Activate collective brilliance to accelerate strategic execution
Challenge
In a international luxury group, a senior commercial manager responsible for affiliated boutiques had to manage a strategic objective involving several departments.
In this organisation highly matrixed, cross-functional initiatives require strong alignment between different functions: retail, sales, operations, marketing and support functions.
However, there were several obstacles to implementation:
- Different priorities for different departments
- Siloed communication
- Sometimes competing functional interests
- Difficulty in mobilise stakeholders around a common goal
These dynamics slowed down project progress and complicated the implementation of strategic initiatives at global level.
To overcome these obstacles, a co-development session was organised, bringing together several senior managers in order to mobilise collective intelligence and generate concrete solutions.
About us
In matrix organisations, the main challenges are relational and organisational.
Leaders must navigate between :
- different functional cultures
- sometimes conflicting priorities
- internal influence games
The central question of these sessions was: how can a leader effectively mobilise multiple stakeholders and align teams around a common goal?
At the end of the clarification phase with the customer, a main objective emerged: achieve clear alignment and real commitment from all stakeholders around a common goal.
To achieve this, the support provided was aimed at :
- clarify roles and responsibilities
- strengthening the leader's influence in the organisation
- improve cross-functional communication and collaboration
- set up collective accountability mechanisms.
A structured co-development session, a group of senior managers from different functions.
The format mobilized the group's collective intelligence, which I also like to call collective brilliance to explore the customer's issues, challenge different viewpoints and build concrete solutions.
Identified work areas:
Generate rapid results
- implementation of regular cross-functional check-ins
- organisation of alignment meetings
- clearer structuring of the goal-setting process
Clarifying roles and expectations
- clarification of responsibilities of each stakeholder
- defining common expectations to facilitate collaboration.
Strengthening influence and communication
- realisation of a stakeholder mapping
- identification of preferred communication styles (PCM)
- adapting communication for strengthening commitment and strategic influence
Building shared responsibility
- encouraging collective responsibility between functions
- clearer objectives
- implementation of structured feedback loops
✔ Greater alignment between departments
✔ Better coordination of strategic initiatives
✔ Smoother cross-functional communication
✔ Clarification of roles and responsibilities between teams
✔ Strengthening collective responsibility
✔ Increased confidence in the leader's ability to influence the organisation
✔ Enhanced ability to navigate internal political dynamics
✔ Adoption of new sustainable collaboration practices
Are you facing a similar situation?
In matrix organisations, leaders' ability to mobilise the right stakeholders is a key factor in the success of strategic projects.
Co-development sessions enable :
- quickly unblock complex situations
- mobilising collective intelligence
- generate conand immediately operable.
Want to help your leaders better navigate cross-functional dynamics and accelerate strategic execution? Let's talk.