Formula for success

It takes thousands of people to design, build and deliver the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

It takes a lot more to build and maintain the team that has made the Super Hornet program the benchmark of aircraft manufacturing.

It starts with a leadership team that embraces innovation in working with people, as well as working with machines, according to Chris Chadwick, vice president for F/A-18 Programs for Boeing. He believes that innovative spirit has created a true "team first" atmosphere in the F/A-18 program. As proof, he is quick to point out that this is not "his" team; the team works because "we have a Working Together mindset. By working as a fully integrated team, everyone has more success than by doing anything alone."

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Many happy returns

Just how valuable are corporate learning and training programs? Recent evaluations of a Boeing leadership program for chief engineers may surprise even the most fervent supporters.

The evaluations showed that thanks to the participants' improvements in on-the-job performance and quality, the average training return on investment (ROI) results for the first two Engineering Leadership Program (ELP) courses studied was more than 500 percent. The study identified advances in areas such as efficiency, quality and general problem avoidance. (The study was a qualitative assessment, where ELP participants helped quantify the findings—and was not representative of an in-depth financial analysis.)

In other words, participants are making better decisions in a more timely fashion thanks to the principles they learned in ELP—and are saving Boeing money totaling five times the overall cost of the program.

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