Over a two-year period Bendelta partnered with M&C Saatchi to assist the Australian executive team, individually and collectively, to effectively lead the new strategic direction and the culture/business changes needed for that direction. This involved building a cohesive and high-performing executive team that would work in a unified fashion, and more broadly, lifting the leadership capability of individual team members.
A focus on building capability within context
The work focused on interweaving ‘effectively leading the strategy’ and ‘developing new mindsets, capabilities and behaviours’ so that each part reinforced the other and were not treated as separate things. This meant that the team effectiveness experiences (workshops etc.) used the actual opportunities and challenges of the strategy implementation as the raw material for developing the leaders’ mindsets, capabilities and behaviours. This ensured the team were working on the most critical issues for them at any point in time, with some of the applications only becoming apparent in the days leading up to the workshops. There was also a focus on horizontal and vertical development, meaning that emphasis was placed on helping leaders to be better able to lead in complex environments, with capabilities that would also equip each individual for better leadership in their existing roles.
What did we do?
The longitudinal program integrated collective and individual work. The collective team work commenced with an upfront team diagnostic followed by a series of quarterly team workshops focusing on team identity and strategic direction, trust and collaboration, effective conversations, constructive conflict, decision-making, operating cadences, and ways of working. The individual component included a 360 feedback for each of the executive team followed by development planning, goal setting and monthly individual coaching sessions. This approach allowed for individual and team work to be consolidated and reinforced at each stage.
The outcome
Feedback from the team suggested a stronger, more cohesive team with a heightened sense of team identity and confidence, and clarity to move forward. Within the team there was evidence of improved enterprise level thinking with a focus on the collective over individual goal. Greater understanding of each other and team awareness around conversation effectiveness resulted in more generative conversations with better debate, improved creative problem solving and greater clarity and commitment. Individual coaching sessions were identified as hugely valuable with many being extended and some individuals noting significant shifts in mindsets and capability uplift.
