1. Transforming strategic alliance management
Synopsis
A team responsible for managing strategic partners providing outsourced customer services set itself the goal of becoming a centre for excellence. Leading Change helped them to understand their current effectiveness,define goals for the programme and deliver a performance improvement plan.
Click (more) or download the case study pdf (here)
Context
- A dynamic and rapidly growing financial services business had outsourced many customer service functions to strategic partners. The outsourced customer service (OCS) team responsible for managing the network set itself the goal of becoming a ‘centre for excellence’.
- We were tasked to provide impartial data-based analysis on the effectiveness of their stakeholder relationships, help the team to understand their feedback and determine priorities for development and facilitate a performance improvement plan.
Key issues
- The OCS team lacked any objective data from stakeholders to understand their effectiveness and plan development.
- The OCS team had recently restructured and needed to develop the quality of its teamwork.
- Relationships with at least one key stakeholder had deteriorated significantly leading to a breakdown in trust and effective communication.
The solution
- We developed a bespoke 360° survey from our in-house question bank that addresses the core team competencies we associate with high performance.
- We delivered an online survey to nearly 150 people at six-monthly intervals. The second survey was supplemented by structured interviews with key stakeholders.
- We presented detailed final reports identifying strengths and areas for development then engaged the business through workshops with the leadership team and coached them to lead team development workshops with their direct reports.
- We facilitated team workshops using experiential activity to help the team understand how they are regarded by stakeholders and to identify and commit to improvement opportunities.
The results
- Our work embedded much greater awareness of the need to engage with customers and suppliers, and to see things from their point of view.
- We helped the OCS team to identify priorities and develop strategies for success.
- After six months the OCS team scored significant improvements on all major development areas and maintained or increased performance on its identified strengths.
- The team has committed to a continuous improvement programme whereby leadership has been distributed to managers within the OCS team.
2. Understanding team dynamics to develop more productive relationships
Synopsis
A large and complex team combined core, remote and virtual members. Some worked on projects full-time and others contributed part-time to the programme. Leading Change helped to build this team into an effective unit by developing more effective intra-team relationships and implementing more productive ways of working.
Click (more) or download the case study pdf (here)
Context
- A pulmonary and vascular disease portfolio team comprised a complex network of six different development teams in various states of maturity. The core team was highly effective however, as the portfolio had grown, new members and development projects had been bolted on to create a much larger disease portfolio team.
- We were asked to help the team develop more effective working practices and behaviours in order to optimise the performance of the new team structure.
Key issues
- The team’s growth had coincided with budgetary restraint, which meant it had had little time to consider team effectiveness, common objectives and the quality of their teamworking.
- Relationships in the team were mixed and our perception was that cliques had emerged which made it difficult to optimise performance.
The solution
- We conducted a 100% structured team dynamics diagnostic using the Team Management Profile® (TMSDI) tool. This gave us, and individuals an invaluable insight into how their personal preferences drive behaviour and an understanding of the cumulative effect at team level.
- We developed and delivered an interactive workshop to help the team understand the diagnostic work and how to apply their insights to improve relationships.
- We debriefed all individuals in the team in a 1:1 coaching session to help them get the maximum value from their individual profile report.
The results
- The team reported much greater cohesion and ‘connectedness’ despite an extended period of organisational turbulence and now have relatively low staff turnover compared to other areas of the business.
- The team has been given a higher degree of autonomy and continues to perform more effectively.
- Team members still refer to the value from the process and recently invited us to run a similar experiential team-development event for remote clinical study managers from around the globe.
