Matt is the newly appointed CEO of a health-focused non-profit organization. He came to the role with previous experience leading non-profits but also brought a decade of skills he built through critical roles with a large multi-national manufacturer. He understands the challenges of both satisfying shareholders and engaging donors, so he demands a high level of accountability from the teams he leads. It’s a quality he consistently models in his behavior.
“I’ve been in this job for 30 days,” said Matt, “and I already see that there are people on the team who are underutilized as well as others who aren’t well-suited to lead at the level they’re in. We’re up against some tough goals the Board has set for us, so I need to understand who can deliver immediately and who is going to require more help to become a great contributor. Additionally, I want to start grooming a successor now so I leave the organization in good stead whenever I move on. To do this, I need to know what talent I’ve got to work with.”
In essence, Matt wanted to compress the usual 12-18 months it might take a typical leader to truly understand and leverage the talent on a team. To his credit, he was also thinking ahead and legacy-focused even though he had just joined the organization. We accelerated Matt’s progress through the learning curve by holding a two-day team retreat which would offer some insights about each member of the team. The retreat was designed to allow sufficient time for everyone to enjoy social interactions and get to know Matt while concurrently offering Matt an opportunity to observe the team in action. They would be working to design strategies for achieving the goals of the upcoming fiscal year.
The team was divided into four working groups, with each assigned a different business challenge to address. At the end of every day, the groups convened to discuss their progress and insights, as well as offer input to their colleagues in other working groups. This provided Matt a chance to evaluate individuals and measure their contribution to the process. While each organization’s needs are unique, we scored team members against five core qualities that Matt felt were critical to achieving the stated goals and potentially becoming his successor.
Full Story: SmartBrief/Leadership