Effective work conversations when the message is confronting

Mining and Resources, Change management

 

Situation

The client is a multi-national mining company, mining a range of resources across a number of different countries.  One particular site in Asia had been undergoing a significant amount of change, including changes to structure and roles.  Site managers had indicated a need for training sessions on change management, particularly in relation to undertaking potentially difficult conversations with staff directly affected by the change.  Both the General Manager of Human Resources (Head Office) and the site HR staff supported this work.

 

Solution

A process was designed for managers to:

  • Increase their understanding of the process of change and how this might affect individuals
  • Learn change management strategies to assist them in managing their teams and themselves through the changes
  • Increase their confidence and skills in dealing with difficult or emotive situations with employees.

 

The process consisted of three key phases:

  1. A bespoke pretest aimed at understanding leaders’ current capability and experience in dealing with high emotion or potentially difficult situations
  2. A group training session to develop capability and knowledge further
  3. Individual coaching sessions with each of the leaders on specific concerns or challenges.

 

Outcome

Feedback from the managers and superintendents after the sessions included:

  • An increased level of confidence in stepping up to the ‘difficult’ aspects of the leader role
  • Increased confidence in having effective conversations where high emotion was likely
  • A smooth change process in which those affected by the change smoothly transitioned into their next move (within the business or exiting the business)

 

 

Community Facilitation – Disparate group, highly invested

Health sector, long-term focus.
A community fund Board, sponsored by a multi-national resources company located in a regional city, wished to support the improvement and long-term sustainability of health services in the region. Health…

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Strategy Planning – Clarifying Mission, Values, Roles, and Key Areas of Focus

Professional Health Services

Situation

A professional health services firm had expanded rapidly over a period of three years, with 30 staff in multiple locations across Australia.  This had created some challenges for the leadership team including no common understanding of the vision and direction for the business and a lack of clarity around the expectations of people and roles within the leadership team.

In addition, individual Partners were experiencing challenges transitioning from a ‘practitioner’ to a ‘leader’ in the business, balancing both roles and doing this in a way that was consistent with individual personality and style; as well as highlighting areas for development (e.g. undertaking ‘difficult’ conversations and managing relationships).

Intervention

The leadership team engaged da Vinci Consulting to assist them in developing a business strategy which would:

  • Identify and articulate the company’s core values
  • Clarify their vision and mission
  • Identify the key areas of focus for the company and their objectives for the next 5 years.

Two planning sessions were held, a few months apart.  The first session opened dialogue on the roles of the Partners to increase role clarity and to clarify individual areas for development.  The second session allowed a review of progress as well as a facilitated discussion addressing variance in views between the Partners on a critical issue associated with their strategy – “what does ‘growth’ look like?”.

Outcomes

The process engaged enabled ongoing discussion and clarification of strategy within the leadership team, engagement with staff on their input to the company mission, and additional individual and team work by the Partners to clarify their roles.  It also allowed the Partners to commence on the objectives with a progress review undertaken at the second meeting.

A facilitated discussion, which allowed frank and open exchange of information, resulted in a plan to trial one identified growth strategy over a three-month time frame. This is currently in place.

The staff are aligned with the Mission and Values of the company and it continues to work on its identified objectives within the plan.

Leadership in Enabling High Performance

Mining and Resources, Global roll-out

Situation

A need to upskill leaders in performance management of their teams, within a field-based, dynamic and constantly changing working environment.  The program needed to form part of a broader strategy to improve performance within the business.

Solution

da Vinci Consulting designed and developed a program to equip leaders with the skills and tools they needed to drive a high performance/ high achieving organisation and to assist the leaders in their role of leading their teams within the dynamic environment in which they worked.  Consultation occurred with a number of senior leaders within the business including the Managing Director, all of whom provided support to the program in its implementation in practice on a day-to-day basis.

Outcome

The program was rolled out across the business internationally and developed the leaders’:

  • Understanding of their role and what was required in the dynamic work environment in enabling and supporting strong performance
  • Ability to translate business strategy into meaningful individual and team performance objectives that maximised overall business performance
  • Ability to monitor, review, encourage and enable team members
  • Ability to create clear expectations even if things are unpredictable, engage with team members in exchanging feedback and coaching conversations, and turn difficult conversations into positive outcomes