Hide the vegetables
The Challenge
Our client was contemplating a merger to expand into a new geography. Their Board shared their concern that their senior leadership team (SLT) did not have the leadership that it would take to successfully manage a merger.
Background
This business had a long history. Many of the leadership team had long tenures, 20 years plus was common. they were well respected in their industry. The organization is geographically diverse, with a history of autonomy in its divisions.
The Ask
To build capability in the senior leadership team, and boost the confidence the Board had in them, all within the construct of their quarterly SLT meeting.
Our Insights
Our initial assessment lead to a range of insights:
Trust and collaboration were low between the central functions and the operating divisions.
It was a highly competitive environment with an informal network of those who had longevity.
The CEO and CHRO were relatively new and had not integrated into the team.
The CEO is a natural introvert, highly intelligent, and hard to read.
The CEO and CHRO had a good connection, which created a feeling of exclusion from other senior leaders. Cliques had formed.
Leaders displayed confidence in their own abilities. Training was seen as a sign of weakness, not growth.
Organisational performance was excellent and there was a great sense of their values and a deep pride in what they were doing.
Approach
We had good bones to work with; Competent leaders, with a clear sense of purpose, values, and who led consistently with the organisational values,
The biggest difference we could make was breaking down the barriers between the CEO/CHRO and the rest of the SLT, creating trust, and strengthening the foundations that they needed for the merger.
The SLT members were smart, but proud, and we needed to create a space where they felt competent and willing to learn, yet not in ‘training’, especially in the presence of the Exec team and CEO.
Objectives
Two things would give us the most impact, in the time we had available:
Create relationships and build trust
Provoke awareness, and thinking to generate a commitment to what great leadership really looks like
How
We used our knowledge of behavioural science to design a multi-layered intervention with both depth and breadth, using self-discovery, novelty and deep reflection. Delivered as a three-hour intervention called ‘The Future Trends in Leadership’ including:
The latest thinking in the leadership field
Positioned as being the ‘inside track’ this grabbed attention. Packed full of useful Brain Hacks, that were super practical and easy to apply. Highly relatable.Energy breaks
This is where the real work happened, where we ‘hid the vegetables’.
Our 4 energy breaks, scattered throughout the session, were deliberately designed to break down barriers, kick start relationships and trust building. Each built on the previous ones.ebook
The session was supported by an ebook which was widely shared in the organisation, giving a consistent language for leaders
Outcome
As we entered the room, the physical layout told us everything we needed to know. The CEO, CHRO, and their team were sat at one table, and everyone else was crammed onto the tables that surrounded them. As they left to go to lunch, the groups were fully mixed, laughing, joking and swapping stories. Connections that have lasted. Objectives met.
Short term: The CEO and CHRO became human to others, the relationships and trust shifted massively. The barriers broke down, physically and psychologically. It was magical.
Mid term: The merger went ahead, doubling the footprint. Many senior leaders in our client took the top roles in the new bigger organisation, having demonstrated their strength of leadership.
