M3 Technology Consultants: Leadership Development
THE CLIENT
M3 Technology Consultants was founded in 2003, and the business has grown into a well-respected computer support and services provider. Like most small companies, the owner/CEO has been the primary decision-maker and strategic thinker for the organization, but as the organization continued to grow, it became more and more important that his team be able to make decisions on behalf of M3 without so much reliance on the owner/CEO.
THE CHALLENGE / OPPORTUNITY
M3 partnered with the Springboard team to identify and train a core team of senior leaders with the goal of sharpening the skills and knowledge that they need to look at the business from a leadership point of view. They had two goals. First, to empower these employees to proactively make decisions that supported the values and strategic direction of the organization. And secondly, for the owner/CEO, that the confidence in his strong team of decision-makers would give him the freedom to focus on other aspects of the business, such as finding new clients and building up current accounts.
THE SOLUTION
Once a senior leadership team was identified, the Springboard team organized a series of meetings with this group. Each session was focused around a different topic: how to work together as a team, even when the owner/CEO isn’t around to play the role of team leader; how to communicate and delegate more effectively; how to listen more actively to client needs; and how to act as a leader, rather than just a manager of tasks. These sessions—when combined with the work that the Springboard team did to develop each leader individually—provided necessary skills and supported each employee in becoming a more confident and capable leader.
THE RESULTS
As a result of this attention, the members of this group have come together into a cohesive team that works as a unit, rather than a collection of individual contributors. The decisions that they make are now more proactive, and are arrived at through strategic thinking that takes into account how that decision affects the organization as a whole. The owner/CEO says, “We now have very specific goals that we are all working towards. The staff is more comfortable having tough discussions with other team members and more confidence that I’m supporting them. Overall, we are learning and getting stronger as a firm and the whole company seems to be running smoother.” In addition, the CEO reported that as a result of the team leadership program, the staff improved their billable percentages and increased their project work by over 85%.