Case Study: Actionable Conversations
Enhancing Engagement Senior Leadership Team - Develop Stronger Leaders, Build Individual Skills & Enhance Team Culture
The president of a rapidly growing telecom group reported challenges concerning his senior leadership team. When asked to consider what mitigating factors contributed to the issue he noted: poor collaboration between team members, lack of alignment with the stated vision for the firm, and poor communication concerning inclusion of virtual direct reports to the team members across the system.
We suggested a manager-led Actionable Conversation which offered a practical application of leadership skills learned in a once a month team meeting. The manager-led conversation initially focused on addressing the reported challenges. The team quickly recognized the impact on their business areas and the overall organization. And the team selected a single concept together for the next 30 days.
They were given three options for the team members to choose from to commit to one micro-behavioral change to address the challenges.
Each participant made a 30-day behavior change commitment. For example: “I will think about the most effective ways to communicate within our team.” They check in on the platform daily by text message or email, and choose an accountability buddy to help them stay on track.
Buddies are alerted to check in, roughly every 2 weeks, though the notifications vary based on the participant’s self-ratings, journal entries, and regularity of check-ins.
The manager supported the team members and followed their progress. Based on the participant’s check-ins, the platform alerts the team manager to the most important conversations to have on any given day, providing coaching tips and tools as needed.
Through this process of having a conversation, actions were selected, and insight was gained.
The business leader gained valuable data that provides insight into people metrics such as, leadership development needs, leader influence, undesired turnover risk. This team created a robust learning culture in a little over a month. And the team members repeated the process with their direct reports, cascading the learning into the organization.
The overall impact enabled team managers to gain new confidence and practice true leadership with each individual achieving personal growth and a stronger connection to peers, while the business leader benefited from a wealth of data that drives strategic people decisions.
Analysis after six-months showed significant improvement in levels of collaboration, better alignment to organizational vision, and more fruitful levels of communication with the virtual members of the organization.