Here’s a real example:

Around the time of the pandemic lockdown, I was working with a company executive team comprising seven people – the MD and his six regional directors. About halfway through the programme, one of the directors, Jane, wanted to talk about her ‘struggle’ to get people back to work in the regional office. The others said they were having similar difficulties and thought it was a good conversation to have in our session.

I asked them what their company policy on remote working was. Jane said, “We haven’t got one, this is all new.” I then asked them for their Executive view and they told me they had not talked about it.

“How about you talk it through now? Deciding on company policy is a leadership conversation.” This was my invitation for them to explore views and reach alignment.

Stephen said, “It should be mandatory, everyone back in the office.” Simon, the MD, countered, “You can’t make this mandatory, there will be some who for good reason cannot do that.” Colin then said, “Free for all, work where you want,” which was quickly ruled out as “too loose”.

Over the course of the hour-long conversation, several other options were offered and discussed. With five minutes to go, they had not decided on their collective stance on the matter. I asked, “What are you going to do now?” Simon said, “We’ve made a really good start here. I think we should meet again by the end of this week and finalise this, and have published our policy before our next session with you, Dave, in a fortnight.”

At the start of the next Curated Leadership Conversation, I asked them how they got on. “Great,” Jane said, “we met as agreed and thrashed it out and decided. HR then drafted it up in policy terms and published it across the whole company.”

Stephen jumped in, “We were talking about it yesterday; it’s going really well. Some of our people can’t comply but we are working with them on an individual basis to agree suitable arrangements with them.”

Colin said, “I’m really glad we had that conversation with you as normally each of us would have decided our own regional policy on the hoof and in this situation that would have been chaos.” Simon added, “Spot on, we are not joined up on this people stuff. Our usual focus is profit and loss, and fixing bad projects. It’s great that we are talking leadership with you Dave.”

A simple and low-cost leadership team development programme

The Curated Leadership Conversation programme usually lasts six months, with hour-long sessions on a fortnightly basis. It is highly effective, quality focused time and is great for leadership team development.

I’ve been thinking about how I can give this to you for next to nothing. The idea is a bit like a business book club. You buy a copy of the six books below and give one to each team member (based on a team of six, but you can work this as best to suit you). Each person reads the book they’ve been given and at the end of the month, you meet as a team and talk about aspects of the books that relate to the context of your business. You then swap books around and repeat for another six iterations.

After six months, you all have read the six books and had some great leadership conversations. You will have come together as a team and will be operating at a higher level and your people will be benefitting from more joined-up leadership. You will all be buzzing.

So, a six-month leadership team development programme for the cost of six books.

6 books for leadership conversations and joined-up leadership*

1. Who Moved My Cheese? (1998) Dr Spencer Johnson – A classic book about what you want to have in life or business and how you handle change. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life or business and the maze is where you look to find it. I used to give this to everyone I coached; it reveals profound truths and only takes an hour to read.
2. Quality Without Tears – The Art of Hassle-Free Management (1984) Philip B. Crosby – For me, the bible on quality. Where ‘Zero Defects’ and ‘Right First Time’ came from. The four absolutes of quality are explained: The Definition, The System, The Performance Standard and The Measurement. Quality is a leadership matter rather than a management paperchase.
3. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002) Patrick Lencioni – I actually bought this book about 10 years ago and never got to read it until recently. It’s amazing how many parallels there are between the author’s work and mine, as a leadership team coach. I now intend giving every team leader I am working with a copy to read so they can gain a deeper understanding of the work we are doing together and to enable them to do more of it with their team in between our Leadership Team Focus Days.
4. Deep and Deliberate Delegation – A New Art for Unleashing Talent and Winning Back Time (2016) Dave Stitt (me!) – I was working with a top team and the leader asked me to do a workshop on ‘delegation’ … “because all of us think we are the only people who can do this and that is disempowering for our people”. I said no, but then realised he was onto something. Delegation is in every conversation I have with business people – a lack of it is a major frustration. I did the course for him and many since for others and then wrote the book. If you want to win back your time – this is how to do it. ‘Time management’ doesn’t work.
5. Coach for Results – Empower your People to Achieve the Extraordinary (2022) Dave Stitt (me again!) – I argue, the default conversation in industry is command and control. When you tell someone what to do, and worse, how to do it, they stop thinking for themselves. And you have to do all the thinking round here. Adopt a coaching style of management (it’s easy) and watch the empowerment and engagement take off around you. Surely, this is what you really want. This book explains just the essentials of a coaching style and how to get started. Comes with lots of recommendations from people who have made the shift, their experience and the impact on them and those around them.
6. The Song of Significance – a New Manifesto for Teams (2023) Seth Godin – Possibly my favourite book, ever! Packed with wisdom and insight for people who want to create a resilient, human organisation that does work to be proud of. That’s you and me. Read this for inspiration and then inspire your people to embrace significance and create the future. What would happen to your company if this was the best job you and they ever had? I think this could reinvigorate your company.

Buy the six books, ask your team members to read the short descriptions above and choose which they want to read first then hand them the book – meet in one month, talk about the books in the context of your business, agree what needs to happen and make it happen together. Repeat.

*All books available on Amazon.

Leadership Team Coach Dave Stitt works with construction industry executives and project teams enabling them to deliver remarkable results in a remarkable way.

Dave is the creator of  Coach for Results, an accessible online course teaching the basics of a coaching management style so managers can grow confidence, capability and enthusiasm in the people around them.

Read more blogs from Dave: ‘Coaching management style relieves pressure on younger managers’.