What we do
What we do is easy to articulate…
We will help you understand your clients … and colleagues … better.
Whether we’re working with lawyers or accountants or engineers or whoever, the common refrain is often … “I can do the ‘day job’. I know how to write a contract/prepare annual accounts/build a bridge. That’s the easy bit. What I find difficult is dealing with the people … my boss, my colleagues, my direct reports, my clients. That’s what I lose sleep over. That’s what causes me the most grief!”
If this resonates with you, then we can help.
Through a mixture of individual 1-2-1 sessions and group workshops we help organisations create programmes to improve:
Leading others
- How can you become the company that would put you out of business?
- What is it like to work for you?
- What counts that you are not counting?
- In recent months, what is the smallest change you have made that has had the biggest positive result?
- What produced that large return?
- Which is most important to your organisation—mission, core values or vision?
- How do you or other leaders in your organisation communicate the “core values”?
- What are the implications of this decision 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years from now?
- Are you changing as fast as the world around you?
- Who, on the Exec team or the Board, has spoken to a customer recently?
- What should you stop doing?
Working better together
- How do you get every team member fully focused on your team’s Mission and Purpose?
- What does a High Performing Team truly look and act like?
- What will it take for you to get to the highest levels of performance?
- What impact does a new team member have on your team dynamics?
- Is there a way for you to accelerate team formation when you bring on a new team member or take on new projects?
- What actions can team members take to gain complete trust and confidence in one another?
- How do your personality differences impact your interactions and effectiveness?
- How could you get the most out of your differences and disagreements without stalling your progress?
- What is the team leader’s role in building and facilitating high performing teams?
- How can you measure your team’s success?
Getting the best out of others
- Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a manager? … someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?
- What are the most important decisions you make as a manager in your organisation?
- How do you encourage creative thinking within your team?
- Where do the great ideas come from in your team?
- How do you adapt your style to each member of your team?
- How do you communicate the “core values” of your organisation?
- How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your team?
- What is one characteristic every manager should possess?
- What is the biggest challenge facing managers today?
- What is one mistake you witness managers making more frequently than others?
- What would your team say are your strengths as a manager?
Self awareness
- What is most important to you?
- What are 5 things you truly value?
- What do you love doing?
- What gets you excited?
- What energises you, and motivates you?
- What drains you?
- What is something that you do better than most people?
- How do you want others to see you?
- What are 3 of your greatest strengths?
- And 3 of your weaknesses?
- What is a habit that you may not be aware of? Who might see it?
- What makes you frustrated and angry?
- What makes you frightened and anxious?
The way your organisation does things
- What makes you all proud to work at this company?
- How does the organisation support your professional development and career growth?
- Is risk-taking encouraged, and what happens when people fail?
- What role do company values play in hiring and performance reviews?
- What’s one thing you would change about the company if you could?
- What causes conflict, and how is conflict resolved?
- How would you describe “organisational politics” at the company?
- How are decisions made when there’s disagreement?
- When and how do people like to give and receive feedback?
- Who in the organisation has the power to gets things done?
- What are some of the ways the company celebrates success?
- What is central to who you are as an organisation that should never change?
Working better one-to-one
- What are the potential benefits of working more closely together?
- How could you bring more of your strengths to your best client relationship?
- What qualities does the client value most in you?
- Who do you have the most effective communication with right now and why do you think this is working well for you?
- How should people communicate with you? What opens you up?
- What should people not do? What shuts you down?
- Who do you find it hardest to communicate with? Why? What does that tell you? What could you do to rectify the situation?
- With people that are different from you, what do you find most challenging? And what qualities do you most admire about them? And how do they view you? How do you frustrate them?
- In what ways do you complement each other?
- How can you ensure that this happens in the future?
Influence - the art of getting what you want
- How do you typically try and influence others?
- When have you changed your approach in order to achieve a goal?
- When have you had to convince someone senior to you? How did you prepare? How did you put across your argument?
- When did last have to argue a case strongly at work? How did you prepare? How did you handle objections? What was the outcome?
- When did you last have to gain the co-operation of a number of people to achieve a goal? What was your approach? And the outcome?
- Describe a time when you had to get people, over whom you have no authority, to do something for you. How did it turn out?
- What was the best idea you ever sold to your boss? And how did you do it? What the best idea you failed to sell to your boss? Why was it rejected? How did you feel?
- Being rational and logical may not always be enough. Have you ever resorted to other influencing approaches?
- What other approaches are possible? What have you seen others do?
Helping others cope with organisational change
- Have you got logical and compelling reasons for this change, what are they and how do they align with your organisation’s goals?
- How can you best communicate why change is happening in a convincing manner to people?
- What’s the best way for you to establish a sense of urgency?
- With the reasons for change, can you paint a picture of what success will look like for people, the organisation, and how you will measure success?
- What are the barriers and implications to a successful implementation of this change?
- What are the ‘WIIFM’ statements of this change for people and the organisation?
- Who will feel threatened by this change and how will you deal with their concerns?
- Who are potentially the supporters of this change and how can you leverage their support?
- What do you need to do in order to let the key supporters of this change help drive the change with you?