“Inteamacy”

An intimate look at improving team performance

Voorwoord

This business story is aimed at managers and members of boards of directors. Actually, it is intended for all people at the top who, internally, have the best intentions for both their organization and the team that leads it. It is the story of a CEO who wants to improve his top team’s collaboration.

Your organization might well have a clear strategy, an adapted structure and the right functions at the top. However, if collaboration at the top fails, the organization will not reach its fullest potential. Plus, any good discussion about the organization’s strategy and structure will be hindered by egos and tensions, frustrations and ambitions.

The pun in the title points at what I believe is one of the keys to unlocking the potential of top management teams and boards of directors. In a specific way, and to a certain degree, team members need to become more intimate with each other.

This story describes vividly what kind of intimacy I mean. Along the road I depict, issues and feelings that remain under the table (sometimes well-hidden for years) are revealed in a respectful way. The result is that whatever needs to be discussed on the table is no longer affected by what previously remained under the table. This leads to more space and more freedom, to greater shared responsibility and increased team and board effectiveness. To be sure, this road may be challenging and frightening at first sight. But working together in a more direct yet respectful way is all the more fulfilling and exciting.

In separate and easily-identifiable chapters, you will find a simple diagnostic instrument. It will allow you to assess how well both you and your team function today.

It is never easy to bring to life on paper the subtleties of the processes I accomplish. I can compare it to a picture you might take at a family barbeque. The colors, the scents, the laughter, the relationships and the tensions cannot all be recreated in the picture. Those who weren’t there simply cannot know what happened, just by looking at the picture. I will gladly take this risk of ‘flatness’, because enough readers have given me feedback in the past how real the situations described are to them.

My gratitude goes to all my clients for their trust in me. It is always a privilege to be present so closely to the core of what moves them.

Enjoy your few hours of reading, whether you are on a plane, on a train or just enjoying a cool glass in a shady spot. Filip Lowette Lubbeek, Belgium March 2008