Team vs. Business: Mastering the Art of Balanced Priorities

Team Alignment and Facilitation

Today, more than ever, organisations require their senior leaders to collaborate as a unified team and collectively pursue a shared strategy. Through my work with senior leadership teams, I've identified a common challenge: leaders often struggle to balance their divisions' priorities with implementing the executive strategy. This tension creates operational hurdles and conflicting objectives among divisions. Consequently, it results in inconsistent agreement follow-through, a lack of accountability, and subpar performance.

Having a great plan is just the beginning.

It's how the team behaves together and "owns" the implementation of that plan that makes the real difference. I am committed to empowering executive teams to align and consistently act together to fulfil their purpose in leading the business. By doing so, they can effectively create and implement a jointly owned vision and strategy, overcoming silo working, building trust, cross-working and joint accountability.

My approach addresses the two key elements of effective team performance:

1. Leadership capability

2. Team dynamics

Over a period of 3 - 6 months and through a blend of 1:1 coaching and team workshops, I work with executive teams to strengthen and put in place the important aspects for successful leadership and organisational development:

1. Leadership ownership

2. Team Alignment

3. Compelling vision

4. Effective management structures

5. Engaging stakeholders

6. Developing new leadership capabilities

7. Culture development

Starting with coaching the executive team leader and then working with the whole team, the focus is on building trust, resolving conflict, co-creating vision and getting commitment from each team member to the behaviours that create and sustain team alignment. This involves creating a safe environment that allows unspoken agendas to be raised and addressing the dynamics holding back performance. This builds trust, cohesiveness and breaks down silo working.

Giving leaders clear distinctions about what alignment is and the implications for individual and team behaviours enhances individual leader capability, enabling sustainable change and a leadership team that keeps creating a future which ultimately transforms performance and culture

Case Study on Executive Team Alignment

Executive Team Alignment is a combination of individual and team coaching and team development. Here are the key challenges a recent client faced:

? New director, lacking confidence

? Underperforming operation

? Silo working and low trust

? Resistance to change Inertia

The Situation

At a glance Tom was a newly appointed Managing Director leading a service and sales business which was part of a much larger business. He inherited an underperforming operation and there was demand from the larger parent company for the business to move in profit.

Tom quickly identified the structure of his director team as being out of balance and silo working pre-dominated. With a desire to turn things around quickly, Tom restructured the team. This was met with resistance and cynicism, resulting in complete inertia.

Initially, coaching focused on assisting Tom in handling his directors' behaviour and initiating conversations with each one to address any resistance.

Tom acknowledged that he had implemented the restructuring without involving his team initially but emphasised the necessity of the change. His transparency helped gain more support and boosted his confidence in adopting a team oriented approach.

Subsequently, a two-day workshop was conducted to enhance skills in active listening, communication, and creating a 'safe' atmosphere. Tom received tailored coaching beforehand to encourage openness during the workshop, leading to clarifications of misunderstandings and assumptions. Increased trust was evident as individuals took risks in sharing and providing candid feedback.

Establishing clear behavioural expectations regarding team alignment laid the groundwork for ongoing work and coaching. The team collaboratively developed a vision that revitalised the strategy and included a commitment to implementing the structural change.

Further coaching for the directors supported their continuous growth in behaviour and relationship management to maintain alignment within the team. Ongoing team sessions reinforced the progress achieved.

The transformation

Three months into the programme of work, Tom's structural changes were implemented and the team continued to work cohesively and effectively. Nine months later the business had gone into profit making clear headway in becoming market leaders in its specialist sector.

Here is a list of the results:

• Team trust and cohesion developed
• Leader confident and engaging his team
• Momentum built Change implemented
• Business turned around and profitable

Tom shared his thoughts with about working with me and the difference it had made -

“From the beginning Mary built relationships, setting up an environment and process that was safe and allowed us to open up. The turning point moment was the uncomfortable conversations we had in the first workshop which were a 'moment of truth' followed by the awareness that to work as an aligned team we needed to sustain that level of honesty and accountability.”

If your team is out of alignment and you feel overwhelmed I can help you to build and foster an inclusive workplace where everyone thrives by focusing on leaders' behaviours and their impact on company culture.

Through coaching, team alignment, and customised leadership programs, including a niche for women leaders, I help leaders build emotional awareness and navigate tricky dynamics, achieving results with confidence, empathy and collaboration. Get in touch if I can help.