SEASOL IMPROVES LEADERSHIP TEAM COHESIVENESS

Seasol International has been manufacturing and marketing organic and environmentally friendly products for over 30 years. With a flourishing range of plant tonics, fertilisers and water saving products designed to help keep both gardens and the planet green and beautiful. Seasol products are used in home gardens, as well as for commercial purposes around the world.

The Challenges

Just like its product’s promise, Seasol International was also experiencing steady growth, but the business was not progressing as fast as what the market demanded. As the business grew, previous challenges that had not been solved became bigger and more urgent to fix. While the senior leadership team appeared to be working reasonably well, a lack of trust between team members meant that they were not having robust discussions to sort out problems. Furthermore, this was also impacting their direct reports and team performance throughout the organisation.

Seasol International turned to Marie-Claire to help with increasing trust levels in the senior leadership team, in order to talk truthfully about problems and solve them more efficiently.

The Solution

Step 1: Explore

Marie-Claire started by conducting a half day workshop with the senior leadership team (SLT) to help them better understand and identify trust issues. It included self-reflection time, group discussion and a baseline survey to identify strengths and weakness within the executive team. It became clear that some leaders were struggling to understand why they were not trusted within the team.

Step 2: Consolidate

To further advance the training undertaken in the initial workshop, coaching was undertaken with three specific leaders over 6 months. It was customised per person around the particular areas where they were letting others down – such as poor delegation, communication, accountability, prioritisation and time dedicated to working on strategy.

Step 3: Energise

To improve direct team performance, a half day workshop was undertaken with the direct teams of some of the leaders that were coached. Again, this was customised for the needs of the team. The focus was around how they solved issues, scheduled work and the importance of their role in the organisation.

Step 4: Evaluate

For each phase, an assessment was undertaken both pre and post. Debriefs with both the CEO and HR Director were undertaken between each phase.

Business results

Across the senior leadership team, the main results were:

• Increased confidence to try new leadership techniques

• Improved ability to receive and interpret feedback more effectively and respond appropriately.

• Increased ability to talk about issues to understand context and other people’s perspectives.

Coaching Results/Outcomes: Leaders:

• Delegated work between 30 - 47% more.

• Spent 15-39% more time working on high priority tasks each week.

• Improved employee accountability by 36-45%.

Leaders also were more satisfied with their jobs, more confident in how to handle people issues and were less stressed. Their teams and peers were also happier and more supportive.