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Helping the top team of a non-profit heal a toxic work environment

Despite having a stable leadership team for almost a decade, a culture of distrust and resentment was preventing a state-level nonprofit serving at-risk children from executing their mission. After multiple efforts to get unstuck failed, the CEO turned to Mark to design a top-team intervention to explore the root causes of the dysfunction and to start them on a path of rebuilding trust.

Mark met with the organization’s top 12 leaders several times over a period of 8 weeks. During that time, he introduced communication practices to help the participants speak courageously and actually listen to each other. He also walked through a series of SODA cycles (See, Own, Design, Act) to first surface the recurring patterns, structures and mindsets that were hampering team performance, then explore the ways everyone participated in and helped to create them, and then invent experiments to test if making changes to high-leverage mindsets and structures could lead to new patterns and outcomes.

The process was both emotionally and intellectually challenging, but trust among the participants increased dramatically as they experienced a series of breakthrough moments. Ultimately, they agreed on a number of organizational shifts and a new set of operating norms. One longtime team member also reached the difficult decision to give up his position. Six months later, the team reported high levels of energy, commitment, and trust, and the organization’s ability to execute had improved dramatically.

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