Clarifying Leadership Roles in a High-Growth Tech Company
Situation: J Group was a rapidly growing web development and digital consulting firm. As their success grew and their staff expanded to fifty employees, the leadership team had brought in new people into new roles. In addition, the roles of some of the long-term leaders had evolved. This had created some confusion for both new employees and longer-term staff around roles, deliverables, and how the new people added value. In particular, there was some tension between the developers and the new leaders who brought expertise in areas like marketing and project management.The continued success and growth of the firm depended on creating clarity and structure for these new roles. In addition, J Group was a company which placed great emphasis on company culture and employee engagement, so it was critically important to build alignment across the firm.
Action: Gail Golden Consulting provided a facilitator for a one-day meeting with the nine members of the senior leadership team to develop a clear outline of the responsibilities, deliverables, and value-add for each role on the leadership team. In addition, the group addressed the issue of how to measure the effectiveness of each of the leaders in his/her role. The process included:
An initial planning meeting with the COO and the CTO
Design of pre-work for the team members and analysis of the information collected
Design of the meeting
Facilitation of the meeting
A written summary report
Outcome: The meeting was highly successful in clarifying the leadership roles and building alignment across the senior leadership team. The company has continued to grow rapidly, has increased its public profile, and has maintained the culture it so highly values.
