Case Study : Building a high performing team with a US IT company

The Manufacturing Director initially asked us to coach a promising leader in the engineering function within manufacturing in this expanding young organisation, where computer engineering was performed in the UK but actual manufacturing occurred overseas. A key requirement was that he (and others later) would be able to manage a flexible, fast-moving, matrix, influential, high-profile leadership role environment and drive forward rapid growth, from a typical background experience in engineering. He initially had 5 people under him and was in the process of taking over another team of 5. Such was the benefit of the coaching, and the growth of the business, that the leader rapidly progressed to Engineering Manufacturing Manager and to leading a functional area of 50-plus engineers and a team of 6 managers reporting in to him.

The manager then asked us to coach his team and help him build the whole team’s effectiveness. The consultant initially observed a team session and had introductory 1-to-1’s with each team member. The data obtained provided the material for exploratory meetings and the joint development of a broad intervention in which a two-phase series of coaching for each person was implemented along with facilitated team-building events. These initiatives involved working with the relevant manager to design the work, the workshops and 1-on-1 coaching to resolve differences, improve performance and to enhance focus and motivation and commitment to the vision.

There were two crucial workshops that occurred, one in each phase, in which the team:
 
(1) Learned to work together in meetings and with each other, rather than be dependent on direction from the team leader, be open about issues and work together to resolve them and be proactive in articulating vision and goals and supporting each other and the team leader in achieving them

(2) Articulated where and why it was failing to deliver, work together to explore the reasons and develop a more effective response which would get a result. This included giving each other honest feedback in open session, which brought the team to a much higher level of trust and ability to collaborate, as well as facilitating a much higher level of ownership of behaviours that needed resolution.

What was particularly notable in the work was not only how much the members grew as leaders but also how they became highly effective in their team working, so much so that they could work without their team leader’s direct involvement and support each other in responding to business needs. The business continued to expand, the engineering function grew to over 100, the team members grew in their levels of responsibility and the team leader was promoted to Director. Other people in Manufacturing then started to ask for help from the consultancy, having seen the benefit of the work.