Twenty Years Building Effective Teams
It’s relatively easy to bring a group of senior executives to the conference table. But it can be extremely difficult to transform this same group into a high-performing team whose collective skills, insights and passion produce real business results. For 20 years, and with refreshing candor and compassion, Melinda Hodell has built highly effective leadership teams and advised other corporate executives on creating optimal teams.
Clients often engage Dr. Hodell to help tackle thorny business challenges such as culture change, implementation of major technology initiatives and other projects with regional, national, and global implications for stakeholders. At Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Hodell developed the healthcare industry’s first internal team of high-level change management leaders and executive coaches. The Department of Strategy and Culture Alignment was responsible for guiding Kaiser’s C- and senior-level leadership teams during a period of sweeping organizational change.
Melinda’s other experience includes leadership team development for major players in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors.
Leadership Teams that Function and Excel
Leadership teams are complex. Many executives, regardless of successes in their own “backyards,” fail to perform equally well on a team of their peers. In far too many instances, the whole of a leadership team is less than the sum of its parts.
There are many reasons for this. Individual roles can be ambiguous; goals unclear or conflicting; processes and communication styles counterproductive, even emotionally painful. Leaders may express agendas (conscious or unconscious), beliefs and behaviors that sabotage the team’s performance—and ultimately the entire organization. Lack of trust, big egos, and other “elephants in the conference room” weaken the team in ways that can be damaging but hard to pinpoint.
Building an effective leadership team often requires an outside perspective. As a former corporate leader, a team-building expert, and trained social psychologist, Melinda Hodell helps clients:- Build teams with diverse work styles and skills
- Apply strategic thinking to define bold steps
- Clarify the team goals and gauges for progress
- Define and agree on roles for each team member
- Identify and remove obstacles to success
- Maximize loyalty, creativity and productivity
- Establish communication guidelines that engender trust and mutual concern
- Create an environment of accountability
- Meet and exceed board member, customer, partner and employee expectations
C A S E S T U D Y
When the Team Gets Along Too Well
Some teams seem doomed to make bad decisions. This habit baffled the members of a leadership team at a large daily newspaper. After observing a few team meetings, Melinda Hodell uncovered the culprit: Groupthink. Unconsciously, team members were simply “going along” with the leader.Dr. Hodell came up with practical ways team members could safely play devil’s advocate. The team role-played conflicts and mutual solutions. She taught them about the group dynamics of conformity and how to alleviate the pressure to “fit in.” And rather than impose her view, Dr. Hodell encouraged the team to come up with their own ways of interacting. Members now take more risks and challenge their leader and each other. The result: More effective decisions, fewer “redos” and ultimately a better bottom line.
