In Patrick Lencioni’s best-selling book – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he relates a story or fable about the transformation of a leadership team at Decision Tech. I’ve had the privilege of being part of an amazing journey that a client of mine have been through that I’d like to relate as it contains several key ingredients that you’ll need to consider if you are trying to achieve something similar.
It started in 2020 when I was engaged to help facilitate the development of the senior management team of a multi-national reseller with a turnover of over £250 Million. The Managing Director had a clear vision for the culture of the organisation and knew he needed to start with the SMT that would need to role model the behaviours. There was not only clarity but an absolute conviction from him, especially around using The Five Behaviours of a Cohesive Team as the guiding model for team behaviour. This confidence was needed, especially at the start, when one of the responses to his plan was: “we’ve already tried it and it didn’t work”.
The SMT the MD inherited had great people but as a team were disengaged, fractured and transactional. The focus was tactical whereas it needed to be more strategic. We measured the Five Behaviours using the Team Profile which everyone completed before the session and all scores were red. Interestingly, the People Audit for 2020 had some worryingly low internal NPS scores. The culture problem didn’t seem to be confined to the SMT.
This allowed us in the first workshop to discuss the reality of the situation and agree that change was needed. We also agreed that we had to consider the SMT as the first team. This didn’t mean losing focus on the teams they led (servant leadership is a big part of their culture) but recognising their commitment and loyalty to the SMT must be a priority.
As you can imagine, much of our early work involved building vulnerability-based trust. This was done mostly through sharing personal insight, motivators, stressors and challenges both professional and personal. We used Everything DiSC to help the team appreciate and use personal differences rather than see them as sources of frustration. Time spent in a more relaxed social environment also helped the team connect without work being the primary focus.
What followed were a dynamic set of agreed commitments and actions that supported the change. For instance, the board room had a set of guiding principles for meetings related to the new behaviours. There was a huge DiSC poster on the wall to remind people of styles. The team were encouraged to continue to connect not just as a team but to develop their relationships on a one-to-one level, sharing best practice and increasing efficiency. Each SMT meeting included an agenda item that discussed team behaviour progress and encouraged issues to be aired.
The next step was to filter these principles down to the director’s teams through workshops, again using Everything DiSC and The Five Behaviours. We were starting to build a coalition and momentum across the organisations management.
There were several noticeable changes around the offices and warehouses that contributed to a broader culture change – a company dog (Winston), heavily subsidised restaurants, leaders cooking the staff muffins, pool tables in social areas, more welcoming reception area, a prayer room. There was a menopause policy and a much-respected D&I strategy introduced. The Five Behaviours found its way into the recruitment strategy – and the organisation actively looked for team players who could demonstrate “hungry, humble and smart”.
Whilst the MD and the HR Director acted as “Culture Quality Control” all the SMT knew they had to be responsible for the culture and continually role-model it. This meant we continued to hold progress workshops that I’d facilitate, and the scores revealed a continual improvement to the point in 2023 they achieved an “all green” rating. (Progress reports are generated as often as we want but normally every 6-12 months). The cheer that went up from the team when I revealed the latest set of Five Behaviours scores was heart-warming and genuine. They now recognise they are much more strategic and focussed on future development. They treat the business as if it is their own. They enjoy it more.
What is interesting is that the people survey scores across the business have improved significantly from 2020 to 2023 and show a highly engaged workforce. The business has the lowest staff turnover in the group, the lowest operating cost and is growing sales by over £1M per week. It has been a journey that has delivered a very profitable outcome in both culture and business results.
Key lessons:
- Clear vision and with an absolute conviction and confidence from the boss
- Everyone needs to be prepared for some “heavy lifting” – showing honesty, openness, and courage
- Filter the changes down
- Keep the momentum – team culture should appear on the agenda for discussion
- Connect the initiatives to a wider programme of cultural change
- Measure and monitor – Culture Quality Control is the responsibility of all leaders
By George Blakeway, Managing Director of The Fruitful Group
The Fruitful Toolbox are Authorised Partners of Everything DiSC and The Five Behaviours. To learn more about DiSC, find out how to contact us here.
