Plant Manager, SABIC Innovative Plastics
"Jan provided a very organized and focused leadership event for the SABIC-IP Cobourg site. Jan's high energy and adaptive style leveraged her incredible interpersonal skills to fully engage all members of the site leadership team. We have not had a more successful event in the past seven years. We came out of it with key steps complete and clear expectations for completing the next steps - An excellent and cost effective two day experience."
Jan is a master at helping you sort through massive amounts of organizational data - taking all of the pieces and guiding you to place them together in one, cohesive picture. First she leads you through the development of the edges - the framework of your organizational puzzle. Next you and your team design each of the intricate pieces of your organization's form and structure. By the end of the design process, you have developed a clear action plan to deliver high performing organizational and bottom line business results. I am always amazed at how quickly she can put the pieces together and drive toward where we need to go!
Team coaching proves particularly valuable when lack of collaboration and toxic behaviors amongst team members are at risk of negatively impacting results.
One Fortune 500 company was challenged to come up with a brilliant solution fast: a team which was already one year into a multi-million dollar new product development project was floundering and not meeting targets.
Several initiatives and remedies to create collaboration and productivity had been introduced - with little or no lasting impact. The original business plan had been adjusted to reflect lower targets, because critical milestones had not been met.
The specific challenges: Toxic behaviors and a lack of comprehension of how the various discipline experts of a project are interrelated and thus interdependent. Finally the Global Director responsible for the overall project decided it was time to try a new team initiative as a last ditch effort to avert disastrous financial implications.
After about three hours of frank discussion, one of the team members, a highly qualified and highly respected scientist - who rarely publicly participated in discussions - decided to speak up and contribute candid and valuable input regarding team behaviors. His surprised peers gradually opened up as well and the discussion flowed freely to produce concrete results.
After the initial workshop, which resulted in a clear action plan, it took the team only a week to design a revised system of improved work processes and clarified roles to accommodate their new focus.
A whole project team is always greater than the sum of the parts of the team, and individual input is leveraged by the exchange the whole team has around the project. Toxic behaviors can derail the most promising team - almost nothing is more destructive to team results than this aspect in their interactions. Lack of trust, lack of transparency of roles and unclear goals all contribute to dysfunctional behaviors in teams.
Team coaches identify these behaviors, the team addresses them, and, through interactive exercises which increase mutual awareness, team agreements are designed to which all members hold each other accountable.
The toxic behaviors are addressed as present in the team, rather than as the fault of one or more individuals. The team also takes accountability for tolerating and at times fostering them. This helps alleviate fears of blame, and fosters an environment of trust and forward-looking thinking.
What do you need to get started? Contact Jan for an initial, free 20 minute consult. Find out if “Lead It Teams” can help you and what options are right for you and your team or company.
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