A medium-sized publishing company was in the last stages of a major reorganisation.
One outcome of the new structure was to place in senior management roles a number
of individuals who, until then, had been primarily technical specialists. Highly
intelligent and outstanding in their areas of expertise, this layer of leaders had
nevertheless relatively little management training or experience.
Sandler Lanz were asked to design a series of three workshops which would provide
this senior but relatively undeveloped group with rapid exposure to some of the
fundamental concepts and skills needed in managing and leading their teams. In the
first event we introduced MBTI® - in depth and using experiential exercises to draw
out the different personality preferences - as an affirming and powerful route to
boosting self-awareness and the understanding of others.
The next two workshops built on this foundation, with the specific content being
decided via collaboration with a small group drawn from the participants themselves.
Sessions were interactive and designed to deliver both insight and practical action.
Topics covered included 'giving feedback, including difficult conversations', 'influencing
styles' and 'motivation profiles' among several others.
These events took place over a period of 9 months and were combined with brief individual
coaching programmes for each participant, including 360 degree feedback.
The result was a steady - and in some cases striking - increase in the leadership
and management confidence and capacities of the participant group. The vast majority
went on to deliver good or excellent results through building successful teams in
their own areas.