Copyright 2007, Meyer Leadership Group
All rights reserved.




    A high-tech company in Silicon Valley successfully had filled a niche
    within Information Technology for a number of years.  Energetic executives
    and inventive engineers had joined the company and were creating new
    products that looked promising but were generating uncertainty regarding
    the company’s future direction.  

    Two consultants provided development consultation to the CEO and
    his senior staff to support them in moving from a hierarchical, functional style
    of management to a team-based leadership model.  Individual interviews with
    the founders, the Chairman of the Board, the CEO, all the VPs and other
    senior staff, and support personnel revealed that much was going well in the
    organization.  The data also uncovered a schism between “old timers” and
    “new comers,” a lack of trust and tolerance for divergent views and styles,
    ongoing competition for the direction and control of the company, and
    questions of leadership style. In addition, strong alliances, remnants of
    structure and individual behaviors were interfering with the development of
    a healthy organization.

    Over an eight-month period, we worked extensively with the CEO and the
    senior executives through a day-long data feedback session, a two-day offsite
    retreat, a day-long onsite meeting on leadership practices and team
    development, and ongoing individual coaching for the CEO and some VPs.
    The results included:

  • An energized, high functioning team

    “I want to relate that I have already seen very, very positive fall out from
    our meeting [OD data feedback session held the day before] . . . [The next
    day] a core team [of six senior executives] spent from 8:30 to 3:30 seriously
    and constructively discussing strategically critical issues.  It was the most
    productive meeting that has been held at the senior staff level since I
    arrived . . . the boat may indeed be headed for the shoals, but . . . we found
    the tiller and ALL of the right hands were turning it in the right direction.”                   
                                                       VP of Manufacturing

  • Comprehensive organization development

    “The two-person team approach that you employed was useful especially
    for senior managers . . . you had differing enough styles that you could
    appeal to a broader cross section of personalities . . . your work at the lower
    and the higher levels in the company was good, effective . . . you got the
    Engineering people to work together... you got the Senior Staff to work as a
    team.”     
                                                                  CEO

  • Enhanced understanding of leadership

    “All I can say is where was this material five years ago?  It really taught me
    about leadership, authority, and how to survive. . . I felt like I was reading
    the "keys" to leadership - the secrets that effective leaders know, but don't
    disclose to the unwashed masses.”
                                                     Chief Technology Officer
Organizational Consulting Case Study
(415) 383-8833