The through-line
In every case the leaders were the heroes of their own turnaround. Our job was to hold up an honest mirror, give them a plan, and stay with them until the change held — the same guide’s role we play with every team.
Reversing a culture of competition
Come together, or come apart
A three-generation holding company had deliberately pitted its companies against each other for decades — competition was supposed to keep everyone sharp. For a long time it worked. Then the market changed, business fell off sharply, one round of layoffs had happened and another loomed. The challenge: reverse an 80-year culture of rivalry and get the presidents of each company operating as one team.
We ran an Executive Advance — beginning with a Life Experience offsite, then working with the eight executives across a full year of facilitated sessions and individual coaching, drawing on every form we offer: laser, legendary, executive and team coaching.
Outcome: the team built a core driving mantra rooted in the owners’ deepest beliefs, giving everyone a way to make good decisions in a moment. Two executives moved on and were replaced with strong leaders; the organization rebranded and has grown dramatically since.
One-to-one leadership coaching
Silence wasn’t so golden
“Ray” led a distribution unit for a growing retail-products supplier. We were brought in to improve his everyday communication with staff — but an organizational climate assessment revealed the real issue: he was withdrawing from the executive team, skipping planning sessions and social events. His unit was losing visibility and credibility, and despite deep technical expertise he was facing possible termination.
We began weekly meetings, ran a full executive assessment of his goals, style and blind spots, and delivered honest feedback with concrete behavior changes to try.
Outcome: within weeks his boss and HR reported unexpected progress — he even retained a key manager who had planned to leave. Three years on, he’s regarded as one of the finest managers in the company and the executive team’s “thought leader” on developing people.
Executive transition
Enduring a rude welcome
“Kim” joined a medical-instruments firm to lead marketing — Ivy-league credentials, a track record of teams that adored her. Then came the palace intrigue: peers and even her own staff quietly sabotaging her early projects, questioning whether she could survive the culture. She’d never faced office politics like it.
Initially reluctant, she agreed to a management assessment once we’d earned her trust. Working weekly, we tackled her problems one by one, taught her to use positive political skills, and — with her boss’s support — helped her build real working relationships with every key player. We then facilitated team building with her staff.
Outcome: one manager moved to another division; the rest coalesced into a genuine, cohesive team. Kim stayed true to her values — integrity, innovation, grace under conflict — and now coaches a young manager who was once among her most skeptical staff.
Cross-functional teamwork
Cross-functional team dysfunction
Two project teams — one in Finance, one in HR — were re-engineering the company’s information systems, and both were stalled by a lack of trust. Leaders faced whispering campaigns; members skipped meetings or sat silent while the leader did all the talking. Rumors filled the corridors.
After one-on-one interviews with everyone, we spent an off-site day with each team using a structured Dialogue approach — asking people to suspend their assumptions and consider four questions about the team’s mission, resources, obstacles and opportunities. We built an environment where people could finally speak and be heard.
Outcome: simply making it safe unleashed a wave of candor and creativity. Both teams agreed on ground rules that clients later called the turning point — and delivered new systems through genuine cross-functional teamwork.
Situations are modified from the original engagements to fully protect our clients’ confidentiality.
