Top team alignment at a global leader in the hospitality industry
SITUATION
MISSION
A global company appoints a new CEO in one of its largest countries. This new CEO wants to transform his company’s leadership team and shape it into a true high-performance team.
Some of the ExCo members, like the CEO, are convinced that the transformation makes sense, while others are not. The first step, therefore, is to establish sufficient agreement on the need for transformation and on how to proceed. After that, it is fundamental to accompany the ExCo in a completely customized approach over a period of 2 years.
IMPACT
The team comes out stronger of a period of significant change, able to cope with the personnel changes and – despite a heavy workload – leads the company to profitable growth. Several massive and unexpected challenges are overcome together, showing the team what they can achieve when they work together effectively.
APPROACH
After intensive coordination with the CEO and CHRO, all team members are interviewed individually. The insights are compiled, discussed with CEO and CHRO and an agenda is set for the first 2-day workshop. The workshop consists of plenary work, small groups, intensive discussions, and elements to deepen mutual connection and trust. Individual follow-up meetings are conducted to debrief, and impressions from these are discussed with the CEO and CHRO. On this basis, a rhythm of follow-up – preparation – individual discussions – workshop implementation develops, which is spread over a total of 12 months and brings the team together regularly. Each workshop builds on what has been previously achieved and incorporates developments within the company. The composition of the team changes continuously, so it is essential to stay very dynamic in responding to the team’s situation. The approach is rounded off by the use of several instruments that hold up a mirror to the team collectively and to the team members individually as to what contributions they make (and could still make) to the success of the High Performance Team.
Top team alignment at a leading regional department store chain.
SITUATION
MISSION
Regional department store chain operating in two countries (150 million citizens). Due to economic difficulties, a new CEO (from outside the industry) is hired, and within 2 years another 8 of a total of 13 board positions are filled externally. Together, the repositioning and redevelopment shall be successfully implemented.
The top management team is mostly new, with only 4 of 13 members having a longer history with the company. Many of the new board members are highly specialized, come from outside the company and are largely unfamiliar with the industry. The task is to form a powerful top team of 13 highly qualified board members in this demanding and complex situation. This is initiated by the CEO and CHRO.
IMPACT
Already the first workshop results in clear positive development of personal relationships and cooperation with measurable behavioral changes. Increasing mutual trust, transparency around attitudes and individual behaviors and preferences, increasing alignment on outcomes and actions, shared decision-making, removal of personnel and organizational barriers after 6 months, largely sworn-in and highly efficient and effective community of ExCo members.
APPROACH
After initial discussions with the CEO and CHRO, a top team alignment program is developed, which is designed to systematically develop the team into a top team over 18 months. For this purpose, 5 critical topics are discussed and anchored in 6 multi-day offsites, each flanked by interviews with all board members before the workshops, debriefs after the offsites, Five Dysfunctions as a tracking of team development and targeted 1:1 mentoring as a supplement.
Implementation of Group strategy
SITUATION
MISSION
A leader in its industry appoints a new, carefully selected, and consciously groo- med CEO from within. His predecessor as CEO keeps the role of Chair of the Supervisory Board, and the executive committee remains largely unchanged. The new CEO wants to set the tone and get his CEO – ship off to a flying start.
The new CEO has asked us to prepare a facilitated two-day offsite for the entire executive committee (10+ members). He wants the executive committee to rally behind him, and he wants for every individual member to build their awareness of their impact and how they can best contribute to the success of the group – in their own areas of responsibility, and also as a member of the executive committee.
IMPACT
The executive committee rally behind the new CEO and collectively set the tone for how they are going to implement the strategy for their group. The long-standing members of the executive committee develop an even deeper appreciation for one another, while the more recent members commented that “this was the best onboarding into the executive committee that we could have hoped for”. It was the first face to face executive committee meeting for three of them, The feedback from the CEO on the next day was this: On my way back from our offsite, I want to send you my greatest appreciation for preparing and supporting the 2-day seminar we just had. Please extend my thanks to your colleague who also did a great job. Your “duet” worked perfectly! I was impressed by how smooth was (apparently) the journey during the 2 days. Clearly, all your work behind the scenes and your “finesse” in adapting the agenda and setting the tempo were instrumental. It was a success and you made it possible!
APPROACH
Based on a curated set of questions, we have interviewed each member of the executive committee and have created a confidential report for the CEO and the CHRO – to develop the agenda for the two- day offsite. This same report is later shared with the entire executive committee. Every member is asked to come to the workshop with their own analysis of this report. In addition, every member completes the “Five dysfunctions of a team” survey and a Hogan assessment, which is debriefed individually by a qualified executive coach not present at the workshop.
The first workshop day is started by an activity to set the tone and the energy for the conversation. Then the findings from the pre-workshop interviews are discussed, and initial conclusions are drawn. These findings are then compared to the results of the “Five dysfunctions of a team” survey, and implications are discussed. An activity break follows for a game of pétanque before dinner is served. The second workshop day starts with a reflection on day one and is followed by a discussion of the impressions gleaned from the individual Hogan assessment debrief conversations. The CEO goes first and sets the very open tone for the conversation that includes several powerful a-ha moments. The day continues with a series of 1:1 conversations and a discussion of the main priorities for the executive committee going forward. Agreements are made for how members of the executive committee are going to interact and work with each other going forward. After an in-the- moment feedback session, the executive committee adjourn before gathering for a farewell dinner for the previous CEO.
