Custom Programs
Executives From Aviva Serve Community

The 29 executives who came to Wharton for Aviva's Group Development Program spent their first full day in Philadelphia renovating homes in an inner-city neighborhood. The impulse for the project came from Lynne Rutherford, director of group management development at Aviva, and reflects the company's strong commitment to community service and social responsibility. But the project also provided an opportunity for the executives from diverse parts of the world to form teams and gain insights into group dynamics. This would be vital during the 2 weeks at Wharton and the entire 18-month program, which concludes at Wharton next year.

"The first day of a program like this is a community-building day, a chance to build a learning community" said Dana Kaminstein, academic co-director of the program. "It is a transition from work to a learning environment. This is often hard to do. And this was a dramatic way to do it. How do you enter an unfamiliar situation where you don't have your usual resources such as secretaries and assistants? It enhances their potential for some self examination and learning on the first day."

The executives were divided into groups and given tasks, working with a local nonprofit organization, "The Other Carpenter." The assignments included replacing a set of windows, installing a new ceiling, and clearing a vacant lot for a small "pocket park." But it was up to the team to figure out how to complete the task by the end of the day. "This involved getting to know the people they are working with as a team pretty quickly," said Kaminstein. "The day also involves learning how to get a project jump-started, some attendant frustrations, and coping with many ambiguous situations."

There were other mechanisms for learning. While most executives were working directly on projects, some developed a newsletter and article about the experience (see below) to engage in more deliberate reflection on the activities. "It was learning about observing and recognizing the larger context for all the different projects," Kaminstein said. In addition, the executives debriefed after lunch and at the end of the day to discuss what they had learned.

Since the exercise is unscripted, the takeaways are never the same. During an earlier program in London, a service project offered lessons in intergroup learning. "This time the learnings were about how disparate teams can stay connected and how to build relationships with the community residents or people whose homes were being remodeled," Kaminstein said. "One outcome from both of the community service days is that executives derive a great deal of satisfaction from doing some physical labor, remodeling, and seeing a task actually accomplished by the end of the day. The tasks that many of them perform each day are intangible, with the results of their work often measured in months or years. Putting in windows, fixing a ceiling, or painting is exciting because they can actually point to a clear accomplishment. The Aviva executives also emphasized how good it felt to have made a contribution to a community."

How does it affect the later classroom sessions? The group learns to work together quickly, shares a common set of experiences, and makes the transition from work to a learning and experiential environment. "During the rest of the program, the group members have a strong rapport with each other, based on their experiences on the first day; and the group discussions benefit, with more openness, honesty, and debate than new groups usually experience when they begin to work together," Kaminstein said. "This type of experience helps to really jump-start the learning community."

A Firsthand Account: Putting on Work Clothes

As other teams were working on projects in Philadelphia, Stephen Hill, Head of Finance of Aviva UK, was assigned to observe and write about the project. The following are his observations.

Prior to arriving at Wharton from around the world, the participants from Aviva (the world's 5th largest insurance company) were told to bring "work-clothes" for their first assignment! We weren't given any more details, and so had no idea what was in store for us. We arrived early in the morning at the Steinberg Conference Center dressed to impress (i.e., scruffy jeans and t-shirts). However, we felt a bit at odds with the attire of rest of the campus — as today was Commencement Day, and the proceedings and procession were about to begin.

To set the context, executives in the Aviva: Group Development Program were beginning the first day of a 2-week program at Wharton Executive Education in Philadelphia. Lasting 18 months, the course will consist of a week at the London Business School before returning to Wharton Executive Education for our final module next year.

The 29 of us attending had traveled from places across the globe (London, Australia, India, and Canada, to name a few) to meet together for the first time to begin a journey of learning and development.

It became clear that one of the themes of the program would be a strong element of customer awareness to complement the lecture-style learning. To facilitate this, our first assignment was a Community Service Project in Philadelphia — hence the "work-clothes."

Wharton had linked up with a local nonprofit organization based in East Parkside called ‘The Other Carpenter' (TOC). The community here is a low-to-moderate income neighborhood that borders the Philadelphia Zoo, Fairmount Park, and the R5 train track. One of the aims of TOC, which has been active for 3 years, is to renovate and repair the residences of local homeowners. The program runs on a must-needs basis with each resident being asked to contribute up to 15 percent of the cost of materials, but with the labor being provided by local residents, TOC construction supervisors, and volunteers from programs such as our own. TOC has been completing up to 60 projects a year, and we were here today to help out with 5 of these. David Heaton, Executive Director of TOC, was keen to stress that this was a "housing program," but the fundamentals were about "building relationships," and this was our opportunity to be involved at the ground level.

I'm writing this article based in the basement of TOC's headquarters, the First African Presbyterian Church on West Girard Avenue, a few miles from the University campus. My colleagues are currently working on a variety of activities. Today they are variously involved with installing dry wall, replacing windows, renovating bedrooms, spreading topsoil, building planters, and painting. The last of these is working with the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC). Al T Henderson, their community liaison man, explained how TOC and WePAC worked closely together with local volunteers to build a strong community feeling. In addition to the housing projects, there are various programs, including working with children and youths (after-school class such as Little Brothers and Bright, Bold and Beautiful), building career awareness, life and social skills.

As the day draws in and we revisited the sites we are working on, it's clear that we won't achieve all our goals today. This is an ongoing program, and David will have other volunteers arriving tomorrow to pick up where we left off.

From a business perspective, we will review how "community building" quickly helped our team to form. I'm sure being thrown in the deep end on day one will pay huge benefits when we return to the classroom for our time at Wharton Executive Education.

Our greater challenge, though, will be to find a way to take the action-based learning we've acquired back into the workplace and ultimately derive benefits for our customers and shareholders. It's Commencement Day at Wharton, and in many ways this is the commencement of our journey together. We've had a fantastic opportunity to kick-start our learning — so I'm hoping we can continue in this groundbreaking effort.

Stephen Hill
Head of Finance
Aviva UK

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