Team Building for Organizational Change

INDUSTRY

Information Technology, Federal Government

SIZE

Senior Management Team for Telecommunications Division (14 individuals)

CLIENT

Five Senior Managers and Nine Direct Reports

ISSUE

The division is undergoing a mandatory restructuring and decentralization, anticipating personnel growth of ten-fold in the next 12-18 months. The senior team wants to meet the challenge by laying a solid foundation of principles which will guide them in working together during this period of rapid and dramatic changes. The senior executive of the organization wants to self-assess his skill-set for the leadership tasks ahead.

SOLUTION

In conjunction with the client, a series of steps were designed to analyze the individual players and their respective roles in the existing and desired organizational structures. The first effort was to guide the leader and the team through a three-day, remote-site exercise that would result in a set of operating principles by which the organization and its people would undertake the change process.

Demographic data along with background information and a questionnaire informed the design of a series of team-building, immediate feedback, and trust-building exercises. The three-day working sessions were built on small group work, and reviewed in a facilitated plenary session. Two coach-facilitators, a woman and a man led separate portions of the group work. After completing a full day of team building exercises, the next two days were filled with intensive “outcome” oriented processes. A healthy set of operating principles resulted from the exercise.

Two week after the off-site working sessions, interviews were held with three people whom the senior executive identified as “believer, neutral, and non-believer” regarding the implementation of the change process to be guided by the operating principles developed and unanimously adopted by the senior management team.

RESULTS

The coaching assistance to the senior executive was fruitful and reassuring in that the skill-set that included leadership, loyalty, vision, communication, and dedication, were self-assessed and group assessed with high marks. The senior management team ended the three-day working sessions with a renewed sense that they “are a team, and we can do this together”. A well-conceived and unanimously adopted set of operating principles will serve as a guide to all of the division’s employees as they carry out their responsibilities, whether serving customers, developing internal relationships, or engaging in problem solving. Clearly understood action items were assigned to each member of the senior management team, and a “process-overseer” was identified by the senior executive to hold each member accountable. At the conclusion of the three-month process, the levels of cooperation and optimism had never been higher.

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Ms. Uman also works with teams: the interplay of one-on-one coaching with members of a team while simultaneously focusing on team dynamics has helped her clients develop collaborative behaviors and increase trust among team members, improve personal and team accountability, and improve productivity by individuals and the team as a whole. Ms. Uman specializes in gender dynamics within teams, woman-managed teams, and teams where women are in the majority. She helps these teams identify the behaviors that undermine others, and develop both an attitude and behaviors that help the team members and leaders become more powerful and effective.

As a certified organizational consultant, Ms. Uman specializes in conducting organizational assessments and developing reports that illuminate the patterns and themes of organizational behavior, enabling organizations to move positively and effectively into a successful future.

As an organizational trainer, Ms. Uman designs, develops and conducts a broad array of workshops including leadership development, teambuilding, career development, running effective meetings, and managing gender differences. She has received the certification as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designated by the International Coaching Federation.

Her clients include:

  • Crestline Hotels
  • Georgetown University
  • Intelligence Community
  • National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health
  • JBS International
  • Russell Reynolds Associates
  • American Psychological Association
  • Software Engineering Institute

Ms. Uman holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a Master’s in Education from the University of Maine, and certificates in Organization Development and Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. Her experience includes serving as an instructor at George Mason University, Georgetown University, Northern Virginia Community College and Mt. Vernon College. She is certified in aa array of assessments, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) EI.20 (Emotional Intelligence) and EI 360, Change Management (Prosci) and was also certified by William Bridges and Associates to conduct workshops and provide consulting services on managing organizational transitions.

As a coach, Mandeep brings this experience, and his fundamental belief in each person’s innate abilities, to create the non-judgmental and energized space for leaders and teams to truly get in touch with what is important to them, and rev up the energy and momentum to make it happen.  His clients take ownership of their own power. They also leverage their own observations to get deep insights into what’s holding them back and then break those habits.  A number of his clients have reported their work together has been transformative.

In addition, these leaders and teams begin to accept the world as it shows up, rather than the way they wish it would.  That accepted, they hold the courage of their convictions pragmatically, communicate their vision authentically and directly, and set about influencing the people, networks and systems of which they are part to create the enabling environments within which their organizations, projects and people succeed.

Mandeep considers himself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to express his passions through two completely different careers separated by two decades.  The path of transition has been bumpy and fascinating, and has provided Mandeep the direct experience and insights which make him the coach he is.

Mandeep is also an Executive Coach with the American University Key Executive Leadership Programs.

As a consultant, Mandeep facilitates interventions with senior leadership teams, helping them surface key issues and create jointly owned action plans to solve them. He is adept at uncovering unclear, missing or misaligned roles and accountabilities, business process gaps, and unspoken organizational agreements on topics that are undiscussable.  Mandeep can create environments within which teams bring up the elephant in the room.

Mandeep has a background that spans 35+ years of hands-on experience creating, and facilitating the creation of, solutions to complex problems involving multiple stakeholders.  In his career, he has worked internationally, across cultures and organizational boundaries, to build IT Systems, reengineer business processes, provide organizational and innovation consulting services, nurture client and employee relationships, and grow companies in roles spanning coaching, facilitation, individual contribution, and project, line and executive management.  He has done this within large international organizations, federal and local governments, non-profits, consulting companies, and start-ups.

MANDEEP’S CLIENTS have included a wide range of organizations:

  • Government & International Organizations: The World Bank Group; DFAS, EPA, FBI, FEMA, ICE, NIC (National Institution of Corrections), OCC, TSA, USSS; Fairfax County, VA.
  • Non-profit: US Green Building Council
  • Private Sector: Allegis Group, Phelan Hallinan & Schmieg, Progeny Advanced Genetics, Turner Construction (US); Applied Materials (USA, China & Taiwan); Grupo Elektra (Mexico); Tata Chemicals, North Delhi Power Limited, Samsung, IBM and  Konkan Railways (India); and EFI (USA and India).

CERTIFICATIONS:

  • Georgetown University Certification in Leadership Coaching (CLC)
  • ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
  • The Leadership Circle Profile (LCP) & Collective Leadership
  • Hogan Assessments (Hogan Personality Inventory [HPI]; Hogan Development Survey [HDS]; Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory [MVPI])
  • Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI);
  • DiSC Assessment

EDUCATION:

  • MBA, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta
  • BSEE, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur