Last month John called on our group to help him kick off
the annual department planning and budgeting process. John is an Executive well-known to me and my
colleagues. I placed him in a C-level
position about 10 years ago, and my colleagues have worked with him since. He recently landed an important job with a
well-established brand, which represents an excellent career opportunity. Achieving success will be a difficult slough,
however. The Brand has suffered from a succession
of owners, leaders, and strategies. Now under new direction, John and his team are
responsible for critical strategies to rebuild the brand. My colleague Stan got the lead on the project
with me in support.
John envisioned a full department off-site meeting, so
Stan built the appropriate agenda. Stan’s
goal was to help John build alignment and ownership around the department’s
four key objectives. The agenda included
a heavy dose of fun to encourage participation and creativity by the
attendees. By the end of the off-site John
wanted to ensure that there was enthusiasm for the plan; that the team took
ownership; and that the stage was set for an effective change-management
effort.
The first exercise Stan facilitated, after the appropriate
set-up, was what he calls “deep dive introductions”. It was an ice-breaker, ‘getting to know you’
exercise. Everyone had the opportunity
to introduce themselves, speak to their job function, indicate their
expectations from the meeting, and to tell something personal the group may not
have known. This included John, Stan,
and me. They also provided their tenure with
the company and within the industry segment.
The whole point of the exercise was to begin building trust in a
non-threatening environment. John and
Stan distributed prizes for the best idea, the most interesting disclosure, and
the lamest personal disclosure. This was
a great way to begin the meeting.
It was interesting to learn that the average tenure with
the company was 6.5 years, with 15 years in the segment. 15 people had less than one year tenure with
the company. On balance, the average
team member had not seen a stable, consistent direction from this
employer. Clearly, the culture had been
battered.
The next exercise was a mini-assimilation. Whereas the first exercise as entirely
personal, this was a group exercise.
Each group was defined by table, six team members per table. The exercise included some administrative
functions like appointing a scribe and a spokesman. Their
task was to determine 1) what they wanted to know about John, and 2)
what they wanted John to know about their team.
After that task, John told his team what he thought they should know
about him. It was another good exchange
that reinforced the team’s desire for leadership and direction. They told John that they were ready and eager
to execute but craved a champion to lead them.
After lunch, the final exercise of the day, another small
group task, was to begin the process of establishing an identity for the Department. The goal was to establish a name, a tag-line,
and a logo for John’s team. The small
groups put a lot of energy into this activity, developing some very creative
ideas. It was a good start, but more
work was required. The evening was a
planned event for the team which Stan and I respectfully declined to attend.
The first day was a big success. The Department took a measure of John’s
commitment to them and their needs. John
began to identify his leaders and problem children. Stan and I found some points where John
needed some coaching. We were very
optimistic about the prospects for the next day. To be continued…
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Jim Weber, President
New Century Dynamics
Executive Search
www.newcenturydynamics.com
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