What did they need?

To be frank, they needed a facilitator for a day… to motivate a bunch of smart but dishevelled + disconnected senior leaders (30 or so) who were at various stages of exhaustion with the laborious systems and processes around them. (Their previous consultant had sacked them … eek. They told us this MUCH later, just in case we ran away, I guess.)

There was a hidden critical need – there always is. Over a brief period of working with the extended leadership team (XLT) – established to gain increased ownership of leadership, engagement and consequent results – the deeper challenges became clear:

• The business was trying to get ahead of the security, mobility and IoT race but recording a continuing decline in engagement, particularly of its people leaders

• The gulf between sales and delivery functions was widening, with a detrimental effect on employee experience, customer experience, and results

• The business’ evolution was lagging - internal execution was not yet a match for brand and customer offerings

What did we do together?

The work evolved as we gained the confidence of the MD that we could tangibly help him lift engagement and performance. We started with his XLT – with such a large group, they were struggling to get aligned action, and cascade that downwards.

From the 1-day XLT offsite, we developed a plan to open up challenges and conflicts, gain clarity on purpose and remit of the team, and accelerate relationships for improved problem solving. Execution of this was through team workshops every 2 months, and involved:

• Holding up a mirror to the XLT in a mini-immersion, highlighting current reality around key themes of accountability, collaboration, well-being (which was an issue) and alignment

• Introducing a leadership operating framework – the Vitality Framework, an apt name for exactly what this business needed

• Amplifying individual leadership skill (quality 1:1s, difficult conversations, self-management, etc)

• Highlighting critical business issues and helping them apply their honed skills to facilitate understanding across the team, agree solutions, then plan execution

6 months in, it was clear that they needed a quicker way to re-energise their people leader population and start to equip them with the skill and will to shift performance – quicker than would be possible through stronger XLT leadership over time. We got to infusing ‘Vitality’ in the business, while continuing to drive cultural change at the XLT level. Imagine, graphically, a sine wave progressing over time.  We’d drop into the 330 people leader population then reconnect with the XLT, then back to the people leaders; information constantly flowed from one group to the other, and a shared leadership and cultural language developed. Critical pieces:

• We went full scale on the Define phase for accelerated engagement: Discovery, Root Cause Analysis, and Culture and Mindset Shifts

• The Leadership Development Approach needed to facilitate a lift in individual and collective responsibility for culture shift and results. We created an MD-supported plan to pursue Vitality in business and people, targeting business levers we agreed would have the biggest impact

• The Build kicked off with a Gallery that brought all people leaders together to understand current reality and excite them about the future. It was “the best I’ve ever experienced”, declared the MD. (Plunging 330 people into a 1-day gallery is no small feat – it took complex large group movements and an iterative build of shared reality through gallery activities designed to the minute.). Here’s the kind of sentiment we were dealing with …

• At the same time, we led an Exec break-out group (around 10) to create a meaningful organisational purpose (‘lack of shared purpose’ was identified as a root cause of their existing culture and performance)

• Team Effectiveness Workshops continued with the XLT, and Culture Workshops for the people leaders were designed as a 3-module program, conducted over 6 months. The target Culture and Mindset Shifts were to: work in partnership to delight the customer, learn to improve processes properly, choose ‘planned and considered’ over frenzied reactivity. Leaders were tasked with the responsibility to intentionally behave in line with the shifts and address key performance blocks along the way, and they were given optimal opportunity and skills to do so. The program was immersive and practical, and connected functions and leader levels to build networks through which to address blocks

• We adapted an organisational simulation used for an XLT offsite (for essential conversation skills) to a facilitated group enactment (‘fishbowl’ session) in the broader leader program – the similar experience increased understanding of blocks to performance across the organisation

• Cascade of organisational purpose to the people leaders and reinforcement of the pursuit of ‘Vitality’ in the business was facilitated through Targeted Workshops + Keynote Presentations. Events from ½ to whole days allowed for stronger connection to purpose through shared storytelling and linking purpose to a refreshed strategy. Presentations and activities were conducted at state town-halls, quarterly updates, and team events

• Reinforce combined Team Coaching with a Leadership Cascade: we conducted regular SLT sessions to share key issues being raised by people leaders and XLT workshops to align on how to address them (as well as continuing the capability lift). Our approach all the way through was to recommend tweaks and adjustments to components of the organisational context (ecosystem, direction and people buckets) to ensure continued alignment: strategy, brand and internal behaviour. Recommendations made were part of our Work Context Consulting

• A Toolkit (electronic and physical ring-bound flip cards) was provided to all people leaders for their ongoing reference; a focus was on high quality (Vibrant) 1:1s

Culture Workshops:

Where did we get to?

Overall, us Frogs are not only proud of the work we did with this crew, but grateful for the lasting connections we’ve made.

• With stronger relationships, the XLT supported each other personally and professionally through difficult times. They reported to have learned much about themselves and the value of relationships in business to get work done. Many showed observable shifts in their leadership style - far more personable, skilled at difficult conversations (which were frequent in the downsizing of the business), and better able to help their people explore personal aspirations in line with work goals. This was a BIG deal

• Executives simplified the complex array of strategic initiatives (previously making heads swim) and communicated this to their leaders with more skill and clarity than ever before. For the first time, their strategy included a people and culture element (rather than being predominantly a sales strategy) to continue to infuse Vitality throughout the business. The Exec took a more collaborative approach to developing the strategy and a more planned approach to its implementation (modelling ‘planned and considered’ over ‘frenzied reactivity’)

• The MD and Exec scheduled more people leader communication and collective skill building events; they started to combine strategy, business updates and leadership development (for example, a 300-person storytelling workshop around the business’ purpose)

• People leaders across the country developed new relationships with their fellow leaders, developed a far deeper understanding of the business (including root causes of blocks to performance and customer satisfaction) and were much more confident, skilled and connected to dig in and address challenges

• Leaders reconnected their frustrated passion for the business with more considered action. The ‘escalation’ culture dissipated somewhat with people coming together to solve customer problems in good time. Leaders were re-inspired, more confident, and better skilled to motivate their teams despite difficult industry pressures