What we do

Dale Harris Consulting works on three levels within a business:

1. the Individual
2. the Team
3. the Organisation.

Our work is delivered in different formats:

• diagnosis and analysis through interviews and reading of documents
• workshops to generate strategies and develop implementation plans
• team development and training workshops
• one-to-one coaching sessions.

We develop a customised programme of work for each client, dependent on the needs of the client and our assessment of how best their goals can be achieved.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP COACHING

Recent studies show business coaching and executive coaching to be the most effective means for achieving sustainable growth, change and development in the individual, group and organization.

The coaching sessions we provide are focused on achieving specific objectives and outcomes, both for each individual session and over a series of sessions. The goal is to generate action and also learning through action.

We focus on 5 primary areas in our coaching:

1. Understand your own leadership
In all our work, the starting point is ‘know yourself’. Helping people to understand their own leadership style, their preferences, and their strengths and weaknesses is the platform for developing effective personal leadership.

2. Define success, and work out what to do to get it
We provide a structured framework so that coachees can take a systematic approach in setting their goals, defining the blockers and enablers, and identifying the solutions and tactics to achieve their goals.

3. Sustain energy and make it happen
The challenges that our clients work with are never easy – sometimes major organisational change, sometimes critical personal leadership challenges. We take regular ‘pit stops’ to review progress, capture learning, adjust tactics, and build energy.

4. Develop yourself
Just as a key question is always ‘how do you contribute to this situation / issue / dynamic?’, so our clients always have a personal development agenda, be it a seasoned Chief Exec or a new function head. This agenda runs through the whole engagement - leveraging strengths and building critical capabilities.

5. Build influence in the organisation
Building influence through social network is one of the emerging themes in today’s complex, fluid organisations. We use our E=MC2 model to help our coachees build the critical connections with their colleagues.

TEAM BUILDING

All teams are responsible for taking a collective lead in their own sphere of influence – that is their purpose. The goal of our programmes is to develop each team as a leadership team – with shared purpose and vision, aligned to a shared plan, working as a unit, and communicating effectively with their stakeholders.

      "Jonathan has done an exceptional job in developing my senior management team. He brings

      a mix of sincerity, confidence and experience that rapidly gained the respect and trust of what         

      is a very demanding team. He was able to ask the hard and challenging questions - and we have

      all upped our game as a result." 

      Division CEO, major European retail bank

A second principle behind our approach is that team development must deliver enhanced business results. The ultimate purpose of our programmes is to enable a team to improve its delivery of business results. Our programmes therefore have a dual focus, and we measure both developing the team and the impact on the business.

In developing the team, the challenges may include:

• accelerating development into a high performing team
• moving out from the shadow of a powerful leader – and towards self-direction
• building a culture of high accountability / low blame that encourages people to take ownership and initiative
• developing a team dynamic that delivers collective leadership
• equipping the team with the protocols and processes that enable it to operate effectively.

In focusing on the impact on the business, the challenges may include:

• getting clear on goals, strategies and action plans
• dealing with internal and external ‘blockers’
• engaging key stakeholders and interest groups
• effective change management.

Successful leadership teams set challenging objectives, plan ahead, deliver to the plan, and learn by reflecting on their actions and outcomes. Team development programmes are no exception.

In our programmes, we will help a team to:

• define the shift that they want to make during the programme
• agree how they will sustain, support and track the change
• commit to specific improvements and actions throughout the programme.

In addition to working with the team as a team, we provide 1-to-1 coaching for some or all team members to support and challenge the personal shift that is often needed.

Strong relationships are the ‘sine qua non’ of high performing teams. We help to build relationships that allow strong challenge, creative conflict and energetic alignment to shared goals. Sometimes a single event can act as a catalyst for enormous change in the way a team performs. Usually it takes longer to build those relationships and so most of our team programmes run for 6 to 9 months.

ORGANISATIONAL SOLUTIONS

Developing the vision and strategy
At the heart of a well-functioning and profitable business is a clear vision and strategy based on a clear understanding of market realities and competitor intentions.

After establishing a shared vision and key goals, we use strategy mapping to build organisational consensus on goals, strategies, and key measures and targets.

 

A strategy map:

• defines the business’s financial goals
• formulates the value proposition that is needed in each market to achieve the financial goals
• defines the internal processes that are needed to deliver the value proposition and improve productivity
• identifies the competencies, culture and knowledge systems that are needed to ensure that the right people with   the right skills are engaged in those internal processes to deliver the value proposition and improve productivity.

Once the strategy is clear, key measures and targets are used to prioritise strategic initiatives, and also to decide what not to do.

Where a team needs to work on a competitive response to existing and new competitors, we use a mix of Porter-based competitor analysis, and a ‘quick and dirty’ Killer Strategy exercise to identify competitor plans and beat them    to it.

Strategy into action with our Fast Change methodology
Where part of the strategy is internal change, we work with the leadership team to vet their current change strategy against best practice. If required, we use our Fast Change methodology to engage the wider organisation and implement organisational change.

Developing a high performance culture
A business can only perform at its best when there is an environment where high performance is inspired and rewarded.

We work on three specific components of a high performance culture:

• building a leadership culture that motivates and engages through training leaders as coaches and training them in giving and receiving feedback
• establishing a career development system that helps people achieve their career ambitions. This means setting up a transparent internal job market and training internal career coaches and managers to enable people to ‘work the market’
• embedding a communication strategy (channels and content) that enables people to understand the direction of the business and integrate their efforts behind it.