By Dr. Miles Overholt, Founder & CEO, Strategia Analytics™
Jessi Purdy, SVP Business Administration, Strategia Analytics™
Dr. Michael Seitchik
Receiving a great deal of pressure from corporate to fix the problem and restore the company to its former profitability, the executive team decided a different perspective was needed.
Related:
A Story of a Market Leader Left Behind: From Market Leader to Market Loss
A Story of a Market Leader Left Behind: Something’s Wrong, Fix it Quick
A Story of a Market Leader Left Behind: Right Solution, Wrong Problem
They tasked the CHRO with finding a way to provide that perspective. She knew the executive team would have a very difficult time in accepting a consulting firm’s outside diagnosis: the team was too entrenched to admit to outsiders that they had lost their way. She also recognized that an imposed diagnosis would almost certainly exacerbate the existing power struggles and create push back at any hint of blame and or push to share power. The team was stuck. It needed to understand how the company was operating now, not argue over how it used to operate or who was to blame.
“Only once they understood who they were, could they change themselves into who they wanted to be.”
At first, the CHRO searched for a firm to lead an offsite workshop on team building. Her thought was the team needed to learn how to collaborate rather than compete. She discussed her idea with a senior executive at a well-known Learning and Development firm. She was surprised to hear his reaction and advice. He told her his firm would be glad to provide the workshop, but he recommended that Devcn’s executive team first needed to understand the root causes of their current situation.
The executive team needed to see beyond the functional power struggles to understand what mindsets, behaviors, and processes encouraged the power struggles, blocked good decision-making, and hindered collaboration. Only once they understood who they were, could they change themselves into who they wanted to be. Right now, they were simply compounding their problems by layering one failed solution on top of the other.
The Learning and Development executive recommended the entire company take a diagnostic which would reveal the drivers of the failed transformation. The diagnostic would enable the team to see clearly how the company really worked and then specifically identify what needed to change. This glimpse of reality might well refocus the executive team and enable it to guide Devcn back to its market leadership position.
The Story of a Market Leader Left Behind continues next month: Reality Was Refreshing. 