Team
The CEO knew everyone was working but they weren’t working together.
We helped her change that.
Situation
A large Chicago-based non-profit was struggling. Members of the leadership team were siloed, running their own departments and largely focused on their own functional goals. Communication was poor and frustration widespread. Some of the best people were bordering on burnout and others felt overwhelmed and undervalued. With the constraints of lean budgets and a lean staff, this non-profit wasn’t functioning nearly as well as it could.
The CEO wanted a unified approach to help the leadership team work in a more coordinated and cohesive way. Plus, she wanted her team to be more open to change in anticipation of a coming revised mission and vision.
What we did
In three half-day off-site sessions, we used a combination of experiential exercises, custom case studies, and the DiSC-driven Five Behaviors of a Cohesive team. Through their participation and the assessment results, these leaders identified the issues that were undermining their efforts. With a new understanding of their individual communication styles, they had a willingness to commit to new behaviors to support each other and further the agency’s mission. The focus on trust, communication and constructive conflict paid off.
“Lawrence was amazing to work with. I have a management team of 12 and so ensuring we have a cohesive team is very important to me. Lawrence and I met many times as we developed the sessions for my team. I can’t say enough about the sessions. Our team developed a better understanding of each other’s styles to be able to work more collaboratively and we enjoyed the team building that occurred. We now are more aligned and focused as a team as we work to move the agency mission forward.”
Non-profit CEO