Case Study: AFL
Pieces of the jigsaw- leadership programs that facilitate organisational understanding
Jane Hollman is the manager of people and culture at the Australian Football League (AFL).
Last year her organisation partnered with the Melbourne Business School to design a senior leadership program for the AFL and its related clubs. It's a five-and-a-half-day residential business program that covers leadership, marketing, financial management, brand management, strategy and negotiation skills.
"In some respects it's a typical business program but with a focus on sport," says Hollman.
This program, held for the first time earlier this year with a second to run this month, has been very well received. The ‘homework', in particular, was a resounding success. "We divided the groups into syndicate groups and gave them all a ‘live' AFL project to work on," says Hollman (left).
Projects included the AFL's match day experience, its international strategy, corporate social responsibility and brand management.
"We asked them to think about those issues and what they thought we should do from a strategic sense, going forward," says Hollman. "We wanted them to put in action what they had learnt."
While the general networking opportunities of further education are valuable, Hollman believes that a program must be, first and foremost, practical and relevant. "There are a lot of programs out there that are a bit too theoretical and don't link into any sort of practical, pragmatic business sense."
One of the goals of the AFL's leadership program is for people to come away with a better understanding of the whole business. "For a lot of people-and it's very similar in most organisations- they're very ‘silo-ed'," says Hollman. "If they're in finance, they think about finance, and, if they're in marketing, they think about marketing. We want them to understand how all the different pieces come together."
Hollman believes people are born with the ‘building blocks' of leadership potential. "It's how they are developed further that actually makes them better leaders," she says. Training and further education are additional pieces in the puzzle, says Hollman. "It is ultimately about the experience you gain and the opportunities you have."
This article first appeared in hrmonthly, November 2007. hrmonthly is published for the Australian Human Resources Institute.
