Working together to impact the nation

‘I was standing in front of a gathering of Sierra Leonean leaders representing the government, business and Not For Profit sectors. It was the first session on the first day of a new initiative to stimulate and encourage leaders to work together to impact their nation. They came from different tribes, different generations, held different religious beliefs and none. I felt humbled and at the same time excited.

Three days later, this amazing group of people had united behind a common vision to combat corruption at all levels in Sierra Leone, and initiated a handful of collaborative projects that would impact society. And when, almost two years later, serious flooding hit Freetown (the capital), the deep relationships these leaders had built enabled them to respond quickly to organise relief and support to those who needed it most.’

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Building ‘team’

‘’Good luck with this lot’ said my client, ‘we’ve tried everything’. She was talking about a dysfunctional international finance & IT team – a high calibre, multicultural mix of managers responsible for the implementation of a new global systems strategy – whose leader had been described to me as ‘strong and intimidating’. I couldn’t help feeling a bit of a last resort! 

I persuaded the team leader to take the team offsite for a 3 day workshop, met with everyone individually to listen to their assessment of where the team was at, and to talk about how they could express more leadership. In another meeting with the team leader I spoke to him about the fact that his team perceived him as intimidating (he seemed genuinely shocked).

With admirable vulnerability, in the opening session of the workshop the leader apologised to his team for being overbearing and asked them to help him change. Every team member responded with equal vulnerability about where they needed to change. By the end of the 3 days, the team was, well, a team – they had built trust and aligned on an approach for implementing the new strategy.’’

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Closing a company well

‘I was asked by my client to act as consultant during the closure of a pharmaceutical diagnostics company. I recall sitting with the CEO of the diagnostics company and his executive team, all of whom were likely to lose their jobs. It was a sombre moment and I wasn’t exactly a welcome sight … After outlining the kind of support I could offer, I remember painting a very simple picture of what ‘closing down well’ could look and feel like, especially if it were led with openness and vulnerability by the executive team.

To their immense credit the CEO and his team not only embraced the idea but put their full effort behind it, such that when the company ceased to operate, every single employee from the most senior to the most junior left in good spirits! From the first announcement to the final closure the senior team worked hard at communicating (including how they were personally feeling) and every individual had been supported though the process of finding a new job. This was a model company closure.