From Chaos to Action: Building and Leading Winning Decentralized Teams

Work as One. Win as One. Remotely.

Don't just fight to survive; fight to win.

When an organization is separated suddenly amidst a dynamic chaotic environment, operations can outpace the ability to manage. In order to maintain tempo and precision, organizations must decentralize decision-making authority. High-Performance teams that thrive in a decentralized environment utilize the Mission approach. Making that transition requires a shift in measures.

What was their "New Normal"? How did they create their own New Normal and get people to buy into it? What changed and how did it play out in performance? How did they work as one, remotely? And how did they respond to crisis?

Join us for three half-day virtual sessions focused on leading with decentralized team challenges. Each session will be held one week apart beginning on September 10. Sessions are presented in partnership with Trident Leadership.

Series Investment: $750 per participant (covers all sessions)

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Session Topics

September 10, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

 

Part A: Wilder's Lightning Brigade: "New Normal": The Mission-Oriented Team Mission Approach as Methodology and Culture

Brief: The leadership of John T. Wilder is a uniquely Chattanooga case study of a high-performance team. In 1863 the entrepreneur from Indiana was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, thrown abruptly into a "New Normal". Given a mission that forced his team suddenly into working remotely, he created, in a few months, a high-performance decentralized team, and what may be the U.S. Army's first true Special Forces unit as we would recognize it today. Seven years later he was Mayor of Chattanooga. The Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce credits its origin to Wilder. He was a leader of industry in the newly burgeoning city. He played a leading role in establishing a university in Chattanooga. And he was a lead in establishing America's first National Military Park, the Chickamauga Battlefield. His high-performance team that arrived in Chattanooga 1863 was dubbed the "Lightning Brigade" for unexpected reasons. Their performance is a model of agility, coordination, and leadership - of Working as One to Win as One. It is the study of the "Mission-Oriented Team".

 

September 17, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Part B: Continental Airlines: "From Worst to First": The Mission-Oriented Team Special Guest: Gordon M. Bethune, CEO 1994-2004

Brief: By 1994, Continental Airlines was the "perfect ten". With 40,000 employees spread around the globe, it consistently ranked dead last of the ten largest U.S. airlines, ten CEOs in ten years, and at least that long since it had made a dollar. In fact, Continental was entering its third bankruptcy. One year later, the same company was consistently hitting the top of all performance rankings as measured by the DOT and actually made a profit for the first time in a dozen years. And it was doing it with the same 40,000 employees, spread around the globe, who had been together through the previous years. Bethune had to reverse the zero-defect culture and centralized control by decentralizing authority for decision-making. Doing so successfully and creating action required a combination of jarring demonstrations and fundamental shifts, both inside and outside. He was in the lead during the crisis of 9/11 and others that followed. His team, like Wilder's, is a model of dependability, agility, and the ability to Work as One to Win as One.

 

September 24, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Action Session: Creating Action: Making and Sustaining the Transition. Applying your situation. Getting started.

Move from talk to action. Apply detailed, coordinated study of the principles of the Mission approach to leading a decentralized team. Using break-out sessions, apply the principles of concentration of effort and team to your reality. Leave with a plan of action to begin making the transition.