The Client
The de facto managing partner of a firm with a chief operating office, three-person executive committee, and twenty-six partners.
The Challenge
Our client was overwhelmed and frustrated by the frequency of requests for information by partners about the firm’s operations and complaints about a lack of information. Although there were weekly partner lunches, they were essentially social gatherings rather than business meetings. Consequently, “back-channel” communication had become out of control and exhausting to those involved.
The Solution
Network mapping enabled visualization of communication relationships, “information brokers,” disconnected groups, and information bottlenecks. This helped us create a communications plan to circumvent the bottleneck and open up new, robust channels for communication. We further investigated the reasons for disconnection. Interviews revealed a lack of leadership skills, so we created a temporary leadership team of the information brokers in each disconnected group and provided coaching to this leadership team, They were able to immediately practice new leadership skills by leading their team meetings and planning and leading portions of a consultant-designed offsite.
The Results
The bottleneck problem was resolved. Complaints decreased. Since retreat preparation required discussing the business of the firm, information about the firm was taken back to informal groups, relieving the information bottleneck. The new team also provided updates during weekly all-partner lunches about the planning for the offsite, which spurred business-related discussions during these lunches. They planned the offsite and each partner led a section of the offsite. Feedback on the offsite was that it was the first true business meeting in years.