Leading Meaningful Change by Beverley Patwell

Author:Beverley Patwell [Patwell, Beverley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / BUS106000 - Mentoring & Coaching
Publisher: Figure 1 Publishing
Published: 2020-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Case Study: Building Teamwork in a Complex Environment

Here is an example of how one leader (who had been a participant in my Change Leadership Essentials program) applied these LMC guidelines in his approach to building a cohesive team in a complex environment.

John (his name has been changed) was a director responsible for developing and installing a new financial management system for his company. The executive management team had authorized him to develop a new system that would streamline, standardize, and integrate the company’s business processes into one system to ensure the financials were tracked and accurate so that the company could grow and deliver plans to the market with confidence.

John assumed the role as project leader to oversee and implement this work. However, he did not have formal authority over the team he was to lead. The company had a matrix structure, so team members working on the project still reported to their functional managers. John’s team also worked with their respective functional and extended teams to provide the necessary inputs and implement the project plans. In addition, John worked with external consultants who provided expertise that the organization did not have internally.

John’s new role was a development move for him and a new leadership challenge. He had to lead this team and a team of teams, plus convince political stakeholders to agree on and commit to a shared vision by influencing and coaching them. At the same time, he was responsible for delivering the system on time and on budget. It was a critical project, and the company’s success depended on it.

John knew this project would require a significant culture shift, not only as they designed and built the system, but also when it was implemented throughout the organization. The planning, accounting, and management team members who were part of the project team had to rethink the way they developed their financial plans and measured outcomes. They were asked to use new software to support a new planning process that would be less flexible and more rigorous. It would also require alignment between some new divisions.

John knew he had to form the right team, build collaboration, and form partnerships to be successful. However, he was not ready for the degree of resistance and lack of teamwork he faced. Firstly, there was co-opitition (cooperation and competition) between the departments. The functional and extended teams were territorial about protecting their resources, including their people and budgets. They also had long-standing relationships with suppliers and partners that they did not want to change. Legacy systems were not being fully used, which indicated greater efficiencies were needed. At the same time, there was an organizational review underway that created uncertainty about future work and job security.

To add to the mix, the external consultants were competing with the internal people. They acted as “the experts” and did not take time to fully understand or respect the internal knowledge and expertise, nor the issues and concerns raised by those internal team members. All in all, this project was highly political, yet the company’s future depended on it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.