Developing Successful Organisations and Teams

Update - June 2004

Many organisations are coming to accept that developing the right behaviours is the real key to successful change and growth. Behaviours need to change first because these have more impact than vision, mission and strategy on the motivation and engagement of staff. But it’s not easy to change! Many organisations design frameworks of competencies and behaviours. Yet even if everyone seems to agree with them, it’s very difficult to make the necessary real, permanent change to the behaviours that we see day-to-day. This is our speciality. We can help you to make it happen.

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How we can help

We develop the human side of business – changing behaviour to improve performance. We can:

• Help management teams and project groups really drive the business
• Help you to engage and motivate your staff
• Help you make sharper, better decisions
• Make your meetings much more productive (and shorter!)

We have a great deal of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech sector. We can help you to:

• Build scientific/commercial consensus to help product development and portfolio management
• Clearly establish roles/responsibilities of and links between project teams and line management
• Establish a formal project system in start-ups and discovery organisations
• Make trans-national teams work
  

Are you on course for success?

Have you set ambitious goals for the years ahead? Like many organisations you may have a challenging vision. You are thinking positively - you want to inspire your staff to share in it, be committed to going the extra mile. But do you really have the individual and collective leadership to achieve it? We can answer that question quickly and help you to develop an approach that will really make the difference. Find out more about how you can truly engage your staff and supercharge your internal resource – see our web site - the ‘What really makes the difference’ section.

Case Study—Transforming the performance of a sales team

Recently we worked with a regional sales team of a medium sized Pharma company. This team was at the bottom of the rankings and needed to improve radically to meet its targets.

The team’s manager felt that his own leadership style was not helping and needed development. He had difficulty understanding how to draw out the necessary performance from individuals. This required a tough approach on behaviour change, yet in a way that would retain team spirit.

We began with some coaching for the leader. We built an understanding of when he should take an autocratic approach, and when a more participative, consensual style was required. We also made a plan for engaging with the team.

The results were dramatic. The leader developed far more confidence in his own style and the team members found it enormously motivating to 'optimise' the leader’s style, as well as bonding with their colleagues. The lower performing team members were helped to take a more results-oriented, dynamic approach, helping them sell tenaciously on every call. The bottom line improved immediately. Sales figures rose the following week, continue to grow and the team is a much stronger, more capable unit.

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This month's Top Tip : Decision Hierarchy

A cross-functional team should be able to make decisions that benefit the business and satisfy the various functions and departments. Lots of organisations take this approach but find that in practice teams struggle, argue and delay.

Taking a more systematic, rigorous approach can help. A business decision needs to be much more than a debate. It is a process of definition, information gathering, analysis, influencing and consensus building.

This technique can be enormously helpful at the very outset of such a process. It ensures common understanding of exactly what has to be done. The team needs to resolve three basic questions:

What decisions have already been made? What has been established as policy or longer-term strategy - usually by higher management? These are things we must be aware of and be guided by. What is the decision that must be made now? This may seem an obvious question but in fact it is highly useful. Especially when the issue is subtle or complex and requires definition. Also when team members may have very different views, or perhaps haven't thought through the current situation clearly. What decisions will be made later? This question is vital to focus the team on the issue at hand. Especially to avoid wandering onto topics which could waste time and detract from completing current tasks, or those which are best dealt with by sub-teams, other experts and so on.

There is a library of great techniques and advice on our web site here (this will leave the newsletter) Go>

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Get in touch to discuss by email on info@teamcommunications.com or call +44 (0) 1342 326015

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