Shortly after being promoted to manager I took LAMP in 2007. I found LAMP to be enlightening and very useful. The 360 report with feedback from me, my managers, peers, and direct reports, provided valuable insight into areas I was doing well on, and other areas that could be developed. The resulting Individual Action Plan afforded a chance to improve in one such development area.
LAMP was also the first time I took the DiSC personal assessment tool. I found it to be particularly insightful in how to deal with others. I could estimate where other people were on the DiSC profile, and thus tailor my approaches. It allowed me to be more direct than my default style with people who respond better to that, and to remember to engage in some small talk, with those who prefer that. Overall it provided a better glimpse for me into what others were thinking, and how best to work with them, to achieve our mutual goals.
LAMP covered effective presentations, which is an important skill to improve. It also introduced me to new topics I knew little about from finance to management law. Throughout it all I also learned a lot from my classmates and their experiences from a wide range of local companies. I remember, for example, being surprised how much performance management varied across our companies.
Since graduating from LAMP in 2007, my responsibilities have continued to increase. I now manage more people, and get involved with a wider range of projects. I’m also interacting more directly with customers and with more senior management in our parent companies.
I was recently offered the opportunity to take EPSE, which I accepted. Thus I’m currently in the 2016-2017 class, which runs through mid-May.
Larry Cook celebrates with his wife at the LAMP 30th celebration.
In the ten years since LAMP my role at work has changed. Would the personal assessments in EPSE show a similar change? In a word, yes. EPSE also has a 360 report and DiSC assessment, and my results on both are different than ten years ago. Fortunately the development area I worked on in LAMP, calculated risk taking, now shows up as something I do well. (Not to worry, the EPSE 360 still found several other areas for me to work on.) In my LAMP DiSC assessment I was relatively low in D, or Dominance. My EPSE DiSC has D as the second highest. So whether it’s ten additional years of experience, or the fact my role at work is different, my results on these assessments have changed.
Another factor for me is that topics taught for management have changed or been updated. The insight I gained from DiSC in LAMP for gauging what people are thinking and how to approach them, overlaps nicely with the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI), one of the EPSE class topics I’m looking forward to. EI wasn’t in common use for management training in 2007, and thus wasn’t included in my LAMP 2007 class.
Also the focus of LAMP is generally more tactical, and EPSE more strategic, in keeping with the levels in the organization LAMP and EPSE students typically are. I find myself getting more involved with strategic decisions, and I recognize if I continue to advance in my career, strategy will play an increasing role.
There are also areas of EPSE that I expect to be similar to LAMP, but still well worth revisiting. One example is additional work on presentation skills, which becomes more important as our careers progress. I expect EPSE to be equally useful for the current stage of my career, as LAMP was for an earlier point. I’m looking forward to working with a new group of EPSE classmates, updating my skills, and learning new topics.
— Larry Cook
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