Business unit of a European software group, about 50 people
A European software business unit of about 50 people was worn out. It had been through a hard year, it was losing tenders on user experience, and its two product teams competed instead of working together. Its leader wanted hope and one direction. I aligned the leadership team first, then ran a two-day conference where everyone worked on the strategy together. They left energised, collaborating across both products, and four months later were still following the direction they’d set.
Workshops
What I did
Ran 1:1s and workshops so the leadership team agreed the strategy first
Designed and ran a two-day conference for about 50 people
Kept the teaching short and gave most of the time to mixed groups from both products
Ran a workshop for each team on its own priorities
Introduced the candidate who became the unit’s first user experience lead
Results
A tired, divided team left energised, working across both products and excited about the direction
The leadership team’s goal of one shared direction was met
Four months later, the unit was still following it
The unit hired its first user experience lead, one of the core results of the conference
The situation
The business unit was the smallest in a large European software group: about 50 people and two products that did the same job for different markets.
It had been a hard year. People were tired and stretched thin, and the customer team was taking the brunt of unhappy customers. The unit was losing tenders because customers didn’t like the user experience. A cost-cutting drive pulled one way, what customers needed pulled the other, and the two product teams competed more than they cooperated.
Its leader wanted to light a fire under people: give them hope again, break down the walls between the two products, and leave with one direction everyone believed in.
Aligning the leaders first
Before anyone else was in the room, I worked with the leadership team in 1:1s and short workshops: what the user experience problem was costing them, the financial picture, and where to focus. The leaders agreed the strategy among themselves first, so they could stand behind it in front of their people.
The two days
The unit’s leader opened the conference, and I ran both days with a second facilitator alongside me. My job was to inspire people. I kept the teaching short: why customer experience drives value, what strategy means in practice, how to make trade-offs, and how to disagree and still commit.
The group started quiet. Then they got to work in mixed groups, pulling people from both product teams together, and looked at the business from four angles: the product and technology, the money, the customer, and the organisation. Finally, each team, from engineering to customer success to sales and marketing, agreed its own priorities for what came next.
I stayed out of the answers. The people in the room came up with them, and that’s what made them theirs.
What happened
By the end of the second day, the room had changed. People who had arrived tired and divided were working together, excited about the direction and ready to go.
The leadership team had set one goal for the conference: to get everyone pulling in the same direction. It was met. Four months later, the unit’s leader said they were still following the direction they’d agreed there. And the unit hired its first user experience lead, someone I’d introduced to its leader, as one of the core results of the conference.
What people said
[Since then we have been] basically following the direction we concluded in that session.