Long-term partners

We’d been trusted partners with this group for a while.  The country LT for a top 10 pharma firm in a major European market.  

We’d helped them re-align through a company restructure.  Coached individual leaders.  Created a high energy “Next Gen” group in their talent population.  

But something wasn’t sticking.

In spite of their cohesion, impressive commercial track record, and maturity as a team, they still found it hard to shift the dial on one key aspect of their leadership: letting go. 

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 It was taking a visible toll.  They were all feeling the pressure, and accountability for results.  Leading in complexity was tough - just a synonym, they joked, for working harder.  And they were losing belief in their shared ability to make a difference.

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Bespoke session

Once we’d got “letting go” in sight, we were able to break it down.  Practically, it meant three things.

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1. Shifting the classic systems pattern, as “top” decision makers, of sucking up responsibility and decision-making power to themselves.

2. Evolving beyond an “expert-achiever” frame.  Through the restructure, they’d unconsciously made themselves too reactive and vulnerable to the demands of the business.  Chasing results by carrying everything and working hardest was clearly unsustainable.  

3. Delegating more – the real nub.  Trusting next-level-down leaders, and giving that Next Gen group something to sink its eager teeth into. 

We designed a bespoke session, drawing together some of the most powerful and proven change methodologies available.

We invited deep reflection about stated goals (delegate more) and actual behaviours (stay in control).

We probed deeper – into beliefs, stories, and fears.  We visited archetypes and behaviour patterns.  We created a light-touch threshold moment, and the invitation to step into something new.  

And, as always with our work, we held the balance: between the needs of the business, the potential of the team, and the individual insights and commitments that any meaningful change relies on.

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Outcomes

Over a couple of days, we went from “we should” to “I will”. 

From subconscious fear, to shared insight.  

And from an overall sense of “this is the way things are, and the way they will stay”, to concrete actions, baby steps experiments, and a strengthened commitment to peer support and challenge along the way.

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The next-level-down leaders group?  They soon stepped up, big time.  As one of the team reflected: "this energised our direct reports group in a way I just couldn't have imagined."

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Overview

As with most of our work, this long-term collaboration began with two essential steps:

1. a chemistry call to test the fit

2. a diagnostic deep dive to surface the truth of the team’s dynamics.

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It's a great feeling when someone thanks you for “the best team session we’ve ever had”. 

 It’s not a given that people will bring the courage and appetite for self- reflection that this kind of work can sometimes demand. 

But it’s common enough for our work with top teams, that it's become our internal standard: to deliver the best team sessions that participants have ever had. 

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Country LT under pressure: evolving beyond overload at the top of the system