The challenge – aligning to a new and shared group vision
A recently appointed group manager leading a team of specialists, with some new and some existing leadership team members, wanted to create a long-term vision for the whole division. The group worked in silos and were using diverse processes. He wanted a cohesive leadership team with an integrated approach to business development.
Our intervention
- interviews across the silos identifying key concerns and areas for improvement.
- facilitated cross-group strategic conversations
- generated frameworks for the general manager to give voice to his emerging 50-year vision
- facilitated whole group participation in responding to and refining this vision
- assisted the leadership team to identify initiatives to align the business to the vision
- worked with the leadership team to identify work-streams needed to implement the vision and established how they wanted to work together to achieve success.
The result
Staff and leaders have strong cross group connections with shared strategic outcomes. The leadership team is aligned with five areas of focus, actively contributing to achieving the 50-year vision. Three months down the track, key initiatives identified from whole group sessions have been implemented and significant culture improvements are being reported.
The challenge – creating a culture change
The leadership team invited us in after the annual culture survey showed a significant drop in staff satisfaction results.
Our intervention
- worked with the leadership team to identify how staff perceptions form in response to specific events.
- assisted the leadership team identify areas for group wide consultation.
- led a series of focus groups for all staff identifying concerns and possible initiatives.
- facilitated whole group conversations and led mini-training sessions on learning the skills of feedback.
The result
Leaders report weekly team participative meetings, monthly full staff meetings lead by staff and an increasingly participative culture, with increased trusted relationships beween managers and staff.
The challenge – influencing stakeholder behaviour
We were invited by a manager with an established leadership team needing greater capacity to influence stakeholders behaviour in a regulatory environment.
Our intervention
- conducted interviews and provided subsequent leadership team development.
- mapped leadership team inter-relationships and current stakeholder relationships for greater alignment
- worked with the leadership team to implement a shared approach to non-compliance sanctions, and identified and refined internal processes.
- led training sessions to develop greater capacity for challenging stakeholder conversations.
The result
A confident leadership team with increased collaboration that has differentiated relationships with other regulators. Leaders have confidence in their relationships and group wide processes leading to speedier decisions. The leadership team have plans and agreed processes in place for managing specific stakeholders.
The challenge – a systems approach to creating shifts in organisation culture
We were invited by the Group Manager of a newly appointed leadership team to build their interconnections to establish a group wide collaborative culture of shared services delivery across government agencies.
Our intervention
- led monthly leadership team meetings focused on achieving desired shifts in behaviours and relationships amongst leadership team members.
- focused on developing relationships amongst the managers, and in gaining shared ownership of resolution to divisional problems.
The result
Leaders shifted from managing their areas to managing the business.
Managers are aligned with their strategy and staff are able to
articulate group direction, milestones and how their work contributes to
desired outcomes.
The organisation is achieving outstanding results through a new
transparent culture with increased collaboration between staff and
managers.
The challenge – Gaining a collaborative approach to national and regional differences
We were invited to work with a leadership team comprising national and regional managers with a service, which had rapidly increased in scope and scale, resulting in unclear decision making processes, diverse systems, and one way reporting in meetings.
Our intervention
- interviewed managers to assess what was working and what wasn’t.
- implemented a series of leadership team sessions focused on stronger interconnections and a shared approach to resolving problems.
- led team sessions on being at the heart of the matter
- coached the leader to differentiate between consultation and making decisions
The result
Greater collaboration between national and regional managers, participative meetings, better relevant electronic communication, speedier decisions, and better, more streamlined processes
The challenge – becoming a sought after service group
A newly appointed general manager with a brief to shift the organisation culture consulted with us. His appointment was after a restructure and the leadership team membership was in a state of flux. Within this setting he wanted to shift the existing business units to being a collaborative service group to the whole organisation.
Our intervention
- worked with managers to assess the areas of organisation culture, and relationships to develop.
- led sessions with leaders to build new connections and gain a shared agenda.
- implemented standing leaders’ briefing meeting so leaders were up to speed on a daily basis with staff observing new behaviours in leaders.
The result
The leadership team membership has evolved, and the general manager reports the group is aligned and has ‘sought after’ service reputation within the agency.