Business Imperative
A global banking corporation had recently undergone a merger creating an emerging opportunity for a relatively small business unit to grow into a major contributor to the revenues and success of the business. To accomplish this, however, they needed to unify a new leadership team derived from the recently merged business with divergent styles and personalities. Additionally, they needed to eliminate distractions associated with the merger, which had created an ineffective decision-making process.

Leadership Response
The bank engaged Stratton to help the leadership team meet their objectives. Implementation of the plan included:

• Establishment of a clear leadership mandate with the business' senior executive
• Facilitation of strategic dialogue among members of the new leadership team, including the senior executive and his direct reports
• Executive coaching of leadership team members
• Facilitation of management processes and team development
• Design and implementation of long-range communication and alignment processes to engage the rest of the organization

Accelerating Toward Success
Stratton began with interviews of the executives to assess their current reality, then facilitated a team offsite and conducted follow-up debriefings. The team generated the business' overall game plan and articulated a long-range vision for the business unit. They identified and began to track specific measures of success. Significantly, they also committed to a team agreement, making explicit their expectations of each other for relating effectively as a team. Team members took personal responsibility for creating meaningful changes in the climate and culture of their organization. Next, we focused on executive coaching, and facilitated improvements in the unit's basic operations and "teamsmanship." As their vision and ambitious new roles were developed, we helped design and implement a communication and enrollment program for the entire organization. In the process, specific action was catalyzed around a number of strategic initiatives that were identified as key to the business' success.

Results
Our work accomplished three objectives. It:

1) Accelerated the development of a high-performance leadership team characterized by:

• A clear vision and bold goals
• A sense of shared leadership responsibility
• Speed, flexibility and responsiveness
• Core values and behavioral expectations
• High levels of accountability

2) Cultivated a powerfully aligned leadership team, focused on near-term strategic goals as well as the long-term vision

3) Prepared and positioned the entire organization to move quickly toward implementation of strategic plans and accomplishment of ambitious goals

In addition, the team established a reputation for maintaining - even improving - productivity while accelerating through traditional merger issues. This ability to quickly and efficiently complete post-merger integration has positioned the business for dynamic future growth.

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