A senior management team (SMT) at a professional services firm was struggling with a pervasive lack of psychological safety. Managers operated in silos, focusing narrowly on what they could control within their own teams. Cross-team collaboration was minimal, and there was no shared sense of collective ownership or functioning as a cohesive management group. Each manager reported independently to the firm’s leader, resulting in fragmented decision-making and a feeling of underutilised potential across the SMT.
The leader was frustrated by the lack of accountability and ownership within the SMT. Frequently pulled into micromanaging, she sought to shift the culture towards greater team responsibility and autonomy. However, there was limited clarity on roles, no shared performance management practices, and communication was siloed. The SMT needed to break down barriers and develop collective capability to lead effectively as a team.
A Team RQ assessment was conducted to establish a baseline of the team’s relational dynamics and psychological safety. This exercise helped members realise they were not alone in their frustrations and recognised their shared responsibility not only for their own teams but also for the SMT’s collective success.
Over a series of team coaching session, techniques were applied to address accountability gaps and improve communication processes in real time. The sessions created space for open dialogue, enabling the team to confront uncomfortable truths and explore how to better support one another. Alongside coaching, consultancy was provided to clarify and strengthen the organisation’s performance management framework and equip the SMT with practical tools to hold meaningful performance conversations.
The SMT developed greater psychological safety and began functioning as a more integrated leadership team. Managers started collaborating across boundaries rather than retreating to silos. The leader found herself less pulled into micromanagement, empowered by the team’s growing ownership and accountability. Clearer performance processes led to improved team confidence and effectiveness.