Teams in Action #5
A team leader of leaders finds his power
This is the story of how a new manager took over a toxic business function and learned core leadership skills that gave him both the competence and the confidence to address the dysfunction.
Did you know that most managers don’t get any training in how to be a manager? Often, people become managers because they excel in their job, but the core skills needed to be a boss can be very different to a functional role. This is Billy’s story. He was in over his head leading a difficult group, steeped in dysfunction, unsure what to do or where to turn for help.
The Ask
​Within six months of starting, it was clear that Billy was struggling. He was a senior leader responsible for a large function of several team leaders, yet he couldn’t even win their respect. It felt like some of them were actively sabotaging him. Anything he tried to win them over backfired and his attempts to improve anything only deepened their resistance.
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He sought internal support, but his own manager didn’t seem to want to know about any problems and HR’s efforts hadn’t improved the situation. Worse, Billy’s struggles had now become more widely known, making him feel like even more of a failure and sending his confidence plummeting to the basement. He really wanted to be a good leader but some team members had fallen into a rut of disrespectful, toxic and bullying behaviours, which affected not just Billy himself but others on the managerial team and staff across the business.
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Although Billy received 1:1 coaching support with us as part of his promotion, both he and his coach knew that he needed more help to change the toxic culture. Billy pushed for external team coaching, so we allocated a second team coach to work with Billy’s coach through a programme of interventions.
The Answer
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Each of the two coaches brought a different perspective. One already understood Billy’s perspective from working with him 1:1, while the second was new and brought a fresh viewpoint. They quickly identified entrenched patterns of behaviour within the business function and a core group of staff who were antagonistic to not just Billy but also the company goals. Individual team leaders were looking out for themselves, displaying childish and sometimes disgraceful behaviour.
Through group sessions, we exposed the roles each person played in perpetuating the dysfunction. The antagonistic group had been enabled by everybody else in the team who said nothing and by Billy’s tendency to back down from confrontation. A team analysis exercise helped reveal individuals’ contributions, and as Billy started recognising the individual strengths in his team, he became more comfortable delegating and trusting them. Communication and collaboration improved across the team and some who had been overshadowed by dominant personalities began to step up. One person was even promoted, easing some of Billy’s workload.
Billy was highly intelligent and showed a lot of potential to be a really excellent leader but needed guidance to build his experience and reach that potential. Our team coaches modelled healthier ways of working, highlighting toxic behaviours and facilitating discussions on how to improve. Billy was like a sponge, picking up the new practices and running with them throughout the business function. Over the months we worked with Billy and his team, we saw his confidence grow along with his managerial and leadership ability. He no longer spends most of his time firefighting and is able to be more intentional in his day to day activities in leading the business function.
Another critical shift for Billly was helping him to improve his stakeholder management. He was under pressure from stakeholders across the business and had not been having regular update meetings with his own manager. Through support from his coach, he learned to communicate more effectively with his own manager, allowing for better support and recognition while managing broader business pressures and stakeholders more effectively.
Over the course of our intervention, Billy’s transformation was profound. He learned a lot about himself as a leader and realised that he didn’t have to know everything to lead effectively. He gained core managerial skills and the courage to challenge bad behaviour. He stopped trying to please everybody, stopped backing down as easily and learned new techniques for having difficult conversations. The culture has shifted however there are no quick-fixes for this kind of situation. Some antagonistic individuals remain in the team and Billy’s challenge now is to maintain momentum and build on those successes. We’re confident that he is up for the task.
So What?
If you’re a leader struggling to navigate team dynamics or legacy staffing issues, Billy’s story shows that change is possible. Team dysfunction can be deeply rooted and sometimes it takes an external facilitator to identify and break existing patterns of behaviour. It’s not about ‘team-building’ exercises but about creating intentional space for bringing awareness to team patterns and being supported to break free from them. If this feels familiar, we can help.
Get in touch with us today: [LINK HERE].