L-3 Leadership Development Program

Nominating company: Egan Co.

Egan Co. is a multi-trades contractor based in Minnesota and North Carolina specializing in a multitude of skilled trades and professional services, including commercial glazing, curtain wall installation and more. The company is comprised of about 1,000 employees and 12 different specialty trades, according to its website.

Egan Co.’s  L-3 Leadership Development Program is a cohort-based, development experience designed to empower current and emerging leaders across the organization. Grounded in Egan’s leadership competency model, L-3 focuses on leadership from three critical perspectives: Leading Self, Leading Others and Leading Business.

This program is delivered through a blend of strategic partnerships and internal facilitation. “With two different L-3 tracks, one tailored to field leadership and the other to office leadership, L-3 addresses the unique challenges and opportunities within each environment, while maintaining a consistent foundation of core leadership behaviors and principles,” say company officials.

The Field Leadership L-3 is a three-month experience with one full-day classroom session each month. The Leadership L-3 is a six-month experience with two full-day sessions every other month and a business challenge project the participants work on as small groups/teams throughout.

Egan measures effectiveness through post-program evaluations and employee surveys, and company leaders receive feedback from their direct reports annually.

To ensure the company was designing a program aligned with Egan’s goals and company culture, the developers took over a year to plan it. During that time, they identified the characteristics they wanted to see in a leader at the company, and also defined a competency model and framework for evaluating leaders.

“Egan’s program goes beyond the standard approach to skills development. While technical and role-specific training is essential, Egan has included a holistic focus on leadership and behavioral development. I think this approach is critical in today’s workplace, where accountability, collaboration and adaptability are as important as technical expertise,” says Glass Magazine Awards judge Tara Brummet, chief of staff, Vitrum Glass, Apex Aluminum & Lorval Developments.