We built value and trust throughout the entire process
Niras
"You usually don't learn much from typical management courses, but here I experienced how effective such a course can be. Usually a lot of the value is generated in the informal evening get-together, but here there has been value and creation of confidence throughout the entire course."
Tom Heron
CEO at Niras
The challenge
The management team in one of Niras’ business units felt that they were 'a mixed bag' of professional areas and markets, and that they did not use their relations in everyday life. Meetings were characterized by status updates - and on the surface they showed what one participant called 'misunderstood considerateness', not challenging each other's areas. The undercurrent was one of internal competition for attention, resources and reservations about one another.
The divisional manager and the top management were convinced that there was business potential in increased collaboration, but they found it difficult to realize this potential - because, as they put it: "It's no use having Ronaldo on the team if he's on the bench or buried in defence".
Our approach
The first effort was a two-day workshop with preparatory individual interviews and sparring, which helped the group build familiarity with, and trust in, each other. We facilitated work on the collaboration and business opportunities, the barriers that they had each identified, and helped train their skills to function more developmentally in meetings.
After the workshop, began our next effort: here we followed up via supervision during day-to-day management meetings. In addition, we held several additional workshops where leaders worked with personal leadership development and organisational potential for self-organisation.
Effect
At the end of the first workshop, one leader said, "It's amazing that such a bunch of individualists have become a team in two days." Another manager recalled that "The most important thing has been about openness. I have this incredible feeling that this is going to change some important things". The team leader concluded: "I am leaving with complete peace of mind and a feeling that there is nothing that we can't do".
Statements like these are more of a rule than the exception after workshops in this format. As we have worked on the leadership challenges identified by the team itself, the impact usually lasts long into the future. Collaboration, meetings and performance all improved significantly, the result of which is reflected through positive developments in key financial figures, which the team leader attributes to the resolution of improved collaboration.
Does your organisation need a culture-upgrade too?
We work with people and organisations who have the courage to grow in new ways, by putting a consciously developing culture at the top of the strategic agenda.