 2014 Bloomberg Impact Report.
Our approach to leadership development centers on the transitions individuals make during their career. Our goal is to accelerate performance as people take on new responsibilities. Bloomberg has identified four main transitions that leaders typically go through. Because of our flat structure and distributed workforce, these transitions may happen as linear steps or in parallel with one another.
TRANSITION ONE
Leading Self to Leading Others Pre-transition, nominated individuals already demonstrating leadership behavior are invited to attend Preparing to Lead. This program encompasses a combination of learning modules, group project work and presentations geared to preparing a future leader to step up in his/ her current role. At the point of transition, new team leaders receive orientation supported by an online tool kit. At 30 to 60 days, new team leaders typically attend Leadership Fundamentals, which consolidates their early learning and positions them for success. Over the following 12– 18 months, short application sessions are made available to revisit key leadership disciplines and renew their focus on getting the fundamentals right.
TRANSITION TWO
From Leading Others to Leading Leaders As with transition one, high-performing team leaders who have demonstrated the attributes needed to lead their peers are nominated for the Leading Leaders program. This program combines learning modules, detailed feedback, coaching, project work and presentations designed to prepare them to take on broader leadership responsibilities. At the point of transition, new managers would typically have a transition meeting that focuses on priorities for their first 90 days in the new role. In addition, a suite of master classes is available to deepen the leadership disciplines that are expected to be most tested as they step up.
TRANSITION THREE
From Leading a Function to Leading a Business In this transition, leaders need to extend beyond their functional expertise to build broader business acumen. This is supported by in-person and online programs from Harvard ManageMentor and our Advanced Business Skills Curriculum.
TRANSITION FOUR
Leading Locally to Leading Globally As leaders extend their span of control to encompass team members outside of their locale, new challenges present themselves. Programs addressing remote leadership and leading cross culturally support leaders in making this transition.
In 2014, Bloomberg brought together 400 senior leaders from across all regions and business groups to attend the Global Leadership Forum 3.
Unlike previous forums, this was the first time all participants went through the forum together. The forum addressed five opportunities for our organization:
• Broadening Our Audience
• Innovation and New Technologies
• The Enterprise Opportunity
• Risk and Compliance
• Engaging Our People
During the forum, leaders heard from Bloomberg managers, clients and outside speakers on key topics and broke into small groups for discussion and scenario-based activities. Following the forum, attendees and other top talent have been invited to continue engaging with the five themes through discussion forums and speaker sessions. A critical focus of the Engaging Our People theme was driving diversity & inclusion at Bloomberg. As a result, business leaders in every business have developed innovative plans to move us forward in this mission.
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