For this ‘What’s New’ we thought it would be useful to bring you up to date with what we’ve been up to at Maier recently, sharing news on some of the latest programmes and workshops we’ve designed and delivered.
No doubt as the holiday season fast approaches many of you will now be turning your thoughts to how the second half of the year is likely to shape up and the areas that could prove to be ‘make or break’ concerns when it comes to performance and profit.
Hopefully these four ‘bite sized’ highlights will rouse your interest and get you thinking about how Maier could help you to deliver some of those key objectives in 2010.
Having focused on the necessary short and medium term actions needed to weather the worst of the economic storm (we hope!), we’re now working with a couple of our key client teams in looking further ahead - as far as 10 years ahead in fact!
We’ve set up some think tank/hot house kind of forums aimed at sparking creative and motivational debates about future opportunities, technological advances, market place ‘must haves’ and fantasising/conceptualising about what might be round the next corner for individual industries.
This has been working particularly well in retail with some great guest speakers who have ‘popped in’ to give their invaluable and often original spin on how they see the next decade panning out.
External, and subsequently internal, pressures have driven many top teams to move almost sub consciously into adopting reactive, overly controlling leadership styles – resulting in them limiting how they think and operate strategically.
This has led us to being asked to work with several Executive Boards and their senior managers to answer the question of;
The results have been quite startling for some teams – by accepting challenge both from our facilitators and from their own managers they have realised how their own stress levels and concerns have been stifling the potential of their next layer of managers.
By working to a framework for radical change in leadership behaviours, levels of accountability have been devolved throughout the business liberating both Exec and managers to do what they’re really there for.A real example of ‘setting leaders free’!
Although excellent in their own domains, a difference of priorities between departments within an organisation can cause potentially damaging schisms.
Most recently we’ve been working to improve communications and identify common ground between Buyers and Designers in a well known high street brand.
Shifts in perceptions and behaviours along with new approaches to how the teams align their efforts have resulted in some big wins in a very short space of time. Truly energising, creatively inspiring and fun as well as effective.
Vision and values only ever really come alive in an organisation when they’re backed up by what we refer to as leadership principles. Rather than a complex grid of competencies that no one can remember, we’re after clear and straightforward leadership styles and actions that can be translated into the ‘everyday’ with consistency and commitment.
Genuine and authentic leadership behaviours are the goals, eventually demonstrated throughout the organisation BUT they must start ‘at the top’.The development and visible demonstration of such principles form the backbone of much of our recent work with our top tiers of management including Board and team assessments to secure evidence of the necessary shifts and changes.
If you want to hear about any more of our ideas or the work we’ve been doing recently in more detail please give us a call on 01603 507236 or drop me a line at jo.smallwood@maier.co.uk