Global Banking Group
ExCo team strategy
Opportunity
Following a period of significant restructuring and a reduction in funding to deliver a turnaround strategy for the division, ExCo were working as individual contributors rather than a collective and operating without sufficient reference to their shared vision. The objective was twofold: to facilitate a process for them to set a bold strategic intent and define several workable strategy scenarios; and to engender collaboration across their respective areas of expertise, strengthening their relationships, and becoming more trusting and inclusive towards one another and as leaders of the business.
The solution
Prior to designing any offsite agenda, Sheridan recommend holding short calls with each ExCo member to establish rapport, understand a range of perspectives and identify areas of conflict. We explored their views on strategy and operational issues, as well as how they were experiencing the current relationship dynamics and culture, and what they considered to be both their individual and collective strengths, challenges, and crucial development areas.
We designed the 2-day offsite drawing on the core principles of an inclusive ‘Thinking Environment’, integrating strategic, operational, and relational elements so the team would see the connections in their everyday leadership aligning this to their vision..
The event took the form of two 3.5 hour online sessions, one day apart, followed by a further two 3.5 hour online sessions the following month.
Our offsite was designed to set our vision and draw up an actionable plan to deliver on our strategy, as well as build a leadership team that could trust one another, collaborate effectively and lead inclusively. The two days were expertly led by the Sheridan team, who struck the perfect balance of vision, strategy, inclusive leadership, and team bonding. ExCo arrived as individual contributors and left as a collective ready to forge ahead to deliver the business strategy and set the tone for inclusive leadership
Impact
Over the two days ExCo expanded their capacity for high-trust, honest dialogue, and were able to safely explore areas of conflict and tension. This allowed them to consider a more diverse set of perspectives on their strategic and operational challenges and they were quickly able to co-create and prioritise a set of scenarios to develop further. They agreed clear and tangible actions to power the progress of the business strategy, as well as to hold each other accountable for sustaining a positive, inclusive, and productive team culture.
Months on, ExCo had maintained their commitments and follow-through on actions resulting in heightened productivity and increased engagement scores across the business. Relationships had improved dramatically. Overall, a shift from a compete to a collaborative mindset has enabled the business to forge ahead with its strategic priorities for 2022.