There’s no I in team. But there is in IA.
A customized Greenhouse Lab helped an Internal Audit team craft a winning strategy.
The situation
Diehard baseball fans know the frustration: Your team’s got great hitters, solid pitching, and a deep bench. It should be destined for the post-season. But come October, you’re still waiting for the pieces to fall into place. What happened? Sometimes the challenge isn’t finding the right players so much as helping them learn to play as a team.
Our client, a large financial services organization, had assembled an all-star Internal Audit leadership team. But even with stellar players, it wasn’t leading as efficiently or as effectively as the leader knew it could. The group was challenged when it came to making decisions as a team and, beyond that, individual players were holding themselves back from taking big swings in their own respective areas, never mind the overall function.
The whole team knew things needed to change, but they were caught looking. They didn’t have a game plan—nor did they have an effective system designed to help the group formulate one. After hearing Deloitte present on IA of the Future during an industry conference, they believed we might be able to help this growing team hone its leadership and collaboration skills. And we were happy to step up to the plate.
What happens when leadership isn't taking the lead?
The solve
Deloitte began developing a customized Greenhouse Lab for the leadership team. These innovative experiences are designed to help groups capitalize on actionable insights, build winning strategies, and reach their goals—together.
To help tailor the agenda, we sat down with several members of the client’s team to talk about leadership. We wanted their individual perspectives on leadership and, we wondered, what does leadership mean within their Internal Audit function? Armed with these insights, we invited the client’s leadership team to spend two days at Deloitte University.
In baseball, a batter or pitcher can develop and improve on their own in a batting cage, but a team can only get better by working together. So it was no surprise that the group was able to find common ground through the in-person lab. As everyone started opening up, we learned that—much like a baseball player whose primary goal is getting on base—individuals were focusing mainly on what was directly in front of them. They might have had thoughts about talent development or strategy but didn’t feel they had the time, the power, or the means to put their new ideas into action.
Identifying these shared pain points enabled us to help the client identify shared solutions. That meant shifting the balance between time spent on execution versus strategy and emboldening the leadership team to know they could question the status quo and truly step up to lead.
Playing is easy. Playing together is hard.
The impact
Our client came away from the Greenhouse Lab with a plan for each of their respective focus areas and, more importantly, a blueprint to help the larger group collaborate more effectively and improve upon existing processes.
Since the initial lab, we’ve continued to meet with the client’s leadership team on a periodic basis to track progress made collectively and within the individual functions, and to explore new challenges they’re facing.
Leadership was so pleased with the results of the Greenhouse Lab that we’ve been asked to make this an annual endeavor. Because on almost any playing field, whether it’s baseball or financial services, a winning team keeps winning by always striving to be better.
It's all about how you play the game—together.
