Strategy only works when your team does.
I'm Bill Hvidt. For four decades I've worked with teams and organizations, and the pattern holds: the healthy ones deliver on their promise, and the dysfunctional ones don't, despite tremendous people, strategies and resources. I partner with founders and CEOs of 10 to 100 person companies to build the healthy kind. I'll tell you what I see, plainly, and then we'll work on it together.
Smart, qualified people don't automatically make a team.
I usually meet really smart, qualified people who have been brought together to execute a plan or a vision. Talent is rarely the issue. The question is whether they can set aside individual agendas and work as one team. Here is where I start.
Is the way forward clear, and does everyone know their part?
Roles overlap or have outgrown their original definition. The team and its resources are stretched thin, and the path ahead isn't fully defined. That is common, and it is rarely anyone's fault. This is where we start: getting clear on who does what, with what, toward what.
Are they working as a team?
What are the meetings like? The workspace? Is there a foundation of trust and cohesion? If there is, that is a great start. If there isn't, we have work to do together.
Is there healthy debate?
When people can debate openly, they commit to the decision because they were heard, and they hold each other to it. I watch for whether that is happening. Where it is, decisions stick. Where it isn't, the gap usually starts with the debate.
Healthy teams share a few things.
I've worked with teams of every kind, from cohesive and effective to confused and dysfunctional. The healthy ones had:
It takes hard work, anchored in courageous leadership, to move a culture. The healthy teams were willing to make that effort and take that risk, and their leaders set the tone.
What changes when someone like me is in the room.
The value shows up in how your people work together and in how well the company delivers on its promise.
A candid outside view
Someone who calls out what he sees and looks out for the best interests of the company, with no seat at the table to protect.
A team that works as one
Less politics and confusion, higher morale, and leaders who debate openly, commit to decisions and hold each other accountable.
Better, faster decisions
Specific tools for making decisions with greater buy-in, so the team moves together instead of relitigating.
Four decades of pattern recognition
I've seen what healthy and dysfunctional teams look like from the inside. You get that experience part-time, without a full-time executive hire.
Eyes on where the team is going
Your view stays above the day to day and on the high level, on where the team is headed, not only where it is today.
The most important thing stays the most important thing
Clear priorities and a steady rhythm keep the whole team pointed at what matters most.
You set the direction. I make sure the team executes.
You articulate where the company is heading and why it matters. Part-time and embedded with your leadership team, my role is to ensure the team executes on it.
Operating rhythm and OKRs
Clear goals, meetings that earn their time, and a scoreboard everyone understands.
Hiring and team build
Define the roles, run the process, and bring in people who strengthen your team.
Project and initiative management
Cross-functional work gets an owner, a plan and a finish line.
What clients and colleagues say.
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Let's talk about what's getting in your way.
You set the direction. I make sure the team executes. Email me and let's see if we're a fit.
Email me