How to Succeed in a Rotational Leadership Program
As the corporate world struggles with the new millennial workforce, many employers are experiencing great success with rotational programs. Originally pioneered by a number of large corporations to train engineers, the programs now are used in all areas of business from IT to Finance. These programs satisfy Generation Y’s need for travel, new experiences and training through a number of four to eight month rotations in different businesses, locales and departments.
The advantages of these types of roles become quickly evident when you realize that breadth of knowledge, cross-departmental and cross-business, that can be obtained in an incredibly short period of time, two years for many of the programs. Program participants roll off with a great amount of diversified knowledge that may take 5-10 years for someone else to gain in a standard role. Sounds amazing right? It is but, whether you are a participant in one of these programs or a employer managing them, you need to make sure you don’t get vertigo from the accelerated spin of rotational programs. Here are a few tips to help you avoid vertigo:
1. Avoid Over-Diversification
The biggest strength of a rotational program is the opportunity to diversify but, it can be dizzying as well. Many people skip from rotation to rotation without focus, similar to the way some college students do between majors. Then, when they get to the end of their program they have had a number of great experiences but are left to wonder, now what?
Many college students have to stay in school for another year or two, which is not an option for those in a rotational program and can cause you to take a default role off-rotation that you may not like. After your first rotation or even during, start to figure out what you like and take rotations that will aid you in your end while still providing a good set of diverse skills.
2. Be Humble
From the time you enter a rotational program to when you roll off, at least in most programs, you will be told you are an elite subset of your peers. Expectations are high and so is the pressure to succeed. This elite message and constant pressure has caused problems for kids who are tagged as “gifted” early on and it can have the same effect on people in a rotational program. Avoid these by remaining humble and treating everything as a learning experience.
In addition, the teams you will work in all expect you to be the next CIO/CEO/COO, with an attitude to match your future title. Prove them wrong, stay focused on your goals, treat everyone with respect and concentrate on what your learning and you’ll go much farther than your peers with attitude.
3. Lead the Leaders
Everyone expects you to lead in your rotation. After all, most rotational programs are leadership programs. These high expectations are tough to exceed, the only way to do so is to volunteer for everything you can (you wanted lots of experience) and lead where others have not before. Many leadership programs look for examples of this type of behavior on your college resume even before you got in. Lead service efforts, lead social efforts, take the lead in your training groups, it will all be noticed by not just your peers but your managers as well. Even more importantly, lead where others have not before. Innovation is everyone’s favorite buzzword but, in actuality, it’s just the act of leading your group outside of the box, past what you did last year and on to the next big thing.
I believe rotational programs are the best way for any company to attract and retain top talent from Generation Y. They are great tools to educate and inspire new employees within their new corporation but, as with any system, there a pitfalls and opportunities for improvement. By avoiding the tendency of our “ADD” generation to over diversify, remaining humble and leading even amongst leaders you can maximize your rotational program experience.
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Please post any other tips you have for rotation program participants here!
Great site, Brandon, and great tips.
The only other tip I have for rotational program participants is this: if you are allowed, don’t be afraid to stay in your current rotation if it fits you perfectly.
One key advantage of a rotational program is that it allows you to find your niche within a company. If you find this niche early and perform well, arrangements can almost always be made for you to remain in your current position, instead of you moving to a role that doesn’t suit your talents. I’d guess that more than 25% of the participants (including myself) in my company’s rotational program took this route.
Throughout rotation, seek out the smartest people you respect (not necessarily like, at least at first) ) who’s skills, experience and/or temperament are opposite yours and go out of your way to observe them and to be helpful to them.
This reinforces your flexibility and fast-track discovery of the larger world and other facets of yourself.
BTW, I’ll bet there are many boomers like me, sharing your blog with the the younger members of their family whilst around them during this holiday time. Kudos to you on your excellent writing and to Penelope T. for helping us discover you.
– Kare. “opportunity is often inconvenient”
MovingFromMetoWe.com
@Sam
Great point, many programs do allow you to stick to a role if it’s a perfect fit. I would add a quick word of caution though, make sure you are 100% committed to sticking to a role before staying in it, it can be comfortable to stick in one role rather than face the unknown but, it’s often valuable to gain that added experience.
@Kare
Thanks for the great feedback! Please pass on the word about Newly Corporate as you mentioned, the more readers we have here the better the conversations around experiences.
I’m so glad I found this blog! Your post was targeted directly to me and I would love to keep reading about the topic! I agree with the above posters, keep it coming!
@Jenson
Thanks for reading! Do you have suggestions for other blog posts that would be relevant to you? Keep up the great comments!
I will let you know if I think of any suggestions. For now, what I can think of is perhaps something on mellinials adapting to traditional business etiquette. For example, we’re used to multi-tasking and taking notes digitally… but sometimes this behavior can be frowned upon.
From what I’ve seen so far, you guys are producing good content. Although, I have noticed you guys are lacking estrogen here (except for the what-to-get-a-woman post).
(and by the way, I’m friends with Scottie G… we’re program members located in the same town. It’s a small world!)
Hi,
Just wanted to say hello and say that I just discovered your great site on Google. This post in particular I feel is very useful, as I’m always getting asked how “newly corporate” employees can get an edge in rotational leadership programs. I’ll be keeping an eye on you guys for content I can cross-post on my blog, Water Cooler Wisdom.
In case you’re wondering who I am, I’ve been in the career advice space (focusing on young professionals) for a few years now, since the publication of my first book, They Don’t Teach Corporate in College.
Best,
Alexandra Levit
Author, They Don’t Teach Corporate in College
Blogger, Water Cooler Wisdom
http://alexandralevit.typepad.com
Great post. This write directly address my research on LDP programs.
I implore you to pen your insights on some of the key aspects that may assist LDP aspirants. Some of the questions that I am looking information are:
1. What can I do to build my profile towards LDP ?
2. Is MBA a necessary pre-requisite ? If so, which B-schools are best aligned towards LDP ?
3. What are the major organizations that provide these opportunities ?
4. Is the program industry dependent i.e does rotation means cross-functional rotation in one industry ?
I would be obliged if you could respond to some my questions and point me towards right resources.
Hi all,
I hope some of you will be able to help me out…
This post was extremely helpful. I was just accepted into a LDP program yesterday and while I am thrilled to have the option so early (I am a college senior) I am having quite a bit of trouble deciding.
The LDP that I was accepted into has me traveling from office to office for about 6 months each stay (to total about 2 years of travel). The offices are all over the country. I have been focusing for years now, on starting my career in the Washington, DC area (that also happens to be where my fiance is headed, a geographic choice we made together). The company I would be working for has 12 DC/Northern VA offices and if I could be placed in those area offices and do rotations there, that would be a dream.
Do you think that I have the “right” to request staying in such a small geographic area but still completing the program? Is it worth-while to discuss this possibility with the company or given the fact that the nature of the program is to travel to different areas, is it a useless question?
Any help would be wonderful! Thank you so much.
Best,
Mary McDougall