"Our work with Cindy doing Team Building and Executive coaching resulted in a dramatic improvement in the performance of several key individuals and an overall improvement in the effectiveness of the senior management team. The team was able to work productively and efficiently together to develop and execute a plan to radically change the company's strategic direction and allowed us to achieve profitability six months ahead of plan."

PT, President, Financial Services Firm

Team Building Case Study

A Massachusetts Service Company

When the management team's inability to work together began negatively impacting the company's ability to hit its revenue targets, senior executives at this small service company in Massachusetts decided they needed outside help and they needed it fast. So, they called in Cindy Loughran to assess the situation and help them get back on track.

"This client exhibited all the classic signs of a management team operating in silos. They were focused on their own piece of the business and unable to communicate and work together toward their common goals," explains Cindy. "Unresolved conflicts, missed deadlines, and a lack of trust were only the tip of the iceberg. The growing hostility among the team members was spilling over into their respective organizations and employee morale was at an all time low. More and more frequently deadlines were being missed and issues were being bumped up the management chain for resolution, bogging down senior management with day-to-day operations. Fortunately, company leaders recognized they had a problem and were willing to take immediate corrective action."

Cindy employed a two-pronged strategy with this management team, working with the team as a whole and with each member, individually. First, she helped the team define their ideal team relationship which provided an end goal for their work. Then, they completed a mini-team assessment to compare where they were against their ideal goal. This exercise helped them identify the work that needed to be done and the barriers that needed to be overcome in order for them to be successful.

Working one-on-one, Cindy had each team member complete an assessment of their own individual style, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots as leaders and team members. By sharing their self-assessments with the others on the team and receiving constructive feedback from their teammates, each member became more aware of how their individual behavior was affecting the group. They developed a new awareness and appreciation of what each member brought to the table and what they needed from each other. The team learned new approaches for working effectively with people of differing styles and greatly enhanced their communication, negotiation and influence skills.

As a result, this team has been transformed. Today, they are working through issues together productively, delivering on their commitments to one another and achieving the company’s goals. Senior managers are freed up to focus on the more strategic work without being pulled into the day-to-day issues of running the company and the overall work environment is much more positive and productive.