How do you get a Leadership team to work together as a team?
Summary
[This client organisation gave us their permission to publish their case study and chose to remain anonymous]
The Business Development team had recently been formed as a consequence of some re-organisation in the business. The new team is headed up by a VP and he has five Directors reporting to him. The Directors were all experienced in the business and in leadership roles but their remits were all specialist and distinct, creating a natural tendency to work in ‘silos’. This meant they were over-reliant on the VP’s overview and everything seemed to have to involve him.
The development programme was about getting to know each other’s professional style and strengths and working on ways to dovetail efforts towards business growth targets, without adding to workloads.
Investment
This project follows the classic Brilliant Minds structure and involved:
- Six LAB Profile interviews
- Three workshop days
- A few hours of consultancy time to write reports etc
- Three coaching sessions per participant
At current prices this would cost around £40,000
[If that’s all you need to know to be interested in how we can do the same for you, please click here to contact Sharon Smith, my PA, and request a free consultation]
Background
The client organisation is a specialist technology company with a global market and an enviable reputation. Working with different markets in diverse countries means that there’s never a final answer to the question of business development. A recent reorganisation had brought together a new team to take the lead in this area. The members of the team were experienced leaders and some already knew each other.
The challenges were mainly around how capitalise on the experience and knowledge in the team when individuals were focusing on completely separate markets or products. The VP was constantly providing the bridge between teams and needed to be able to step back and allow this to happen without his ongoing intervention.
Three time-zones and vacancies in several teams added to the challenges.
Why Brilliant Minds?
This project taps into some of our core capabilities:
- We know the tech sector and have worked with specialist companies of all sizes over a long period of time
- We knew a feel-good bonding experience wasn’t going to be enough to build this team, they needed something more tangible and practical
- Facilitating problem-solving using methods that can easily be replicated is key part of our work with teams
We also have worked with this company before and they trust us…
What we did…
We used a tried and tested process that we have used with many other teams. Each member of the team had a one-to-one session with Dianne to compile their LAB Profile, which uncovers both motivation patterns and productivity patterns. By collating the individual profiles, Dianne created a Team Profile, to highlight the strengths and diversity within the team.
That was followed with a two-day team workshop, which included:
- Exploration of the LAB Profile results and implications for the team
- The Brilliant Minds Leadership model
- The neuroscience of Leadership
- Creating and maintaining ‘Performance Mode’ within a team
- Allocation of a Brilliant Minds Executive coach to each member of the team.
Having completed the workshop, team members had a clear sense of their own strengths, other people’s strengths and what each can best contribute to the team. In addition, each person had a development plan and their own assigned coach to help them achieve it.
The coaching took place over the following four months, ensuring that each person had support to implement their own plans and the opportunity to discuss any matters that had not been raised in the workshop.
Finally, the team came back together to review their progress and results.
Results
In general, the programme created focus on how the team members work together and was the catalyst for many small initiatives that created clarity and increased regular communication. The VP was able to reduce the amount of time he spent bridging the gaps between different areas.
Overall, there was much more respect for the differences in the team and less frustration with each other.
Some specific insights…
The VP, as leader of the team, realised that leadership was not just about leading the various Business Development teams, it was also about the team providing leadership within the business – especially the strategic direction.
The insights about each other that emerged from the Team LAB Profile, also provided insights about other colleagues, suppliers, customers and family members. Many of the Directors reported they were approaching situations differently with these insights, particularly in delivering feedback.
The neuroscience included in the workshop had enabled one of the Directors to manage his stress more effectively.
The need to communicate in person, or at least by telephone was also noted. The team now relies less on email and people are making more effort to meet in person and to talk regularly, despite the constraints of time-zone differences. They have improved the regular cycle of meetings to better meet everyone’s needs.
Would you like to talk about your team?
If you would like to find out more about how your team can benefit from this type of team event, your first step is to book a free 30-minute call with me. We’ll talk about your situation and the changes you want to make. From there, I’ll make some suggestions about how we can work together. There’s no obligation and the exploratory call is completely free, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
To arrange a free consultation:
Call Sharon Smith on 01480 861569
or complete our Contact Form
or if you prefer book direct into Dianne’s calendar here
