Crenshaw Cameo- Team Effectiveness, Authentic Leadership, and Engaging Diverse Talent with Willem Genece

Maximizing Team Effectiveness, How to be an Authentic Leader, and Engaging Diverse Talent

Bill: You and I have recently talked a great deal about how complex the HR function is.

We've talked about their teams and the opportunity for HR to invest in leadership and teams. Can you tell me more about that?

Willem: The thing that makes it increasingly challenging for HR functions these days is the unprecedented demands and expectations on leaders.

Investing in HR is so critical.

Leaders have so many different things to deal with now between workplace and environmental challenges and societal turmoil. Human Resources, as the stewards of organizational cultures, have to be more nimble, they have to be real advisors, and their processes have to be best in class.

We have talked about the tendency for human resources functions to suffer from the Cobbler's Kids’ Syndrome. They're focused on the internal customer, which is great and is what should happen. But often, we've observed that some of our clients don't get the attention they need. They don't get the investment, the development or even the infusion, as I call it, of care and feeding that helps the function to thrive and be present for their leaders.

It's a tough time to be a present and real advisor in HR right now.

Bill: We've seen an increase in the advisor-partner relationship between the CHRO and the CEO. We have been in discussions with CHROs who've talked about how to enable their team to have a relationship, similar to the relationship between the CHRO to the CEO, to have an impact on their internal business partners.

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Willem: The notion of being a good, trusted advisor to a business leader in HR is extremely significant. I have talked to CHROs about the need to focus and invest in helping their HR functions become business advisors and having a better understanding of the business, to be credible, and understand not just how the business operates, but also the language and the specific talent challenges for the business.

All of those things are important to get credible relationships with senior business leaders. The CHRO is performing that function with the CEO, but there has to be a direct correlation between that partnership and what the business-facing HR professionals need to do with their business partners as well.

The days of being the owners of the process and keeping the HR functions running on time and smoothly is now a minimum expectation. Now, anticipating and looking around corners is what's expected of a true business partner in HR.

Bill: In that answer, you talked about establishing legitimacy with business partners. What are some of the key criteria to do that?

Willem: You have to understand the business fundamentals, you have to understand the language, you have to speak in business terms so that leaders feel as though you understand what they're dealing with and will relate to you as a true partner. HR executives also have to figure out how to seamlessly translate their products and services to what the business needs.

For example, if a business leader is challenged with motivating and providing incentive for their sales team, a capable HR business partner will understand what levers they have in compensation, in talent management, and in recruiting, that can directly affect what this business leader is trying to do. The business leader will understand that this HR partner knows how to bring those services to my business and help me succeed and meet the challenges that I have.

It should be seamless and evident to the business leader how HR provides value.

Bill Glenn: In regards to team leadership and alignment, even teams with great talent need alignment and support to drive effectiveness. Whether it's effectiveness of the strategy, effectiveness about their growth criteria, or effectiveness about external lenses to the customer. How are we thinking about team leadership and alignment?

Willem: This is a prevalent theme with our clients. How do they bring their teams along in an effective way? In our niche within the senior levels and the C-suite, most leadership and executive teams are called teams just by virtue of reporting to the CEO. When you think about how a real team functions, there's a lot of work that tends to need to be done.

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There is a difference between individual performance and the interdependence of a team, where you can't succeed if you're not aligned. Most teams fall somewhere along this spectrum individual performance and team alignment, which requires role clarity.

You need clarity on what you're trying to achieve.

They need to know what their role is. The leader plays a key part in clarifying what the aim and vision is.

Another important ingredient for effective teams is trust. I have to trust that you have my back and that I can count on you to do what I think you need to do. Recently, we've had discussions on psychological safety and the ability for people to feel comfortable sharing opposing points of view and disagreeing without fear of retaliation or being shut down in a team setting.

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There's a lot to consider to have a really well-run and effective team, in the true sense of team, as compared to a group of executives working together, which is what most leadership teams end up being.

Bill: I like using the term collaborative conflict, where the leader invites the team to have debate over issues. To me, collaboration in itself is a little naked. It doesn't promote good outcomes. It sort of connotes, "let's get along." All are aligned at the end of the day, but it doesn't necessarily provide the greatest answer, which requires conflict and debate.

Willem: It's what happens after the meeting that counts. During a team leadership discussion, colleagues are nodding yes. They're displaying agreement, but when they leave that meeting, is the team going to get together and work together towards a common goal?

They have to trust each other, and understand what their role is, and the team has to be aligned to meeting the objective together, as compared to individually. There are times where it is better to be an individual contributor. If an executive has a particular capability, they can take the lead, but there are also times where the team needs to be aligned as a group.

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Bill Glenn: Can you talk a little bit about the rigor that we have in our process for team effectiveness, leadership, and alignment?

Willem: Rigor's the right word. There are multiple steps that Crenshaw typically deploys when we're doing team effectiveness work.

1. Start with the leader's objective. Try to understand what the leader's trying to accomplish, whether it is remedial or helping the team be more effective. You really want to get aligned with the leader in terms of their expectations and what you're helping them accomplish with the team.

2. Interviews with the team members. That provides an opportunity for you to get unvarnished feedback from each executive on the team about their perspective, whether it's team behavior, the culture of the organization, or feedback for the leader about what they are trying to accomplish.

3. Gather Data. We will typically gather data through assessments and behavioral reviews of how each team member prefers to perform their job. That's usually very eye-opening. It helps each executive on the team understand the predominant behavior for their colleague and how to best work with or approach their colleague.

4. Facilitated Session. Then we conduct an interactive session with the entire executive team that culminates with what we've learned from the leader, the behavioral assessments we've conducted, and the team interview themes. We don't disclose who said what, but we aggregate themes. We bring all of that together in a very impactful way through a facilitated session with the entire team.

Once we've completed the facilitated session or event that we'll do with the team, we are ongoing partners with the executive team and the leader. We ensure that we're helping them to sustain change, stay on the right path, and provide ongoing consultation for a period of time after the team session or the offsite.

That's an important component of how we help because we've collected the information, we have gathered the data, and we've also forged an important partnership with the leader and the executive team members. We leverage all of that to stay involved and continue to consult throughout the following periods after the offsite or the facilitated session as well.

Bill: You talked about psychological safety and how important it is for that team to be candid. It's also important for them to cascade it individually in their functions.

Willem: Psychological safety is very difficult to achieve at the executive team level, and the notion of cascading that is really significant.

It's an example of role modeling. You want to achieve a certain level of behavior, but if your team doesn't see it, it's hard for them to emulate or replicate what you're trying to do. It's the same with psychological safety. You have to demonstrate it. You have to be really deliberate about it.

Once it is achieved at the executive level with the senior team, the opportunity and the necessity is to cascade it and demonstrate how it is important to the rest of the teams as well.

Bill: You've worked on several cohort programs. Why is it something that is really important now and why are more companies considering this?

Is it to bridge training and coaching? What are some of the different models that we've used?

Willem: There's a real appetite for cohort learning and cohort coaching. Coaching tends to be a very individualized, and a one-on-one type of service or delivery. The nature of it is private and confidential. However, what we found with the cohort programs that we've implemented is that the participants get real value in working together. These are not necessarily executives who are on the same teams or even in the same businesses. They are executives who are part of the same company, who find they enjoy the opportunity to interact, learn from, compare notes with, get to know, and form relationships with other executives.

We've designed cohort programs that put similar executives together in groups so that they can do active learning together and understand content that the company provides.

Our contribution helps the executives participating in the learning really apply, with the help of a sounding board in their executive coach, who can make it relevant to them in their day to day job.

What they say about training is you lose most of it within a day or two after you've gone to the event. Seventy-five percent of the training is lost unless you apply it right away.

What we found with cohort programs is the application tends to be stickier and tends to stay because you have a coach working with you that helps personalize the learning a great deal.

Bill: How does the coach enable the cohort group, and help facilitate that learning, to make it really productive? What's the work that the coach needs to do?

Willem: It's similar work that the coach tends to do one-on-one in a group setting. They have to establish safety and they have to establish trust so that the cohort group feels comfortable with each other. A coach has to establish that right up front. That enables discussion, information sharing, and collaboration as a cohort group.

The other thing that the coach has to bring to those facilitated discussions is some structure. They establish an agenda to help the participants understand what they're trying to accomplish.

Lastly, the learning application is a critical aspect of what coaching can help with. We receive the content from the company or an external expert and help apply it to the executive's role to transfer what they've just learned and make it relevant to their job. Those are some elements that coaching really helps with in the cohort programs.

Bill: What have you seen recently in your engagements with senior executives and CEOs as some consistent themes that are emerging in recent years that hadn't existed before?

Willem: Many of the challenge that our clients, some of which I've been working with directly, are completely new, and I'd argue are permanent changes to how leaders need to behave.

For example, there's been a lot of discussion about being empathetic leaders. What that requires is a leader demonstrating personal authenticity and the ability to connect on a different level with their clients, staff, team members, and direct reports. I think because of people's experience after the pandemic and the notion of hybrid working and remote working, personal aspects of executives' lives have taken a bigger role than ever before. The firewall that used to exist between what happens at the workplace and what happens at home or what happens in society have all started to meld.

The challenges that our senior clients and leaders are having now is:

• How do I demonstrate my authentic self?

• How do I impart and be deliberate about my expectations and my principles?

• How do I bring my team, for those who are in positions of leading teams, how do I bring my team along in a way that is effective and useful to the organization?

Some of the themes I'm helping clients with now are authenticity and being deliberate about your principles.

For example, an issue that is not unique to many leaders is they don't like to be surprised. They don't like to be surprised by bad news, mistakes, or unexpected events. However, very few share that with their teams as a principle. You don't think that's something you have to share, that I don't want to be surprised. Don't surprise me. Instead, what happens is they react when it happens and it's not something that their team members understand.

Being expressive and upfront about your expectations as a leader is something that most leaders need help with, but it’s not something that they think about because it's part of who they are. Being able to draw that out with them as a coach and helping them display that and convey that up front is part of the work that I'm positioned to do.

Bill: It seems like you have to do that on an individual level, meaning the CEO to the C-suite executive, but also the CEO to the team.

Willem: The other challenge lately, and I've heard you use the term VUCA, which I think is really appropriate for the instability, the turmoil, and all the things that are going on that used to be considered outside of the workplace. Now leaders have to have a point of view.

They have to have a point of view about what's happening, not only in their business, but to their business and in the marketplace and in society. That is difficult to be able to do in a constructive manner and you have to be thoughtful in being able to connect it to the values of the organization.

It's not just about how you feel as a person or an individual in society. You have to do that in a way that connects it to the values of the organization so that employees and colleagues can make the connection within the context of the workplace.

Bill: I always talk about how our coaches love their craft. They just love what they do. I know you and Barb are so proud of the coaches we've assembled over the years. So when I discuss our coaches, I talk about their love of their craft and how vested they are in the executives' development. How do you think about our coaches?

Willem: You've touched on something that personally excites me. I feel really fortunate to be working with the cadre of coaches that we have. Our roster of coaches are really special, because of the varied experiences that they have such as operating experience, being in business roles, being published, and I also get the sense, getting to know each of them individually, there's a genuine care for helping our clients succeed.

They really invest in what they do in helping clients be more effective, overcome challenges, and be the best they can be in any number of situations. There's something about the culture at Crenshaw that enables people to be who they are and enjoy the work that they're doing.

The other element is to work with other colleagues who are doing similar work that you can connect with on a personal basis. We've talked about the need to be able to connect and how important that is these days. I feel lucky to be working at an organization like Crenshaw Associates where we focus on that.

We focus on getting together, sharing information, collaborating and working together to get results for our clients. It's a very special place and culture that we have.

Bill: Tell me a little bit about the proven methodology that we use consistently and yet at the same time we're asking our folks to make sure they're customizing it to the exact goals or the personality, the objectives of that particular executive.

Willem: Our methodology is important because it works. First, we ground our approach in data. Secondly, we are very specific about working with our clients towards achieving specific goals. We don't boil the ocean. We establish three to four very specific outcomes. Finally, we are stakeholder centered. We don't go into organizations and disappear. We make sure we're working with the leader, we're working with HR, and checking in constantly throughout the engagement so that we're on track and that the client is held accountable and we're held accountable.

That methodology is really important. That said, every coach is different and every executive is different, so we utilize the same approach, but we meet our client where they are and appreciate the context that they're operating in. You have to be aware of that, and sticking to the same method, and sticking to our use of data, our stakeholder-centric approach, but doing it in a way that helps the client feel as though their needs are being uniquely met by the coach.

That's really the job of coaches. Each of them does it in their way, bringing their experience and their capability, while following our methodology.

Bill: And our folks have sat in the seat, essentially, of the executives that they're working with.

Willem: That's an additional aspect they bring, for those who have those operating experience backgrounds, of bringing their experience to their coaching.

In addition to the data, theory, and what they've learned as coaches, they can talk from experience. We make the distinction between coaching and advising. That's a really important point because most of our clients at the senior level expect coaches to have advice in their toolkit. A point of view. They need to be able to opine and provide options. You're not telling the executive what to do, but you're giving them ways to think about how to solve a particular problem. Many of our coaches, myself included, find ourselves in a position where an executive says to you, "What do you think I should do?" "What's your opinion about how to solve this problem?" You want to help them through the discovery of coming up with the solution, but I think there's an expectation for senior executives. That you have some scenarios to pull from, to draw from, to give them some options to think about for solving that problem.

Bill: You mentioned stakeholder alignment which we know it's critically important. Our relationship with the key stakeholders in an engagement could be with the CHRO and the CEO. Can you give me an example of what you provide them in terms of insights without breaking confidentiality in the particular engagement or with the particular executive?

Willem: Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the coachee or the client or executive is paramount. That is the most important task in any coaching engagement and we emphasize that continually. As we work with the executive, we get them to open up and share, and help them learn, develop, and grow.

The other obligation we have though, is to stakeholders in the organization. More often than not, they're the ones who engage us for the coaching, they're the ones who are sponsoring it. What coaches have to do is be really clear about the role that they'll be playing with their client and what they'll be playing with the stakeholder.

For example, I'm working with a CEO who's very invested in a high potential, talented member of her team that I'm working with. She continually calls on me to find out how things are going, what we are working on, and how this executive is progressing against his goals. What I continually work hard to do is align closely with my client about what I'm going to share with the CEO and understand what we'll protect.

I communicate the information I will share because the leader is looking for insights. That involvement and investment is important and we need to leverage it. We need to make her leader an active sponsor. The work that's involved is constantly aligning and never getting ahead of my client with regard to information. He will always know what I'm saying, what I'm sharing, and feel as though the confidence that we've agreed to is constantly protected. I also have to form a similar trusted relationship with the CEO. As a stakeholder, she has to feel as though I'm being trustworthy, I'm being an honest broker of information. There is a bit of an art to this because she will share things sometimes that she doesn't want the client to know.

I have to protect that confidentiality as well. It's an intentional shift for coaches to promote stakeholder involvement while protecting confidentiality.

Bill: We've talked a great deal about and heard from our customers about DEI. Personally, I think about DEI as process and training than necessarily development of diverse talent. It's really important to get trained in the legal aspects and protocols and processes. But the outcomes of business development come from developing and retaining diverse talent, in the widest sense of the acronym. Gender diversity, racial diversity, thought diversity.

How are you thinking about diversity and our coaches? And having the right people to address that?

Willem: Interesting when you said DEI. Unfortunately, at the time we sit and reflect on it, the term itself is radioactive. Many leaders, organizations, politicians, are giving it an unfavorable connotation.

People don't think DEI as an acronym is effective and investments against it have been shrinking in some areas. We've definitely seen it in colleges and in some organizations. Here's where the rubber meets the road, as we have discussed customer focus and customer alignment.

Customers will always look for service providers or services that resonate with them. If they are working with a company that does not include diverse representation, and does not include different points of view, even if they don't feel like they're going to avail themselves of that difference, they're going to be reluctant to work with that company. Fact. That's a business imperative.

The other aspect that's really driving it for us is that our clients, the executives themselves, are increasingly diverse and are seeking diverse coaches. They are asking for a coach that understands them, that they won't have to explain things to, that can help them face unique challenges as diverse talent in an organization. There's a lot of talk about the business case for diversity and this is where the rubber meets the road. Clients are asking for it, and if you are a service provider, you have to be able to meet the expectations of your customers.

The implications for our coaches are significant.

For diverse executives it takes on a different meaning, but our coaches have to meet clients where they are. You have to be sensitive, aware, and culturally competent.

You have to understand what your client is going through and the onus should not be on the client to make you understand. That means if you are a coach that doesn't share the diversity, the ethnic background, or the gender of your coachee, you can't put the coachee in the position of explaining, enlightening, or making you aware.

You as the coach have to do the work. You have to figure out how you're going to help that client meet their objectives. If they have to expend extra energy to bring you along, you're not being helpful. It's a similar value proposition for many of our coaches who've had business operating experience in that the executive doesn't have to explain what it means to meet revenue targets or to motivate a team. As a coach, you've been there and you understand it.

I think the same can be said for diverse talent. You have a sense, you understand what it means to be the only woman on the executive team, or the only person of color, or an outside hire who is diverse coming into a non-diverse setting, and the challenges you're going to face. Some coaches are more prepared than others to face those challenges, but the fact that we have diverse representation among our coaching roster makes a big difference.

Bill: Part of that engagement, which you've discussed extensively, is the responsibility to stakeholder alignment, and the work that we do consistently, sharing insights and maintaining confidentiality. How does that play out where the leader is a white man, for instance, or a white woman? What's their role in supporting the work that you're doing with the executive?

Willem: Any leader, whether it's majority, diverse, working with a subordinate or a direct report, wants to get the best and the most out of that executive. They want that executive to perform, meet objectives, and be successful.

That's the role of the leader. If the leader is a majority in this case, and the direct report is diverse, and I'm in the mix there to support that, there are a couple of ways I've done this very explicitly. I can help demystify some of the challenges that my client is undergoing, with my client's permission.

I'm not going to get ahead of my client in terms of what they're willing to share: personal anecdotes, challenges, how they've dealt with things that have happened in the organization. But we will agree that teaching that majority leader what they need to know about motivating the coachee is part of the work.

That isn't always the case, but oftentimes I can be an ally with the coachee and help the majority leader understand some perspective that they may not have before and facilitate some of the conversation and some of the learning. The most important aspect of that dynamic is aligning with the client first about what they were trying to accomplish.

Bill: In this respect, in the area of diversity in particular, it's not just about the individual engagement and helping the leader understand that particular executive, but what it's like to be diverse in a not as diverse organization. How to lead and operate in that setting.

Willem: Absolutely. One presumption I'll make is if they hired that individual, they knew this comes with bringing that person into that context. For example, if a leader hires talented head of sales, who happens to be black and will be the only black executive on the team, they hired him with eyes open that there could be challenges to bringing that person into this context. As the majority leader, they should be ready to help. They may not know how to, so having an informed and capable coach in that dynamic can be very helpful.

A coach has to sign up with the client first that they want that as part of their coaching. Sometimes they don't want the racial, or gender, or diversity aspect to be the thing that they're getting coaching for. They want to be accepted on their own merits, on their own talents, and not the fact that they happen to be of a different race or a different background. They don't want that to be the focus.

Bill: You often talk though about how much responsibility the diverse executive themselves have.

Willem: It's not a popular piece of advice, but I do believe, that when a diverse executive joins a majority organization where they are going to be one of few, if not the only diverse person on the executive team, an expectation that the culture will change and to accommodate their needs or their differences is ill-advised and not realistic. The diverse executive is often going to have to do most of the adaptation. I'm not saying they should change who they are or not be authentic, but they're going to have to do most of the work. If people are earnest about changing the culture, it's great, but while that happens, you've got a job to do, you have to perform.

In the meantime, you have to adapt, you have to make relationships, you have to face your unique challenges, and you have to come up with tools to do that. The notion that you've joined an organization and you think things are going to change on your behalf or to facilitate your path there, is flawed thinking. I don't think it works, and there are a lot of executives who come in with those expectations and they don't last. They don't succeed because the body rejects the organ. The culture is what it is. So, you could be brought in to help change it, but I guarantee you there are things you're going to have to learn and adapt to in the meantime. And that even goes for people like me who are brought in to change the culture.

For example, a chief diversity officer can be brought in for aspects of their role to help the organization be more inclusive. For them to be effective, they have to figure out how the culture already works, and they're going to have to adapt. What that means is, how do decisions get made? Who are the power players? Who are the people I need to make relationships with? That's not going to change because you're a woman or you're a person of color. You have to acclimate to all of that to get your agenda met.

It's not always received well, but that's my honest assessment of the situation.

Bill: Is there a recent example of a coaching engagement that you're personally involved in?

Willem: A CEO I've done work with hired a head of HR, a black female, to come in and make significant changes in the organization.

However, the CEO did not appropriately evaluate or understand just how much of the current culture this new head of HR was going to have to contend with to make the changes. He did not plan for giving her the appropriate air cover, the sponsorship, and both legitimate and soft power to be able to do what she needed to do.

In that equation, she didn't know how to ask for it and resented having to ask for it. She thought it would happen as a consequence of the role she was in as Chief People Officer. People didn't listen, the CEO didn't back her up in moments of truth in the organization, and she ended up not lasting the role.

Bill: One of the key derailers of new executives to an organization is they don't understand the norms, practices, politics and culture of an organization. That happens regardless of someone's race or gender. But it's particularly difficult for a diverse executive versus a majority.

Willem: Most organizations get onboarding wrong. They don't know how to bring in new talent in an effective way so that talent can last and be retained. They their paid-for differences. They paid for someone to operate in a different way, but haven't figured out how to support them. The executive themselves have not figured out what to ask for.

That's why I think our onboarding work is so incredibly valuable because we can bridge the gap. We can help translate what that executive was hired for and activate it effectively into the organization and hopefully accelerate their onboarding and integration and make it stick so that when we leave the engagement, they've learned some strategies and tools that will help them after the engagement is over.

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ABOUT

Willem has over 25 years of coaching, consulting, and facilitation experience with multinational organizations, focusing on leadership development, optimizing performance, and enhancing the overall effectiveness of senior-level executives. He has held line operating positions in HR, Marketing, Operations, and Sales. Willem’s industry experience spans financial services, publishing, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, advertising, and healthcare. Willem earned his BA degree from New York University and he attained his Human Resource Executive Certification at Cornell University.