Improving Executive Team Performance in a Professional Services Partnership
A professional services partnership came to us after a re-branding exercise identified changes that needed to be made in the way the partnership operated. The Executive Board had the foresight to recognise that these changes had to start at the top.
After agreeing the goals and scope with the CEO, we met with each director to get their views, observed a Board meeting and mapped the communication patterns, and we then administered the GDQ (Group Development Questionnaire). From these data we were able to create a map of the helping and hindering forces in relationship to the goal of improving their leadership and ability to work as a cohesive unit. We then designed a series of workshops to give the Board the skills to work on reducing the hindering forces and strengthen the helping forces.
At the end of the project, we re-administered the GDQ and found the following:
- The team had progressed from a level 1 to a level 3 (from a possible 4 levels)
- Their effectiveness ratio had increased from 65% to 76%
- Their productivity measure increased from 2.33 to 3.5 (out of a possible 4.0).
Board Members later reported:
"We have more focus on strategy."
"We are working as a team and communicating outside Board meetings on a more regular basis"
"We have determination to succeed and a sense of achievement with the launch of the new business plan. We’re committed to working together to implement the plan."
"There is less focus on the CEO and more shared responsibility for leadership amongst the Board members."
"We all understand our roles and there is less bickering."
"We are more able to state our position honestly and I have the sense that we’re now hearing everyone’s true opinion."
"We have tighter agenda management."
"We have understanding of each others’ roles, strengths and weaknesses. We are actively thinking about the group and how to be larger than the sum of our parts."
"Action, not chat!"