One of our senior consultants
meets with the CEO and the key executives one-on-one to determine
the needs, barriers, opportunities, etc. about the company in
general and the executive team in more detail.
Often we conduct a
culture audit. We define culture as what people do in the absence
of supervision. In other words, effective leadership is what your
people do when you are not there.
We meet with the CEO
and executive team to review our findings and jointly
design the most effective way to address the issues. This is where
our experience with many difficult or complex situations and diverse
organizations comes into play. We are able to introduce best practices
of other top-drawer teams we have worked with. After we jointly
design the team building and development process, we are then
able to begin to work "on" the team and team processes, etc.
These plans often include
the following elements:
- Team performance
contracts
- Clarifying Roles
and Responsibilities
- Skill building on
team process and results skills
- We space the skill
learning and team development over time to apply the skills
and follow up
- We work on the two
elements of teamwork: team (process) & work (outcomes).
- The team evaluates
their own effectiveness in mastering vital skills, and takes
responsibility to go to the next level with team accountability.
- We create a safe
environment where the most difficult issues can be put on the
table. These Crucial Conversations
are defined as those with High Stakes, Opposing Opinions and
Strong Emotions (read more about how we can help you with your
Crucial Conversations).
- We have seen great
value in obtaining benchmark measures of the key outcomes we
are seeking to improve before we begin the process. With spaced
action learning, we are able to stay focused and
not get side-tracked off these key goals. Spaced
action learning is working with the team on important
business and leadership issues that are getting in the way of
the team moving forward. Usual formats include meeting with
the executive team 2-3 hours once a week or every other week.
This allows the team to develop valuable skills to help them
get “unstuck.”
Please review the following
comments from others who have participated in executive team
development.
