a French – American tale

A joint American and French project team was facing severe problems. The deadline for project delivery was looming and the team was suffering. When interviewed, symptoms cited were:  Total breakdown in communication, absent leadership, no focus or vision, complete lack of trust, hidden agendas, backstabbing, fatigue and exhaustion, different approaches to work leading to triple work loads, toxic communication and lack of confidence in the project success.

The global leadership competence methodology was introduced over a two – days intervention where most of the team members – all in key positions- were gathered. The elements covered were:

• a team cultural analysis with a deep look at issues that can naturally arise in this team combination
• an intercultural competence training and practical applications and discussions pertaining to this team
  –focusing in on the language issue and the impact of this on the team
  –group work on toxic communication; spotting it and dealing with it
  –small group work on how to deal with specific issues facing team counter parts
• an in-depth application of RSI through experiential exercises designed to meet and develop the team
• interactive processes looking at the qualities of the team, past, present and what is needed in the future

The client feedback the next day:

“We can't tell you the impact you had on our project - the team is working much more effectively together. You have done a terrific job in bringing our teams together – the impact was very obvious as of the next day”.