Restoring investor confidence in the top team

Client: Confidential
Sector: Confidential
Service: Top team development

The client

Following a period of poor performance, the leadership team of a major public company had lost the confidence of investors and the share price was suffering. A staff survey revealed that respect for the leadership was also declining. A new Chief Executive was appointed and Edgecumbe was approached to advise on the development of the leadership team. We were told that the current leadership team had talent and experience but did not function as a team as well as it needed to.

Edgecumbe’s contribution

Our first step was to carry out in-depth assessments of all members of the team. This allowed us to get a detailed understanding of each of them as individuals, including their strengths, weaknesses, motives, values and personality. During the interviews team members were also asked about their view on the business; what the key issues were and how well they felt the leadership team were dealing with the issues. The one to ones thereby allowed us to develop a rapport with each member of the team. The individual assessments were then pooled to produce a team profile that clearly illustrated areas where the team were strong and areas where they were less well provided. It also highlighted and explained aspects of behaviour that had been contributing to ineffectual relationships within the team and the degree of consensus and alignment on strategy.

At a team event, facilitated by Edgecumbe, this insight was fed back to the group. The purpose of the event was to develop a leadership plan that all members of the team would commit to. This required the group to agree a crystal clear understanding of where they were in relationship to that aim, a common understanding and language to describe their leadership task, and a better appreciation of the issues that they needed to work on. By sharing the feedback the team benefited from a greater understanding of themselves and awareness of the others in the team. This is an important part of the process of learning to work well together.

Following the workshop, Edgecumbe were retained to work with the leadership team to further develop them and to help them meet some of the tough challenges that lay ahead.

The outcome

The board quickly regained the confidence of the city as evidenced by a share price that comfortably outperformed the sector. Staff respect measured by further employee surveys was also restored as the leadership team were seen to deal with the issues and provide clear, consistent leadership.