The Challenge: To design and deliver a successful training program to more than 1,200 people in 10 locations within 12 months; to change how people think about their roles as managers; to create a culture of high performers who are happy in their jobs; and to increase motivation, ensure engagement, and change the world of Nissan.

The Solution: To offer a three-day customized version of The Ken Blanchard Companies^® Situational Leadership II^® (SLII^®) and the New One Minute Manager programs using materials and language geared to the company’s managers.

The Results:

• They created a new language and a new standard of leadership
• Participants showed unprecedented enthusiasm for using their new skills
• The managers are now well-equipped to produce bottom-line results

Nissan has experienced a dramatic turnaround in business—at one time, it was $20 billion in debt. Managers had changed; sales had dropped; they had lost market share. Now, fortunately, it is enjoying good sales of great products at reasonable costs, and record profits. But there were still issues to address. How could they raise morale and create a culture of success and satisfaction within such a large organization?

Nissan wanted its managers to become better at managing others. They realized that people are the true foundation of their organization and that the manager-employee relationship is the key to a high performing organization. But they sought more than an average training program that might be overlooked and soon forgotten; they needed a strongly researched, accepted, and effective customized training that could be delivered to more than 1,200 people within 12 months.

To implement this ambitious program, Nissan worked closely with The Ken Blanchard Companies^®. Together they created a three-step strategy. First, they figured out what people were concerned about. They conducted surveys to identify issues and then positioned the training as a means of addressing those issues. To drive support for the program, they created an internal PR campaign. Nissan even designed a brand for the program. Next, after building upon the credibility for the program, which they had established through citing research that explained the issues and demonstrated why the solution would work, they left the training up to Blanchard® and its experienced trainers. They allowed Blanchard do what it does best: facilitate effective programs that energize people. Lastly, they followed up with surveys, reminders, and success stories to ensure that the training became a “best practice” throughout the organization.

This large and highly successful management development program was delivered to people in a variety of occupations, from engineers to salespeople to artists. Blanchard trained people who had a wide range of experience: from new managers to 30-year veterans. Moreover, they adapted the training in order to provide multiple learning approaches that would make the training effective.

Results

The strong partnership of Nissan and The Ken Blanchard Companies has contributed to a company-wide improvements in morale, productivity, and profitability through the customized training program based on SLII.

• Survey results show that in many locations 80 percent of participants shared or trained direct reports on the SLII Model within two weeks.
• Additional surveys show that the quality of the communications and amount of praising has increased. (Approximately 4 times the increase in frequency of bossemployee conversations).
• Senior leadership believes that SLII has made a difference by changing the language and behaviors in regard to leadership and the way the organization looks at employee-manager relationships.