Building more effective team performance
Surprisingly given how much literature there is on this topic, it is incredibly hard to build a truly high performing team. Success requires a sustained commitment from all team members. Both humility and a willingness to discuss uncomfortable topics is paramount to success. See below case studies that detail a selection of ways we have worked for our clients:
AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING
CONTEXT
The board of the most famous, ultra luxury brand in the world were facing a challenge; the internal employee experience was falling significantly short of the incredible standards the organisation holds itself to. The board realised that more attention needed to be given to the internal culture and that journey had to start with them personally. The board consisted of a collection of strong, passionate and vocal leaders, each of whom care deeply about their function. As a result, for many employees, presenting to the board was a nerve-wracking, high-pressure experience. They wanted to create a much more open, inclusive, people orientated culture in the business.
APPROACH
We undertook to facilitate quarterly board workshops which had no operational or commercial agenda. The sessions were focussed purely on increasing team functionality and delving into dynamics at board level to improve company culture. The facilitation style we used during these sessions was direct and uncompromising. As a result, the team evolved a new level of honesty and directness with each other. This ultimately led to a top-down culture change throughout the organisation.
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS GIANT
CONTEXT
The senior leadership team of this business unit had been significantly affected by the unexpected departure of a much-liked leader. The team were left feeling uncertain about the future with inconsistent levels of trust and rapport, along with huge expectations of growth from their parent company. As a result, their direct reports were becoming more siloed in their way of working and increasingly demotivated. This was evidenced in employee survey results, visible conflicts and higher staff turnover. The internal L&D function felt this was a particularly sensitive piece of work and did not have an existing provider who could effectively undertake something like this.
APPROACH
We designed a journey for the senior leadership team that would enable them to open up about the experiences of the previous 12 months and begin to lay a new foundation for a renewed team culture. This solution included direct observation of their internal meetings followed by feedback on how they interacted with each other and the other attendees. This provided a unique insight which was a catalyst to behavioural change. We then worked intensively with the senior team with off-site events to build open dialogue and have the necessary commercial conversations. Over the next 18 months, the project expanded to include all 150 people within that function, we ran high impact events to create a positive energy and momentum across the whole function. By the end of the first year they became the top performing region in Europe.