How GE HealthCare Built Four Leadership Academies in Four Months

But our retention numbers are phenomenal. I mean, we are running in the mid teens where we were in the mid20s previously. People are talking about this culture feels different. We feel like we're part of something bigger. It's transformational. I mean, the not only the timeline, but the quality of what we were able to produce would not have been possible without the partnership with DDI. So firstly, congratulations. You've been on quite an extraordinary journey going from, you know, being a part of one of the world's most iconic companies to standing up this incord extraordinary independent business, 50,000 people, 160 countries. You know, when I think about that, that's not just a structural change. That's a complete reinvention of identity. And one of the things I love about reading your story is that right in the middle of all of that, you made this really bold call to treat leadership development not as a nice to have, but actually as an engine of that transformation. And I'd love to start there if we can. You know, what was happening in the business that made leadership a priority for you at that moment? — Yeah, thanks Holly and I appreciate the conversation. So you mentioned we were part of an iconic company GE. I mean 130 year old company and GE Healthcare has been along and part of that family for that entire time. So in 2023 we separated into an independent publicly traded company. So we like to refer to ourselves as a 130 year old 20 billion startup. Uh what caused us to have to rebuild uh all of our leadership development is that right before spin-off really starting with COVID in 2020 we lost access to the worldrenowned Croinville Jack Welsh leadership development center over that the intervening years up until 2023 there had been no formal or systematic development at GE healthcare. So I called it my feed the beast. we needed to feed the beast and bring back uh development for our leaders. They were hungry for it. They had missed it. So that was really the genesis of why we created what we created is really to feed the beast and now we're taking it to the next level. — And as you enter into that moment, you know, you're obviously had that distance from that intensive quality training and programming and leadership development ethos. What gaps were starting to emerge for you? What was becoming visible in the business? I think that gap that we had with them not having any formal leader development, you know, it was spotty here and there where parts of the business were bringing it in, but fundamentally what we were seeing was a lack of just foundational blocking and tackling skills of leaders being they were promoted on technical skills um great technicians and the expertise in their areas but had really lost the ability to get things done through teams through others. So that was our biggest gap initially was just closing the gap in foundational skills at every level of the organization from our frontline leaders all the way up to our executive leaders. We've now pretty much solved for that. We're starting to work on polishing the skills, but our biggest gap was just how do you coach? How do you delegate and empower? How do you have a critical conversation? And we started there really making sure that they had the fundamentals. — And what was your view about what was at risk if nothing changed? I mean, you described yourself as 130y old 20 billion dollar startup. What was your concern if you didn't step in with quite a level of urgency and get something that could really robustly address that challenge? — Well, as a new startup, you know, we needed people to step up their game. You know, they we needed them to act like entrepreneurs. get more done with less because we didn't have the resources from GE any longer. We were operating on our own. And if we didn't get leaders stepping up and having their teams step up, we were going to lose our innovative uh nature. not grow as quickly as we needed to as a new startup and meet kind of our mission with our customers. So there was a real risk of not having our leaders uh have that safety blanket so to speak of GE there to kind of help us and we were in the public flight. Uh so we needed them to step up and act like leaders really owning their teams and treating their teams in a more humanistic way. You know, I think that's they were very good at the technical aspects, but really getting connected with their teams and working closely with the teams was something that was necessary for us to move forward quickly and get through that bubble of change quickly. — I'm hearing really clearly the human skills, the coaching, your owning your teams. To your point, there was real technical competency, but some of those critical skills for driving team

effectiveness, collaboration, mobilizing people towards a goal. It sounds like there was a real opportunity to close there with other things. I mean, Croinville has this whole like storied legacy of folklore around it. Um, but I also imagine there's elements of when you start to create your own identity and you want to move in an agile fashion as a startup and those sorts of things where you maybe want to intentionally depart from some of the way things have previously been done. Was there anything as well that you really needed new competency in or you intentionally wanted to do differently to maybe the way GE had done leadership development historically when you were part of the mothership? — Yeah, absolutely, Holly. I think that's one of the big things that I was very deliberate at going back and not just saying we need to replicate Croinville because that's the ask I had when I joined the company about five years ago and I said, well, let's look at this uh and see what's changed. what do we need to do differently? We're a different company. We're in a different environment. And that was really where the partnership with DDI began. Uh because they have a legacy of research, scientifically backed focus on leadership development, being current, understanding what's going on. So that partnership, understanding how neuroscience now fits in, which wasn't around when Croinville was built. So, we're taking a dramatically different approach with how we do leader development by not the week-long immersive intensive training on campus in upstate New York. We're doing a much more multimodal longer what I call dose feeding the training, teaching them one or two skills, allowing them to practice it until it becomes habit, then moving on to the next skill and making it kind of a building format. That's totally different than the Croinville experience and we think it's more appropriate for how leaders need to develop and how adults learn today. — I think it's a really interesting point that idea of the immersive model didn't work or that intensive kind of drink from the fire hose. you needed something that was much more dose-based and could be doled out more regularly and consistently and perhaps you know in a more on demand sense as leaders were finding themselves in a situation where they knew they needed to build new muscle and it strikes me that was one of the huge challenges of what you were doing I mean the scale we're talking about 50,000 people the geographic spread that you had you know scalable ro relevant development sounds like it was really the ethos of the brief that you were approaching this challenge with is that fair — it says we were I when I took my role as the head of global leader development I was given four months to launch four leadershipmies emerging leaders frontline mid-level and executive and I had to hire a team in the middle of that so the only way to get that done was with a good partnership to help launch from a basis that uh met what I expected kind of that journeybased multimmodal global footprint the expertise that uh lent credibility right out of the gate So that's where DDI came into the picture and we really had a very short amount of time to feed the beast to get back into this uh you know worldclass status of growing leaders what we could say growing or building leaders without limits um within the organization. — I'm interested for some of the reaction you got from uh the organization people in your teams as they stepped into this sort of new format of learning. um what did you sort of see? What reactions, what anecdotal observations aside from sort of obviously what you've proved out um from a quantitative standpoint, but just talk to us about some of what you started noticing and hearing inside the organization. — Well, we saw that humanistic aspect that we saw missing when I first got to the company, we started to see show up in different ways. We heard, you know, the formal ways with our culture survey, uh you know, the numbers were improving. uh people were talking differently about their leaders where we heard a lot about authoritarianism which is not the way you want to hear about your leadership. Um people were talking about it felt different. It felt like they were more part of the team as opposed to waiting on the memo was the phrase we heard quite a bit. Just tell me what to do boss and I'll get it done. So I think anecdotally we started to hear that change in language and sense of change the feel. Now have we made it completely? No. We we're still working toward critical mass but the language is changing significantly in the organization and even though we're facing like many companies some tough financial times right now with everything going on based on the tariffs and global macroeconomic uh pressures. our leaders have said, "We are going to continue to invest in growing leaders because we're feeling and seeing a difference in how they're

working and their teams are. " Um, you know, they're showing up differently as well. Much more collaborative, higher retention rate than we've had in the past. — I was going to say that uh kind of continued backing is always such a great proof point that things are um developing in the way an organization hopes. you know, leadership don't continue to back things unless they feel like they're seeing green shoots and visible signs in the organization. One of the gaps I often find when we roll out these sorts of programs is the disconnect uh in frontline leaders. You know, we can often do a better job of servicing kind of our executive headquarter type of leadership than we potentially can from a frontline worker standpoint. How did you tackle that challenge and sort of tailor this for your frontline workers specifically? Yeah, and that's where the model the framework that DDI presented matched very well with what I firmly believe is that you have to approach it from an integrated leadership development system. So you're developing every level. You can't just focus on one. Uh and when I first got here, they would get a program and they say this is great, but what about them? and would point up uh you know so what we focused on was not only executives but we built out a program that very robust global program delivered regionally so it's in the context in which they're working for our frontline leaders and we do it cohort-based integrating multiple parts of our company with the frontline so they're building the networks they're understanding another uh big gap we found was greater business acumen they understood collectively how our company work through the way we were approaching our frontline leader development. Building those foundational skills in the context that they were living in with people who were having the same issues that they were. So there was a sense of camaraderie and understanding that okay I'm not alone in how I feel as a leader. Um but the focus on frontline we're focusing equally on mid-level and executive and our emerging leaders the individual contributors aspiring for firsttime leadership. It's a very holistic approach. — I think you've touched on it a little bit already. You Todd, you've talked about um the system approach, you've talked about dose, but I always think it's really interesting to the degree that we can diagnose how we've managed to make something stick because we've all seen programs roll out that have last for a cycle and not had long lasting impact. What do you think, and I know you sort of you haven't arrived yet. uh there's still a journey to go, but what do you think are some of the things that have been part of the design of this work that have really helped it get traction? — Yeah. So, it I call it my three-legged stool approach, right? So, we believe strongly that again different than Croinville, but something that's a big part of our program is selfinsight at every level. You can't lead your others until you can lead yourself. So, we've built that into the program with science-based and signals-based assessments. something again DDI taught us not only what are predictive things that we can look at but what are the actual behaviors so we use the 360 tool with competencies uh from DDI uh we do that extended learning journey that's also different it puts them in a place where they can practice and use what they're learning back on the job and then reinforce it so that it becomes habit and that's where the results are really coming from and then the third thing that we've added in the third leg of that stool is coaching. And you know, I consider coaching a force multiplier in leader development. It's helping with that transfer of learning back to the job. It's helping individuals put it even more in context with their role and what they're facing and it helps sustain that change once they get back on the job. And I think that's the biggest difference we're seeing is habit forming, not just behavior change, but habit forming and results coming from those habits um when they apply them on the job. — I think the on the job piece was one of the striking parts of reading about your case study. You know, 98% of graduates saying, "I'm planning to apply the skills I'm learning. " That's a remarkably high number. Um just talk to us a little bit about what you're seeing on the ground. What behaviors did you want to change? What are leaders doing differently maybe than they were previously? If I was walking the floor of GE Healthcare, what would I notice? — Yeah. Well, for one thing since that metric came out in the case study is we've applied a follow-up survey 90 days after their training to their manager and the individual. So, it's kind of a reflective survey. Okay, you told us what you predicted, but now look back and tell us, are you doing this? And we're still getting in the high 70s in terms of yes, this did make a difference. it did make an impact. So, we're getting that feedback from them. But if we do we we're a big lean company. So, if we go to Gumba, which is walking the shop floor, getting around people, what I'm seeing is a different level of conversation that's more

collaborative than I think we had before. People are getting out of their silos. We're we we've spent a lot of time focusing on what we call horizontal leadership. That means looking at not only your role, but what's the impact on the process, the folks to the left and right of you, the next step in the chain. And now we're seeing a, you know, a broader, more thoughtful conversation and process around, okay, I'm not just focused on my piece. I'm looking at how does this impact the whole and we're starting to see, you know, the byproduct of that with greater collaboration. Um, and like you said, we're in 160 companies. We're very complex, highly matrixed organization. I think that's one of the most telling components is people are figuring out how to collaborate differently and have different conversations to make sure we accomplish the mission at a higher level. — One of the ways we also often look for these types of programs to move the needle is in things like our retention numbers, our engagement results. Are you seeing it translate in some of those hard numbers in the business too? — We absolutely are. I mean, we're at a a unique place where we are seeing people voluntarily stay and, you know, we have the opportunity to exit people that need to go somewhere else, right? And that's, you know, sometimes organizations don't feel like they can do that, but our retention numbers are phenomenal. I mean, we are running in the mid teens where we were in the mid20s previously as we were going through the change with the spin-off from GE Healthcare. I think the biggest thing on the culture survey that we're seeing and we do pulse surveys and we do an annual survey and consistently across both people are talking about this culture feels different. We feel like we're part of something bigger and that anybody we reach out to will drop whatever they're doing. no matter how busy they are to help and that's because of the environment that the leaders are creating. We have been able to tease out the data on those who have graduated ourmies from those who haven't and we're seeing an exponential difference in those leaders. So it is having an effect and impact when they go through academy and start changing their behaviors. But I think it's also having a knock-on effect for those that haven't been to themies. Right? So I think we're seeing kind of a it is it's propagating itself u by leaders showing what good looks like after they complete their experience with us. — One of the other things that struck me reading the case study was clearly the work that was done to understand the business and ultimately where the business is trying to head you know with that kind of future growth in mind. Um and so I'm interested in like how does this program position you for future growth? How has this been factored into the way that you've designed it? — I mean, growth is where we have to go in healthcare. Things are constantly changing. It's uh my favorite term is voua, you know, volatile, uh uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Our leaders are now learning how to navigate through that. And that's the only way we're going to get growth, especially in these hard macroeconomic times. Um, so the we GE historically has been known since Edison as an innovative company. The only way we're going to maintain our innovative pace with integrating AI into our products and how we're leveraging that is for people to work better together. And I think that's where our growth comes from is that collaboration, that innovation, that entrepreneurial mindset that we're starting to create now that we're an independent company. Speaking of collaboration, I mean, you've alluded to it already, but this certainly wasn't built in isolation. Uh, this was built with a very collaborative partnership at the heart of it. Um, talk to me about your experience working with DDI through this process. — Yeah, it wouldn't have happened without DDI. That's the first thing I'll say. DDI, again, what resonated with me uh in talking with DDI is the sciencebased approach that they take. It's research back. So that gave immediate credibility to what we were doing. We have a bunch of engineers and scientists. So they want data. They want to understand that things are science-based. And that was job one. DDI also is probably the most um flexible and nimble. I mean I can come to them at any time, any day with a challenge and they bring their whole team to the table and we figure it out. So, it's not a cookie cutter approach to delivering a program that's pre-baked. They will take all of that research, all of their resources and help us build something that meets the challenge that we're facing at the time. Initially, it was building thosemies to develop

foundational skills. They've been a great partner now with figuring out how to integrate AI into the classroom so that we understand and teach our leaders not to fear it and how to leverage it to be even better leaders. So the partnership was critical in us getting there especially in four months time frame uh to launch something that was good enough to feed the beast and now refined to grow where we need to get at the next level. that you rolled right past it at the end there, but I forget that detail that four months is quite extraordinary to have delivered what you'd done together under that type of deadline. Um, that was a remarkable pressure test. — It was. And once I got the team hired, it was, you know, pretty much turn them over to DDI and let them work out the details of their individualmies and get out of their way. And uh, you know, my job was to get DDI inhouse. their job was to create the best program using uh the DDI resources. So yeah, it went really well, well beyond my expectations. I if somebody told me I only had four months when I was hired for the job, I probably wouldn't have taken it, but I'm glad I did. — And the timeline might be your answer there, but you mentioned exceeding expectations. Was there anything in particular about the partnership that really exceeded your expectations? I think it is I I want I don't want to be cliche but it was really a familial kind of approach that DDI takes. They are true partners. I mean I feel like DDI is an extension of my team. Uh you know so it they they help us whenever we need it as I mentioned and it's a very they don't feel like a big company approach. They feel very personalized in how they approach us as their only client, right? Uh that's what it feels like. And I think that is what I'm always looking for in partnerships is somebody who's willing to go shoulder-to-shoulder and solve whatever problem we need to solve. — We've covered a lot in a very short period of time about context, the challenge, the build, the results. I wonder if I can ask probably the hardest question yet, which is if you had to describe the impact on the organization in one sentence of what you have built uh with this program with this piece of work with DDI, how would you describe it? — I think it was a significant impact. Uh so one sentence I I mold over this question quite a bit. If I had to say what the impact was, it and again it's very cliche but it was transformational. I mean the not only the timeline but the quality of what we were able to produce would not have been possible without the partnership with DDI. It was critical and significant to be able to partner with DDI to launch what we did in a short period of time with the quality that we ended up with. And leadership development Todd is on so many organizations radar as they contemplate how do we skill people for this moment? How do we respond to the demands uh the changes the transformation our organizations need to go under for other organizations that are maybe out there thinking about uh the work they need to do to really reset or configure their leadership development program? What would you tell them? The first thing and and this is something I've believed for a long time is the days of in-sourced development where you're creating your own content unless it needs to be customized. Leadership development is transferable. So partner with someone who has the background and the chops to understand leadership development and the in the issues that leaders face and stays current and partner with them. It gives you the ability to quickly ramp up and at the end of the day it's probably less costly when you add up the numbers than trying to build it all yourself and I believe it's a higher quality. So go out and find a partner like DDI, partner with DDI to uh to actually deliver something that we know works and that it addresses leaders needs, you know, foundationally and even the emerging needs of leaders based on the research that they continue to collect. — Todd, you've been amazing. You've covered almost everything I wanted to in a very short period of time. Um, is there anything I haven't given you the chance to shout out or talk about that you really wanted to make sure you made a point of? — I think what we constantly hear u that I think is also indicative of DDI's approach is many times our participants don't know that the facilitators are don't work for GE healthcare. the way they approach how they deliver and what they do. They have such an intimate

understanding of our company that the lines blur between that's why I say they feel like a part of my team because people don't know that they're contracted in to help facilitate. They truly act like they're part of us and we appreciate that.