Your address will show here +12 34 56 78

Mixing corporate and startup cultures to create high-performing teams

  • “I got to know my team members better, understand their problems, and know how to succeed in the context of this particular team.”
    Participant testimonial
Type of Organisation

Tech startup

Type of Solution

High-Performing Team Development

Participants

Senior leaders of the company

The Problem

A German-based tech company of 50+ staff had a huge task to deliver on a very ambitious timeline. They had pulled together some of the best talent in tech and in senior leadership to create a new high-value B2C SaaS product that would contribute to the corporate sustainability agenda.


The team was incredibly diverse in terms of expertise and background, with a mix of people from larger corporations as well as others with extensive startup experience, across a broad range of geographies (primarily China and Western-Europe) and personalities. The team lacked speed, unity, a sense of urgency, and a shared vision; people were nice to each other but couldn’t or wouldn’t have the difficult conversations that are so critical to success. 


Our challenge was to create the conditions for the “high-trust, high-accountability and high-performing team” that the CEO had requested.

The Solution

We had a unique perspective to offer this company’s situation. Not only do we know the startup and multinational worlds well, we have a diverse team of facilitators, highly experienced in the intercultural space, and ready to work across any time zone.


The company asked us to provide a two-day offsite, which in the midst of COVID-19 was translated to an online alternative. Before the workshop, we interviewed team members to understand their perceptions of the team and its functioning, so that we could provide a tailored solution specifically targeted to their needs. During the workshop, the team reached a set of collective goals and practices around: 



  1. Healthy conflict and candid feedback

  2. Focus and prioritisation

  3. Communication and information sharing

  4. Cross-functional experimentation


Each individual also left the workshop with a clear set of 2 to 3 individual growth areas that was calibrated with feedback from their team members in the workshop.


With the collective commitments set, the 3C Triad Coaching program could function as the ongoing ‘training ground’ to practice and adapt new behaviors to best meet the team’s goals. Participants began to translate their individual and team insights into reality, whilst creating stronger interpersonal relationships and foundations of trust.

Results

After our workshop and 3C Triad Coaching programs, the team became a more productive group with a more candid and fast start-up culture. The company shifted their product and positioning, and found their first product-market fit and clients in both Europe and China. 

The overall feedback was that the 3C Triad Coaching program had created a ‘breath of fresh air’, where the team could zoom out, have meaningful conversations, reach alignment, and prevent burn out. After the first cohort, we launched a second cohort of Triads for 17 leaders below the leadership team. 

87.5% of participants rated our facilitators 8/10 or higher, with 50% rating them 10/10.

100% of participants said that they felt 8/10 or higher comfortable and safe exploring their leadership development in the program.

Participant testimonials:

“One of the most valuable parts of the 3C Triad Coaching program was the opportunity to become aware of the ‘underlying’ parts of my personality that are not obvious but are equally (or even more) important for great leadership than technical capabilities and business know-how. The program gave me a guideline to identify and improve on these areas.”

“The 3C Triad Coaching program is a very interesting and intense journey with a lot of very valuable insights.”

“It’s an insightful, refreshing, and modern approach to leadership improvement – especially in comparison to the book-based approaches on personality assessments and performance. I highly recommend it!”