Senior Team and board alignment

From time to time we’re asked by clients to spend time with their most senior leaders to help improve their effectiveness as a team. Usually this is because the CEO has recognised that agreement, collaboration and decision making are not what they should be. The common signs are disagreement over strategy, a ‘blame game’ over operational performance or disengagement from the team.

Together with the CEO or designated executive, we’ll create a programme designed to rebuild strong team dynamics. Typically, this will involve one-to-one work with team members as well as workshop activity. Where possible, we use significant and current business issues to provide a material foundation for the issues that need to be addressed. This approach helps us develop a careful interwoven business agenda (with business outcomes) and team agenda (with team outcomes). So rather than working with a senior team to abseil down a local rock face, we work with a senior team to abseil down their own business agenda. Each engagement brings value in three ways: it addresses a business issue, it builds team processes, and it builds a trusted team community.

Below is an example of a recent programme we co-created with a company CEO to re-align his senior team. The bringing together of both a business improvement agenda and the team development agenda can be clearly seen.

Following a team orientated intervention such as this, one on one coaching with members of the team may continue for a period.

As with all our work, target outputs are agreed and evaluated to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved. These often include:

Awareness of interpersonal pain points and challenges across the senior team
Accommodations agreed to facilitate co-operative working
Increased levels of self-awareness, team dynamics and dysfunctional attributes
SMART action plans to address identified business challenges
Identified changes to the organisation’s leadership framework

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Faced with escalating tensions with a particular customer and narrowing of opportunities we asked OPDC to help us re-vitalise our customer relationships, de-escalate tensions, and explore what we suspected were wider business opportunities. OPDC worked with us to develop a six month development journey for our teams. This took the negotiation theme as a foundation but framed the learning in our objectives of acheiving wider and deeper conversations and opportunity identification, engaging multiple functions in influencing and negotiation, identifying leading indicators of negotiation progress, and mid-delivery problem solving. Over the six months of the programme we gained a de-escalation of tensions with a particular customer, improved relationships across our customers more widely, discovered new customer needs with revenue opportunities and improved speed of payments.
Kim Wrighton, MD Ultra Controls
ROI achieved: As just one example from 3 projects runs by the last MAD group, we gained £xxk (to be obtained in the coming week – David did you get this?) through disposal of inventory and plant related to legacy products. This alone covered more than the costs of the programme for the 12 delegates.
Mike Clayton, MD, Ultra Precision Control Systems
I have witnessed and participated in the work of OPDC over many years as a delegate, a commissioner and as a sponsor. Their programmes for our senior leaders not only develop leadership skills but also deepen the network of leaders across our international businesses. These senior participants then act as sponsors and mentors for the programmes OPDC run within our different businesses to develop leadership at the next levels.

Through this leadership development work, their facilitation of our annual business leaders’ conferences and their work with the Executive Team, OPDC touch every level of our business and deliver measurable impact. Their willingness to engage with the customer to develop tailored programmes which integrate with the Company’s values is an important aspect of working with them.
Douglas Caster CBE Chairman, Ultra Electronics Holdings plc
At Graduation today the participants are much more excited and engaged in moving the business forward and are making an impact. Individually, every participant stated this was the best leadership training they have received in their careers and they are committed to stay linked as a team and to practice what they have learned.

ROI achieved: Project 1: 11% reduction in inventory Project 2: $50k saving year on year from a shift to paperless working Project 3: Enhanced functionality features linked to ERP, now working to use the tools across multiple sites.
Steve Tyler, VP, Engagement Assessment Services, CGI
The structure of MAD that we have created with the OPDC team allows cross site, cross functional application of the learning on real business issues and delivery of three essential business improvement projects.

Whilst initially daunting as to how additional time can be inserted into already overcommitted schedules, MAD is not “time out training” but quality time focused on business issues, whilst developing leadership skills to address these. MAD has been universally praised by all those who have completed the courses.

We see Making a Difference as a key differentiator in our ability to support the development of our high potential employees.

ROI achieved: As just one example from 3 projects runs by the last MAD group, the revenue we gained through disposal of inventory and plant related to legacy products alone more than covered the costs of the programme for the 12 delegates.
Mike Clayton, MD, Ultra Precision Control Systems
At Graduation today the participants are much more excited and engaged in moving the business forward and are making an impact. Individually, every participant stated this was the best leadership training they have received in their careers and they are committed to stay linked as a team and to practice what they have learned. ROI achieved: Project 1: 11% reduction in inventory Project 2: $50k saving year on year from a shift to paperless working Project 3: Enhanced functionality features linked to ERP, now working to use the tools across multiple sites.
Pat Thurman, CEO, AMT, Senior Aerospace
“At Graduation today the participants are much more excited and engaged in moving the business forward and are making an impact. Individually, every participant stated this was the best leadership training they have received in their careers and they are committed to stay linked as a team and to practice what they have learned.”
ROI achieved:
Project 1: 11% reduction in inventory
Project 2: $50k saving year on year from a shift to paperless working
Project 3: Enhanced functionality features linked to ERP, now working to use the tools across multiple sites.
Pat Thurman, CEO, AMT, Senior Aerospace