Developing Great Leaders

Team One, a division of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, specializes in luxury brands such as Lexus and Ritz-Carlton.  One of their biggest accomplishments was to help develop Lexus into the number one luxury car brand before the car was as well-known or had built the outstanding reputation it enjoys today.  For a car company whose standard is ‘a relentless pursuit of perfection’, their advertising agency would have to match the same exceptional levels.  

And Team One has hit home runs year after year, helping build Lexus to the top-selling luxury brand in the US.  In addition,  Team One wants to continue delivering outstanding service to clients and recognizes the need for growing their executive team in leadership skills as the agency continues to grow in fresh, creative endeavors.  The advertising agency, located in El Segundo, decided to investigate an executive development program that could work in their culture and suit their experienced managers’ needs.

Team One CEO Brian Sheehan invited Madelon Miles of Milestones, Inc. to bring in a foundation of key leadership and management skills as well as core business communication principles.  This year-long program, concluding this month, has consisted of both group sessions and individual coaching which provides the flexibility to address the various development needs of all participants.

When asked about the benefits of the Executive Leadership Development Initiative, Sheehan responded:  “The leadership program gave us insights into the behavior and values of our employees and helped us manage them better,” Sheehan explains.

With all the bright and passionate people throughout the agency, creative differences are bound to occur.  Says Sheehan: “The program also gave the management team a set of tools to collaborate more often as well as solve disagreements more easily.”

Sheehan explained that the program has helped enhance the quality of relationships at the workplace.  Al Reid, Group Director of Interactive & Relationship Marketing and a program participant, agrees. "The sessions, both group and individual, provide an excellent way not only to reflect on your own skills as a manager and leader, but also get clarity on how to deal with other leaders in the organization.”

“Having tools to articulate issues and opportunities, based on your own assessment of those on your team, or within the organization, is a huge advantage,” continues Reid.

When teams gel, the actual work people are paid to do becomes easier. Energy gets moved from worrying about dysfunctional relationships to creating deliverables, reaching goals, exceeding previous limitations.  Reid concludes:   “These tools make it easier to get things done, and get them done more effectively & creatively."

According to program participant, Eve Asbury, Director of Creative Services, it gets you results faster.  “I feel incredibly fortunate to have experienced the Development Initiative with Madelon. Most of us recognize different personality styles and values, but understanding the motivators, and learning how to communicate with each [personality type] has been invaluable to me,” Asbury says and continues: “I use this information every day without fail. It has changed the way I communicate, and makes getting to yes a smoother, more enjoyable journey.”

Leadership is much more than just getting along with people.  It’s about how you develop relationships in such a way that others actually want to work with you.  It’s about figuring out how to create an environment in which people want to work harder and be more committed to their work.

Effectively working with others is no longer a ‘nice to have’ in the workplace but a must. A popular euphemism declares people get hired for skills and fired for attitude.  Yet if someone’s attitude is overly critical, inappropriately sarcastic, often negative, can it really be changed? 

Milestones’ fifteen years experience in the market, working with adults motivated to learn, says an unequivocal ‘yes’.  “Our experience is that most adults, when shown how their current attitude or behavior is more destructive than constructive, if internally motivated to change, will figure out how to do that when a veritable mirror is held up to them.  That’s at the heart of the executive coaching experience,” says Milestones CEO, Brett Miles.

Some studies in ‘emotional intelligence’ indicate that IQ and hard skills—such as technical competencies—constitute as little as 5% of job success, a reverse of long-standing assumptions that intellect is the key to high performance.  This implies that over 90% of an individual’s potential for career success is tied to their ability to interact with others, control their emotions, express empathy appropriately, work in teams, and provide constructive feedback.

Team One is all about exceeding client expectations.  Their unofficial motto says it all:   "Don't just give the client what they want, give them what they never dreamed possible." These are not just words to Team One, which is why they decided that better leaders, equipped with the kind of emotional intelligence skills detailed above, inevitably translates into better service for their world class clients.