«I am in a new management position and have to be able to rely on my new team as quickly as possible.»
A new country manager was appointed in an international corporation. In this highly competitive and fast work environment, hardly any time remained to come up to speed. At the same time, the leadership team was very large (16 managers) and they had gotten used to the retired country manager and his management style over the course of 6 years. This was not an easy task for a new country manager.
The newly appointed country manager turned to azimut, because he wanted to impart his goals, on the one hand (which were different than his predecessor) and his expectations, on the other hand, to the leadership team in a moderated process with the managers as quickly as possible. He was also aware that the challenges of the market could only be mastered in a functioning team.
We recommended a multi-day «off-site workshop» to him. It was structured time-out that a team in that situation simply needs to be able to work together with clarity and conviction.
In the off-site workshop, we started with an exchange of expectations between the country manager and leadership team. The country manager also outlined his goals, whereupon we defined the future rules of the working relationship with the leadership team. Which decisions will be made as a team? Who will have which responsibility? How do we have to organize ourselves?
We have organized annual off-site workshops with the country manager and leadership team for four years now. In the process, the rules are always reviewed and adapted where necessary.