WCC

Client:: Warwickshire County Council (WCC)
Project:: Leadership team 360° feedback and profiling

The 1-2-1 sessions were found to be valuable, thought provoking, and practical. They enabled the participants to make solid personal development plans and commit to leadership development actions when 'back at their desks'.

Result: Our leadership profile development and linked 360° feedback work with WCC identified our bespoke leadership profile as a good fit for the organisation and revealed clear areas for the senior leadership team to work on to improve leadership performance. The leadership team will repeat the 360° cycle, and with lower management grades.

Participants found the 1-2-1 sessions valuable, thought provoking, and practical. They were able to make solid personal development plans as a result. Our coaches handled some of the more difficult feedback conversations sensitively and with understanding.

Situation: WCC wanted to improve senior leadership team self-awareness about their ability to lead the business towards improved performance against national targets. As the foundation for an 18 month programme of leadership development work, we designed and delivered a bespoke leadership profile and a linked 360° feedback tool for the leadership team. Thirty-six members of the leadership team, including the chief executive, took part.

Task: Our design and delivery work included:

Creating a leadership profile as the base for the bespoke 360° tool
Creating a bespoke 360° feedback questionnaire, tightly linked to organisational objectives
A managed online 360° feedback system
1-2-1 feedback and coaching sessions wit the 36 participants, delivered by experienced feedback coaches
A group report, sliced by function
Design and delivery of a one-day 'outcomes' workshop, for the leadership team to review their collective data and discuss the leadership profile in light of this information

Action: Developing the leadership profile for WCC took into account organisational context and the profile was grounded in academic leadership development theory. It was an iterative process in collaboration with senior leaders and project sponsors. Once the new profile was agreed, we developed a linked 360° feedback questionnaire against which to measure participants' leadership skills and behaviours.

Participants went through the process in groups of 12; each received feedback and coaching anchored around their feedback report. Each participant was tasked to begin a personal development plan during their session, committing to leadership development actions they would make when back ‘at their desks’.

Once the feedback cycle was complete we delivered a one-day group-report review workshop designed for the leadership team to review the high and low scores in their group report with a view to fine tuning the emergent leadership profile.