About two weeks after our initial meeting,  I received a call from the Director of Human Resources of a manufacturing organization.  She had visited our website and was interested in having a Time Management program delivered to her senior executive team.  I asked if I could meet with her as I had a few questions that once answered, I would have a better understanding of her need.  She said she was really busy and just wanted a Time Management program.   I said there were many options available to her and it was important we have a clear understanding of the need to ensure I presented her with the most effective option.

We met briefly and after only a few questions, I determined that a Time Management program would not give her the results she was looking for.  We first looked at the areas where she wanted to see change and she advised they had major problems with lateness to meetings, ineffective meetings, incomplete communication, projects not done on time and timely responses to e-mails and requests.  She thought these were time management issues. After further discussion she shared with me that the problems started after a recent merger. When we talked about the cultures of the two organizations prior to the merger, she said they were very different.  One was very laid back and casual in their approach and the other very formal.  I asked if they had ever created a team code of conduct to identify and gain consensus on how they would work together as this new team.  She said they had not and could see why this was a very important first step.  Each of the members of this executive were still operating in the same way they had previously, and in this new culture it was simply not working.

We scheduled a half day session with one of our senior facilitators and at the end of the session this new executive team had set some very clear ground rules by which everyone agreed to abide.  Several months later we did run a time and meeting management program.  This Director of HR told me she was very grateful that I insisted in discussing her need in more detail and that the direction they took was working extremely well for her executive team.

Breaking Down Silos on an Executive Team

I received a call from a client requesting an introduction to a facilitator who could work with his senior executive team.  This client had been hired as the President of a financial organization that recently gone through a merger.  He very quickly saw there were some major problems with communication, trust and leadership.  He knew he had to address these issues with his leadership team if the company was going to be successful.  I spent an hour with him discussing what was happening and not happening that was causing him concern.  He had experienced a lot of his senior team operating in silos, very little trust, no sharing of information, and in some cases out and out anger.  He was planning a three day strategic planning session to set the vision for his team. The first day was to be a day of breaking down the silos, opening the doors for honest communication and start the process of rebuilding a powerful executive team.  This would set the foundation for the next two days of planning.
When I left his office I had a clear understanding of his objectives, outcomes and his vision for the future.  I also had good understanding that I needed to connect him with a very strong and experienced facilitator to support our client in meeting his goals.  I connected him to one of our most powerful facilitators in the Athena Alliance the next day and they proceeded to map out their strategy.
During the first day of the program the facilitator asked some extremely tough questions and conducted many challenging exercises. There was a lot of emotion and discussions got a little heated at times. By the end of the day, progress was made and the foundation was set for moving forward into the next two days of planning.  This team still had a lot of work to do and at the time of my last follow up they were definitely moving in the right direction.

Our client left me a voice message at the end of the first day telling me that he could have looked for weeks on the internet and never found a perfect facilitator as I had provided.  I also received a voice message from the facilitator telling me while the day was challenging, progress was made.

I set this blog up a few weeks ago and after spending the afternoon with my alliance partner who has designed an amazing program on Social Media, I have now changed my direction.  What was clear to me after our meeting is how important it is that the Social Media you choose is in line with your business objectives.

There was so much I took away from our short meeting. What I learned was the importance of matching the brands and strategies to the tools, not the other way around.  The other part of the course that was very beneficial is identifying and overcoming technical, legal and resource challenges.

The questions to ask yourself before moving forward with any Social Media is:

How do you know what Social Media is right for your organization?

What do I need to find out before moving forward?

I am very excited about this new direction and look forward to sharing with everyone on a weekly basis.  Please visit often and I welcome your comments.