WHY
What an Executive Committee Does
Owns the Vision and Crafts the Strategy – including designing and recommending the corporate strategy to the Board. Does the Executive Committee communicate a clear vision, mission, corporate values and strategy to all stakeholders, both internal and external? Is it an effective strategy that leverages the unique strengths of the organisation to establish a clear competitive advantage? Do employees come to work excited by the mission of the company? Do clients and stakeholders know what to expect from the company?
Provides the Proper Human Resources – How many times have we heard Executive Committees say “Our people are our most important resource”? If that is the case, then has the Executive Committee built a company whose people are clearly better than the competition? It is easy for the Executive Committee to say we have great people, but if we are not as good as the competition at acquiring talent, then the company is at a competitive disadvantage every day in the market.
Provides the Proper Capital and Other Resources –No business can continue to function without the proper financial resources. Those resources can come from external funding sources or from the internal operations of the company. The Executive Committee must constantly anticipate the needs of the organization and not allow a shortage of resources to cause the company to miss opportunities. Additionally, the Executive Committee surrounds itself with external advisors and service providers that can provide real value to the company.
Builds the Culture – I define culture simply as how things get done around here. High-performance cultures don’t just appear. Theyrequire an Executive Committee that understands and motivates people and is able to build “trust” in its teams. Too many Executive Committees ignore the culture and then are surprised when people develop attitudes that aren’t aligned with the company’s vision. Is the Executive Committee setting the standards for the company? Are the company’s stated values applied consistently? Does the company have an identifiable DNA? Is the culture driving a high level of performance consistently across the organization?
Makes Decisions Well – Decisions are the fuel on which every organization runs. The quality and speed with which decisions are made determine the productivity of the organization. The Executive Committee is responsible not only for the decisions it makes but also any decisions his managers make. Building an organization that consistently makes thoughtful choices in a timely manner is one of toughest but most valuable things an Executive Committee can accomplish. Does the organization run like a well-oiled machine or are there constant stops and starts as decisions are either: 1) not made or 2) have to be sent to the top for review?
Delivers Performance – At the end of the day, Executive Committees are responsible for delivering performance. The challenge with evaluating performance directly is that it often takes years to see how things play out. Instead of just waiting to see what happens, the Executive Committee must work with its managers to understand the key metrics in each area that will lead to superior performance. Is there a clear system of goals and metrics that tie to the vision, mission, values and strategy of the company? Does the Executive Committee know what makes the business work, and can it identify problem areas before they significantly impact performance?
Building and Developing the Executive Committee
GATHERING THE GROUP – bringing together the right blend of professionals with the breadth and depth of expertise to build the best fit Executive Committee
CREATING AND DEVELOPING THE TEAM – bringing the group together and creating a team with a clear and compelling purpose, set of values and behaviors
DEVELOPING THE TEAM’S MODUS OPERANDA AND RITUALS – Agreeing a way of working for the Executive Committee and committing to a set of rituals to reinforce its modus operanda
DEVELOPING THE TEAM’S AGENDA – Agreeing the Executive Committee’s agenda and execution priorities and securing the full team’s commitment to the agenda’s successful delivery
SHIFTING THE TEAM INTO HIGH PERFORMANCE – working with the Executive Committee to shift its performance to the next level both as a team, in stakeholder management and in leading and executing the organization’s strategic agenda
HOW WE DO IT
How I tailor my approach to each team to create unique experiences and generate sustainable results.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY – we have developed a tailor made assessment tool that evaluates the 12 key leadership and management parameters that members of an Executive Committee must master. We deploy this assessment tool within the Executive Committee to get a clear picture of the proficiency levels of each member of the Committee and layout a development path for each individual and the team
ONE-ON-ONE AND TEAM COACHING AND MENTORING – we integrate coaching (where we focus on improving and transforming performance, as well as becoming our best selves as people, professionals, and teams) and mentoring (where we focus on navigating complexity and seeking simplicity and direction, clarifying purpose and making better decisions, becoming more resilient people, professionals, and teams) to shift the behaviors, skills and performance of both individuals and the team
C-LEVEL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT – where we work with CEOs, Senior Leaders and Executive Committees to help them develop the skills, knowledge, behaviours, and purpose “to be” and “to do” with the level of excellence and consistency needed in today’s world of uncertainty and rapid change
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE RETREATS – where I co-create and co-design strategic retreats and experiences that bring CEOs, Senior Leaders and their Executive Committees together to transform strategic goals and objectives into practical, useful and valuable execution
Designing and Executing Executive Committee Retreats
The day-to-day of corporate life tends to happy within silos, whether in the commercial, financial, production, marketing, human resource or so many other spaces. Yet, we know, that value occurs at the “seams” when silos come together in a seamless “one team” approach to decision-making and value generation.
The fast-paced immediatism focused on the execution of the “here and now” that we have brought into our daily lives, has nearly eliminated those much-needed moments for pause and reflection. And yet, many of the answers to the challenges we face in a word of uncertainty and rapid change require different perspectives and points of view.
The Executive Committee is at the core of creating and leading a different culture that values moments where we bring our best selves into the conversation and into the decision-making process.
Coming together as one team in periodic retreats throughout the year in a key way of
– building this unique and differentiated culture
– refining the committee’s strategic and operating agenda and assessing how its execution is evolving
– addressing key issues that require a seamless one team reflection and approach
– developing the team and taking its performance to the next level.
Too often, the designer of a retreat schedules the meeting, invites top table leaders, and blocks out time on the agenda, hoping the rest will take care of itself. This is the path to failure.
I work with you to co-create and design Executive Committee retreats that are unique experiences to meet both your objectives and expectations.
DURING THE DESIGN OF THE RETREAT
We design unique experiences where the truly important conversations occur. We also work on the underlying group dynamics, team objectives and expectations are dealt with. Ultimately, we ensure that the team walks away with clear, simple and agile outputs ready to be executed in a seamless way.
Throughout the design we work together to
– define your key objectives and expectations
– agree the “look and feel” for the retreat
– understand the key data/information/knowledge required, and ensure that the key players understand how they need to prepare for the retreat
– work with you to decide who are the players participating and understand the group dynamics
– prepare with key participants in anticipation of the sessions
– ensure the location chosen has the required layout for the objectives/expectations and for the “look and feel” agreed
– ensure the adequate communication, both the formal and informal, to all the participants
– prepare any necessary rehearsals, if needed
– connect with and provide context to any invited guests or external speakers, if needed
DURING THE EXECUTION OF THE RETREAT
Coming together as a team at a retreat and switching gears and mindset is both an investment of time and an opportunity to shift the game to the next level.
Senior Leaders, regardless of their experience and professionalism, are influenced not only by rational information but also by underlying political and emotional factors in the room. I facilitate retreats in a unique way, ensuring we build a trusting environment for the team and that we work with the end in mind to achieve our objectives and expectations. At the end of the retreat, we will have generated a clear “RoadMap” with executable outputs.
During the retreat
– we generate a series of differentiated spaces that are constructed to produce different types of behaviours and group dynamics, and we use these spaces to facilitate different conversations
– we create a common language, because it is essential to quickly connect those in the room and generate a trusting environment
– I privilege experiential sessions, to maximise the interaction in the group (I believe building team comes from “being” and “doing” together)
– through the facilitation process, we ensure team participation, buy-in and ownership
– I manage the group dynamics in the room (both the obvious and hidden) and generate cohesion within the team
– We work together to deliver on a pre-agreed model but I am flexible to re-align any session (or the entire retreat) in the moment, in case any unexpected issues occur
– we work together to generate a clear “RoadMap” by the end of the retreat
AFTER THE RETREAT
We want to build a roadmap that is owned by everyone in the Executive Committee. People’s commitment and passion to its implementation will determine, to a large degree, the degree of sustainable success of the retreat. A roadmap is different to an action plan insofar as its flexibility and adaptability. This makes it a perfect tool for an environment of uncertainty and rapid change.
However, in order to ensure the success of its execution, we build an additional and complementary tool – a minemap. A minemap allows us to visualise the mines and obstacles that we will likely encounter throughout the journey. If we are able to predict and anticipate mines and obstacles, we are also able to avoid a significant number of them. This will minimise their impact on the Committee’s ability to execute on its agenda.
And our third piece is a robust set of metrics. We need to measure but most importantly, we need an early warning system. Our metrics set is built to provide an early warning system for strategic implementation in an environment of uncertainty and rapid change.
