Team Development

Enabling teams to get beyond politeness and to start talking about what really matters to them

and the organisation.​​ 

Conversation Matters

Leadership is changing. John Brock, CEO of Coca Cola, describes 21st century leadership well when he said, "I think the role of a business leader today is much more challenging because you've got so many other constituencies out there that you didn't have before. You've got to engage with these multiple constituencies and make decisions in a more consensual way. And that requires a real skill."

In our view that skill is founded on the leader’s conversational competency; as​​ all change starts with a conversation. Yet, how often do we speak with our true voice when we are talking as a team about a change that must be made? Most of us have been in conversations, some of them important, where we didn’t:​​ 

Say what we really thought and felt.

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Feel committed to a decision.

Oppose something we knew wouldn’t work.

Seek or explore other perspectives because of judgements we were holding.

Truly listen to what other were saying

Poor Conversations Compromise Performance

Most business conversations are nowhere near as powerful or directed as they need to be. As a result, issues get swept under the carpet or otherwise glossed over and not dealt with.​​ 

Here are just a few of the costliest workplace issues we see across the business landscape. Each can be linked directly linked to the quality of business conversations taking place:

public agreement being undermined by private dissent.

management point scoring and other divisive behaviours.

executive teams and boards that fail to recognise and respond to strategic risks, or fail to fully capitalise on strategic opportunities.

teams that are only partly engaged

disaffected people who comply but don’t contribute beyond expected minimums.

By improving the quality of their conversations, teams can achieve radical improvements in performance, addressing the above issues positively and quickly. To do that, however, they need to understand what’s happening under the surface and have a systematic method for driving improvements.

Our Process

Kantor Behavioural Profile

The Kantor Behavioural Profile, based on the​​ Structural Dynamics model created by Dr​​ David Kantor, helps individuals and teams​​ explore the typical ways that they interact in​​ face-to-face communication.

By understanding your behavioural profile,​​ you can more easily identify situations where​​ it will serve you and others best, and where​​ it will fall short.

You can also set specific goals for expanding​​ your behavioural repertoire by adopting​​ speech acts less preferred within your​​ profile.

What can you expect?

Using Structural Dynamics and Dialogue as​​ tools for leading strategic change, specifically​​ as enablers of sustained behaviour change, it​​ is possible to develop skills in shaping​​ conversations that enable:​​ 

• people to speak with their true voice (in​​ the room not outside).​​ 

• challenge to be offered and received in a​​ way that recognises its value.

• more effective cross functional working within the team to accelerate delivery of change.

“This process has been invaluable in improving the quality of conversations during team meetings helping to make them more productive” HR Director, Major Transport Operator

We’d love to start a conversation with you about how we could help. Please call Catherine on 07710 577 951 or email cthomson@houstonexchange.co.uk