Leadership consulting
Leadership consulting for owners whose executive team has a problem nobody can name. Dan McArthur, an organizational psychologist, works with the people involved, in person, until the problem has a name and the team has a plan that holds.
What owners call about
Two partners who can't agree
The disagreement stopped being about the decision a while ago. Every meeting re-litigates it, and the staff have learned to route around both of them.
How Dan approaches it →A successor who isn't ready
The handoff is on the calendar. The person taking over is capable on paper and the owner still can't picture leaving.
How Dan approaches it →A top performer who stopped delivering
The conversation has happened more than once. It was received well. Nothing changed, and nobody knows why.
How Dan approaches it →What the practice helps organizations overcome
- Conflict management
- Conflict doesn't have to be destructive, but it has to be resolved constructively or it turns into stonewalling, gossip, side-taking, workarounds, and worse. Dan is a certified trainer in managing workplace conflict. He works with team members to handle conflict more effectively, cut unproductive communication, and raise productivity and profit.
- Departmental dysfunction
- Without a clear company culture, expectations, norms, and working conditions vary widely between departments, and productivity and morale suffer. Dan helps develop the culture, set procedures and expectations for how departments work together, and open communication channels across the organization.
- Executive team clashes
- When two C-suite members keep butting heads, the whole organization pays. Between owners or partners, an unresolved dispute can sink the business. Whether the clash is about long-term strategy or tomorrow's meeting agenda, Dan knows how to get executives working together and moving the company forward.
- Family business development
- Business and family can mix, though it is sometimes a volatile mix, and the line between boardroom and family room blurs easily. Dan brings a distinct perspective and a practical approach. He works with all parties to create a written Family Business Covenant that defines how family and non-family members operate, communicate, and lead.
- Succession planning
- Ready to step away from a business built from start-up to maturity? Dan walks owners through the steps so they feel secure and confident in the process, from selecting the right successor to managing the bruised feelings that follow the decision.
- Underperforming employees
- A top performer who has stopped delivering hurts both morale and profit. Dan helps uncover the why behind the struggle and provides strategies to get a key producer back on track.
What an engagement looks like
Consulting is not a report. Dan works in the room, with the people the problem involves.
- 1
A short call
Ten minutes to hear what the team is running into and say whether this is a fit. If it isn't, Dan says so.
- 2
Dan meets the people involved
Usually in person, one at a time and then together. The goal is to see how each of them lands on the others, which is the part nobody inside the business can see.
- 3
A plan in the team's own words
Specific changes, said out loud to the people who will notice if they don't happen, and follow-through until the new way of working holds.
This is for
- Owners and executive teams of established businesses, whatever the size
- Family businesses where the boardroom and the family room have blurred
- Partners, successors, and executives who are willing to be in the room together
This isn't for
- A leader who wants someone else to change
- A team that won't say the true thing with everyone present
- Anyone looking for a workshop and a binder
Questions owners ask first
- How long does consulting take?
- Every engagement is built for the situation, so there is no standard length. Dan gives a realistic scope after meeting the people involved.
- In person or remote?
- Both. Dan works with teams across the United States. Team work is usually in person, and individual follow-up is often remote.
- How does it start?
- A ten-minute intro call to see whether this fits, then a conversation with Dan.