Bonding a leadership team before bringing the organisation on board
EnnéaInvented name
A transformation was meant to move from the leadership team to a steering committee, then to a wider circle. The first link first had to trust each other and speak openly. In one day, the team worked on its candour, its vision and the way it cooperates. The transformation then sped up.
- Sector
- Digital services, division of a large group
- Size
- Several thousand employees
- Format
- One day
- In the room
- The leadership team, under ten people, around the managing director.
Context
- The division is launching a transformation in several circles: the leadership team, then a wider steering committee, then a major event for managers.
- The managing director wants a solid leadership group before opening up the process.
- Team members know each other in their roles, much less in what they really think.
The challenge
Build enough trust and candour in one day for the team to carry a vision together, and to prepare the next circle rather than be overtaken by it.
The design
Key ideas
Listen before meeting
A confidential questionnaire beforehand, with questions such as “What could make this process useless?”. The anonymous summary is shared at the start: doubts are on the table from the first hour.
A fireside opening
The managing director opens the day without slides, in a tone of owned vulnerability. She shows the stance she expects from the others.
Pairs neither opposed nor aligned
Draft zero of the vision is worked on alone (what convinces me, what makes me doubt), then in pairs chosen by the managing director: neither opposed nor fully in agreement. At the report-back, each person speaks for the other.
Speed dating that says things
Several one-to-one rounds on three questions: what gives me energy in our relationship, what drains it, one clear request.
How the time was used
- Open
- Explore
- Decide
- Celebrate
BeforehandOpen
Confidential questionnaire
Stones in the shoe and reasons it could fail, shared anonymously.
10amOpen
Fireside
The managing director’s intent, without slides.
Open
Caring candour
A short input to share a common language for feedback.
Explore
Vision draft zero
Alone, then in chosen pairs, with each speaking for the other.
NoonOpen
Lunch
Together, with no agenda.
AfternoonExplore
Speed dating
Energy given, energy drained, one clear request.
Decide
Two teams
Vision and ambition on one side, ways of cooperating on the other.
Decide
Preparing the next circle
What the team wants the steering committee to experience.
4pmCelebrate
Commitment card
Each person writes what they will change from the following week.
The seminar in miniature
By the fireside
The managing director opens the day without slides, in an armchair like everyone else, in a tone of owned vulnerability. She shares her intention and shows the stance she expects from the team. Just before, the anonymous summary of the questionnaire has put the doubts on the table.
Caring candour
A short input based on a public model: caring about the other person and telling them things straight, both at once. The team gets a shared language for feedback, and a clear target for the rest of the day.
Vision v0
Each person first works alone on draft zero of the vision: what convinces them, what makes them doubt. Then in pairs chosen by the managing director, neither opposed nor fully in agreement. When reporting back, each one speaks for the other: forced empathy, and it works.
Lunch
On the terrace, the team has lunch together, with no agenda and no instructions. A real break, to let the morning settle and talk to each other outside their roles.
Speed dating
Two rows face to face, moving one seat along each round. At every meeting, the same three questions: what gives me energy in our relationship, what drains it, and one clear request. Things rarely said in meetings finally get said, one to one.
What gives me energy: …
What drains it: …
My clear request: …
Two teams
The team splits in two: one group on vision and ambition, the other on ways of cooperating. Then, together, they prepare the next circle: what they want the steering committee to experience, rather than just letting it happen.
Commitment card
Everyone writes on a card what they will change from the following week, then says it in a circle in front of the others. A leadership team cannot ask for a candour it does not practise: the process sped up noticeably in the weeks that followed.
The materials, redrawn
Caring candour
Where we want to talk
The leadership team’s speed dating
Each round, move one seat along
- 1What gives me energy in our relationship
- 2What drains it
- 3One clear request
Deliverables and follow-up
- A debrief with the day’s output and an outside view of the group’s dynamics.
- A process re-sequenced on that momentum: a second leadership team day, a steering committee co-designed with sponsors, a call for experiments, then a major event for managers.
- A closer, more candid team, and a transformation that clearly sped up in the following weeks.
What we take away
- A leadership team cannot ask others for candour it does not practise. So the day starts with the team itself.
- Speaking for someone you disagree with is forced empathy, and it works.
- The best measure of a leadership team day is the speed of what follows. Here, the process sped up.
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