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Using psycology and expert facilitation to develop a leadership team

Originally delivered by Talupp, a technology firm occasionally offering bespoke solutions, these projects are now part of Esendia’s distinct, consultancy-first approach, powered by Talupp’s Diagnostics platform.

The challenge

Moore Barlow is a law firm with six offices in South-East England. In May 2020, the firm completed a major merger, and just one month later, Katherine Allison joined as Chief People Officer. Her appointment was one of a series in those summer months that saw the firm expand its leadership team with expertise in sales and marketing, IT, and finance.

For the new leadership team, joining during a pandemic made getting to know each other a greater challenge. December 2020 was the first time they were able to meet in person. Katherine wanted to make the most of the opportunity and start the process of building a high-performing leadership team. Up to that point, members of the leadership team had been focused on building their own teams and establishing themselves in their roles. However, Katherine knew that they needed to accelerate their understanding of each other to become a high-performing team.

 

The solution

 

Katherine brought in Talupp and worked with Ines Wichert to help get the most out of this crucial day for the leadership team. Katherine had known Ines for several years and valued her wise counsel. She also appreciated the academic rigour Ines could bring to the team with her doctorate in organisational psychology.

Following a briefing from Katherine, Ines recommended a series of psychometrics that the team completed before the day of meetings. This sped up the process of the team getting to know each other. As Katherine explains:
"Ines not only guided us through which psychometrics would be most beneficial, she also talked through the results with each person on the team and helped us understand what they meant for the group. Importantly, she flagged the gaps that our collective profiles revealed."

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The psychometrics were just the start. Katherine credits Ines' strong facilitation skills with her ability to get the team working together:
"Each of us came to the session with a big list of things to do – there was a mammoth spreadsheet, which was quite overwhelming. Ines helped us clarify our vision and prioritise our immediate and mid-range deliverables. More than that, she got us talking about enablers, blockers, and, crucially, the interdependencies. This was the first time we’d spent dedicated time together looking at everything in the round, rather than just our own areas."

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Katherine acknowledges the value that Ines brought to the session:
"We needed someone to challenge our thinking and who wasn’t buried in the detail, someone who had an objective viewpoint. We were struggling with how we prioritised, and we needed someone to keep us focused and to stop us going down too many rabbit holes and getting stuck in the minutiae."

 

"Ines not only guided us through which psychometrics would be most beneficial, she also talked through the results with each person on the team and helped us understand what they meant for the group. Importantly, she flagged the gaps that our collective profiles revealed."

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The results

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Katherine reveals that Ines' facilitation of the leadership team session delivered even more than she had hoped:
"In addition to focusing on what needed to happen next, Ines also got us to acknowledge how much we had already achieved in just six months. That was really motivational for us all."

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The collaborative nature of Ines' consulting work also helped the session to deliver much more than might otherwise have been the case, as Katherine explains:
"Ines does a lot of upfront work to really understand us and tailor the session to our needs. She brainstormed ideas for the session with me and my team. She also met with our managing partner and engaged with all the participants in the session one-to-one in advance to ensure that it landed just right. She definitely went the extra mile."

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Katherine summarises the session as, "A really great day." She continues,
"We were ambitious, and Ines was great at adapting and checking in with us during the day to flex the agenda. This enabled us to address pain points as they emerged, which was really helpful."

"As a team, we get on well, which is great, but as an effective leadership team, we also need to be strategic and hold each other to account. Ines challenged our thinking. With the psychometrics, she helped us accelerate our understanding of our blind spots as much as our strengths."

"Since that session, our meetings are better, and we use our time more effectively. Because we all get on so well, there is a danger we can all just have a nice chat and not actually focus on outcomes. Ines called that out, and we’re now aware of that risk and take steps to address it."

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After the session, Ines shared slide decks and other content with the team. Katherine explains:
"Some consultants are very precious over their materials, but Ines is generous and collaborative. That means I can use those tools on an ongoing basis with the team and continue to get a lot of value from the investment. She also summarised the outputs of the day and suggested further reading, which was really helpful. In many ways, she’s holding us to account, which is great."

 

The future

 

The leadership team is planning to revisit the psychometrics in their next session together as they reflect on the last year and remind themselves of the important insights revealed for them.

Katherine continues to seek Ines' counsel:
"Ines is great at asking the right questions and bouncing ideas around. She can see the psychological explanation of why things are as they are, and that’s invaluable. She’s always flexible about how we can work together and thinking of smart ways of working and adapting to what we need. That’s what makes her such a great consultant."

 

"As a team, we get on well, which is great, but as an effective leadership team, we also need to be strategic and hold each other to account. Ines challenged our thinking. With the psychometrics, she helped us accelerate our understanding of our blind spots as much as our strengths."

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