Case Study 3
Team Building For Top Executives Of National 3,000-Store Food Retailer
At a national food retailer with over 3000 stores, a group of senior executives-in charge of directing and controlling business strategy and sales-were working in functional silos, instead of operating as a high-performing team.
In this case the team-building objective was two-fold. First, clarity needed to be created around goals, roles, mission and accountability. And, second, processes that would elevate the team to new levels of performance and competitive advantage needed to be implemented.
Key Challenge
The existing corporate climate was defined by poor communication among the group-who had no real history or experience working as a team-with meetings marked by low levels of attendance, interaction and productivity.
JDA Approach
Through a suite of high-interaction, hands-on coaching, consulting and training services, JDA performed a 12-month program centered on teambuilding and alignment. The program entailed multiple on-site meetings, as well as two-day off-site workshops every two months.
The JDA teambuilding process has far exceeded our expectations. We are well on our way to driving the overall business, rather than just our individual silos.
In leveraging JDA's unique "Performance-Sustaining" process, we enabled long-term change in team dynamics and professional development through:
- Removing the blocks to better communication among team members: To build an effective team and promote a set of team dynamics, a foundation of skills first needed to be honed in the areas of problem solving, decision making, conflict resolution, the giving and receiving of feedback and building trust.
- Identifying key influencers—and their ability to bolster the organization: As we were working directly with the company’s senior management, we turned the group’s focus to enhancing their ability to be more influential with other key stakeholders in moving the organization to greater levels of performance and profitability.
- Implementing practical strategies and tools: Creating lasting change is creating viable new patterns and protocols that receive buy-in from each member of the team. Over the course of the engagement we worked with executives to employ protocols for expressing needs and concerns, strengthening overall communication, clarifying roles and responsibilities, managing conflicts, adapting to change, improving efficiency in decision making and reducing barriers between silos.