Executive Coaching High-Performing Teams

 

Transition of a Team Leader

 
Initial Situation The leader of a global R&D with sub-teams in Germany and the U.S. approached us to facilitate the transition of his successor - who would not only lead the German team but also supervise the leader of the U.S. R&D arm. Both teams were jointly working in a critical trial phase for a major product. The goal of the transition coaching was to ensure a smooth hand-off while reducing cross-cultural tension that had come up on either side.
  ResultsDespite not having known each others prior to the coaching, both leaders gained a thorough understanding of each others hopes, expectations, cultural and work style preferences. These insights helped to "jump start" the work relationship considerably. The high work pace in a critical project phase did not slack and both leaders reported that they could use the insights they had gained of each other to resolve cross-cultural tension among team members.
 
 
The initial part of the transition coaching focused on improving transparency about work style and leadership expectations both leaders had of each other. Beside the personal aspects, this dialogue was particularly important as cross-cultural differences had played out in the past in two ways. Firstly, team members of the respective national teams had repeated conflict with some of their respective counterparts. Secondly, “national patterns of a German corporate culture” resulted in business processes untypical for a U.S. way of doing business – a fact that had caused tension at several occasions.

All three leaders, the U.S. R&D leader, the retiring leader, and his successor completed work style and cultural questionnaires. The findings were debriefed in multiple joint teleconferences helping to substantially clarify areas of differences and various concerns. Each leader offered and discussed a personal “instruction manual” to guide the interactions of their counterpart in situations that had been difficult to resolve in the past – or for challenges that would lie ahead.

The three individuals also meet in person for a two-day off-site retreat to harmonize their personal visions for the R&D division – and to clarify the value proposition they would like to offer. Two road maps with milestones and success metrics were worked out and consequently put in place – one for the first 100 days of the new R&D and one for the first year of the entire global R&D division.

Weekly and bi-weekly joint coaching calls over a period of three months helped to sustainably strengthen the new work relationship – and provided a sounding board to discuss openly what was working and what did not.