Many companies train their employees to be better managers; nowadays, more and more are training their top managers to be better leaders.


Itron Inc., for example, instituted an advanced leadership training program last year that it views as succession planning, in a way, says Roger Ingbretsen, director of executive development at the Spokane Valley company, which makes information systems for electric, gas, and water utilities.


Its not a program where you take people and try to fix them, he says. We take our very best and make them better.


URM Stores Inc., the wholesale grocery cooperative and parent of Rosauers Supermarkets Inc. here, began offering a leadership-training program for upper-level management six months ago, says Katy Vitcovich, vice president of human resources.


The new classes really stemmed from wanting to be an employer of choice, Vitcovich says. Providing leadership training is a way to keep people challenged as well as to be prepared when there are vacancies at the top, she says.


Leadership-training programs at some of the nations most highly regarded corporations have been praised as a catalyst to their success. Says one leadership-development executive in a commentary that appeared in BusinessWeek magazine last fall, A companys best security against unplanned upheavals isnt its balance sheet, but having skilled leaders at the helm at all levels of the organization . In this knowledge-based economy, its becoming increasingly important for many more people to help guide an organizations future.


Training is a fixture


Management training of all kinds has been a fixture of corporate America for years, and its likewise important to many big employers in the Inland Northwest.


One of the top executives at Center Partners, for example, is Chief Learning and Development Officer Chris Kneeland. The Fort Collins, Colo.-based call center company, which has operations in Coeur dAlene and Post Falls, has built its corporate culture around being what we refer to as a learning organization, Kneeland says.


Center Partners offers traditional management-training classes and now is developing an online corporate university with the goal of providing narrowly targeted management training, she says.


She cites the example of a front-line manager who has a question about motivating an average performer: The manager doesnt need to know the history and theory of performance management or how to manage exceptionally low performers. All that manager needs to know is, How do I manage an OK performer and get them to the next level? Kneeland says.


At Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc., in Pullman, every employee can take advantage of an $80 a month educational benefit to take whatever classes they choose at nearby Washington State University or the University of Idaho, says Susan Fagan, spokeswoman for the manufacturer of equipment for electrical-power systems. In addition, two years ago Schweitzer developed its own a twice-a-week management-training program it calls Management 101 and Management 102, Fagan says. The classes, which have a total of 48 curriculum hours, are keys to training people who are managers whose careers are growing, she says.


By workers request


In Itrons case, the company instituted a comprehensive management-training program, called Fundamentals of Leadership, at about the same time that it began its leadership-training sessions for veteran managers, Ingbretsen says.


The fundamentals classes are for managers with fewer than three years of experience, says Debbie Curless, manager of corporate growth and learning.


Curless says Itron started the class after an employee survey showed that Itron workers wanted such training, and adds that its been a phenomenal success. Employees who have participated say they feel appreciated and are learning new things, which could make them less likely to look outside of Itron for a job, she says.


While those classes cover nuts-and-bolts issues such as understanding behavioral styles and managing meetings, the six-month leadership program revolves around a reading list of eight books on organizations and leadership, Ingbretsen says. Participants, who are hand-picked by Itrons CEO from its ranks of vice presidents, directors, and high-potential managers, read the books and discuss them in six-hour group sessions. They also go through one-on-one coaching sessions with Ingbretsen and write up personal development plans, he says. Each session includes about eight people, he says.


The goal is to teach people to think more about the big picture, Ingbretsen says. Were trying to build executive strengths that take you out of the typical management role and move you into a leadership role.


Ingbretsen says he doesnt track the cost of the program or measure its success in any quantitative way; instead, he points to the fact that the first two classes still meet regularly to select additional books to read and discuss.


Spokane-based URM, on the other hand, calculates a return on investment for its two-year-old management-training program and its six-month-old leadership-development program, says Vitcovich, the human resources executive.


Throughout all our training we try to build in a measurement of whats the expectation and the result from the training, she says.


Participants in its leadership program work on projects that they present to senior managers at the end of the class, which meets for a total of 16 hours, she says.


Its not just a training class that you go put away in your desk. Its part and parcel of the job youre already doing, Vitcovich says.


Itron CEO LeRoy Nosbaum says the companys programs are doing what theyre supposed to do.


Itrons future growth and success will be generated by our people, he says. If we can have the management core at Itron, along with most, if not all, of Itron employees inspired to move beyond being just employees to taking active roles in helping the company grow and prosper, then we leverage 1,400 peoples talents, rather than just a handful of people at the top.