Not all teams take an instant liking to their new CEO; such was the case for this global hi-tech player. He was shipped in by Head Office and the team wondered how it had all happened so quickly and with so little transparency – they were fuming. Their old hero departed in a flash. Beyond the weekly senior team meetings the CEO and her team did not speak, other than to pass the unavoidable pleasantries. Where understanding of each other lacked, total suspicion and eventually, enmity, took root.

A year on and after a few attempts at resolving the situation internally PEC were engaged to assist. Within a couple of hours of face-to-face work both one-to-one and in small groups, the whole collection of people were talking and beginning to understand one another. Within weeks, the real, rather than guessed at, gaps were showing through. Individuals were able to start repairing what was really wrong with the senior team rather than what was simply insinuated and suspected. The people who needed to talk, for the most part, did so. Defensive posturing became almost completely absent – the need for it having disappeared in the course of just a few brief but seminal conversations.

The team now understands where it is. They know where the knowledge and capability gaps are and know what needs to happen to make things go right. Like any executive team of a fast-growing, international enterprise this one had its problems. But instead of being covered up and whispered about in angry tones, the issues are now talked through and sometimes even argued about – openly