Spandex

The leadership team of Spandex, the European subsidiary of an American multinational company, was burdened by dysfunctional team dynamics. Internal politicking and self-promotion prevented team members from truly listening to one another and accusations of mistreatment and dishonesty abounded. Spandex President Rod Larson described a deterioration of relationships that had progressed to the point of utter unproductivity resulting in a leadership team that was unable to capitalize on business opportunities or solve organizational problems.​

Secret Side Conversations and Resistance

"I had joined Spandex and I was the only change in that senior management team for quite a few years," Rod explained about entering the dysfunctional environment. Rob observed the frustration: "I believe when he came in to this organization he was really frustrated by the reality of that dysfunctional senior management team."​

"Things were not being said at those meetings and it was outside the meeting, colleague-to-colleague, that the true notions or true feelings were being shared," Rod described the lack of honesty. The team's resistance blocked even basic decisions. "Didn't make fast enough decisions. Seemed to kind of pull allies together and collude against what seemed to be eminently sensible things, and were so resistant to change. Margin, can we increase... can we put some freight charging in? Can we do something here? 'No, no, no,'" Rob recalled about the constant obstruction.​

Blaming Culture Spreading to Frontline

"It was a blaming culture. I need the information from you, but you didn't give me that, so I cannot produce this and... not productive," Guido explained about the finger-pointing dynamic. The dysfunction cascaded beyond leadership. "The naysaying and the fault finding that was happening at the senior management levels made its way into other levels of the organization, including our frontline sales organization," Rod noted about the cultural spread.​

Rob described the team's defensive attitude toward Rod: "And because, of course, we were where we were, we became frustrated with him. We didn't understand it. You don't understand distribution, Mr. Larson." The team had lost its foundation: "We'd really lost something. We'd really lost what we were, which was responsibility and focus to our employees, to our customers, to our suppliers. Those are really key pieces of what we're all about here."​

Caustic War with Sister Division

As part of its work with Spandex, Arbinger discovered that the company was embroiled in an adversarial relationship with a manufacturing division of the same multinational corporation. As a result of this ongoing feud, tremendous mistrust had built up between the two units. Both parties would withhold important information—such as new product plans and market intelligence—that would have helped the other unit operate more effectively, better serve the company's end-customers, and increase sales.​

Ironically, the president of the manufacturing division had previously been president of Spandex. The situation became so caustic that the divisions even began providing each other with misinformation. Spandex managers knew exactly what the other side was doing wrong, but they were blind to how they were contributing to the problem themselves. Despite the extremely high costs of the conflict on both sides, the divisions were trapped in a perpetuating cycle. Each side focused on self-justification, emphasized tangential issues, and failed to seek resolution to the primary issues underlying the conflict.​

President Commitment Despite Cultural Skepticism

Rod was familiar with Arbinger's approach but was unsure if it could work for a multinational team with members from diverse cultural backgrounds and business perspectives. However, he knew that something needed to change. "The only people that were going to make this right was us. And we elected to really use the Arbinger process to help enable us to get back on track," Rob explained about the team's decision.​

Rod engaged Arbinger to deliver a two-day workshop to the leadership team, with a focus on building trust and cooperation. Rod also requested a year of ongoing, post-workshop implementation support and executive coaching from Arbinger in order to help team members embed outward mindset strategies and tools in their day-to-day work.​

Immediate Workshop Impact, Sustained Through Coaching

According to Rod, the workshop had an immediate and tangible impact on the dynamics of the team. "It really opened our eyes. But what we found was that the ongoing coaching that came subsequent to the training was really effective in helping us truly internalize and keep the intensity that we felt after that training," Rod described the implementation approach.​

The follow-up executive coaching and implementation support helped sustain that initial change and reinforced the impact of Arbinger's approach on an individual level. Shortly after the implementation support began, Rod began hearing team members marvel at how the team had started to function. They said things like, "That was the best business meeting that I ever participated in," and, "I've never been a member of a team that has worked so well together." With time, members saw their team transform into the most productive and honest team they had ever seen.​ 

Newfound Respect Unlocking Roles

"We seem to, as a result of this newfound respect we all had, newfound recalibration, irrespective of what people's roles were in the business. And I think that's the way I would try to characterize it. We just, everyone had a role, everyone had a part, everyone had something important to say. We started to respect each other," Rob described the transformation. He added with insight: "And we kind of thought, remember, we thought we were before. We thought we did before."​

The change was visible in how leaders modeled the behavior: "And when you see this from your manager, it really encourages yourself to do the same," Guido noted about the cascading effect.​

Seeing Sister Division Conflict Differently

Through a combination of workshops, consulting, and executive coaching, Arbinger helped Spandex managers to understand the true nature of the conflict and then see the situation in a totally new light. As a result of this work, Spandex managers were able to see how they were contributing to the conflict and, much to their surprise, how they were unwittingly inviting the very behavior they claimed to despise in the sister division.​

Spandex managers committed to changing themselves and the situation. Guided by Arbinger's principles, these managers were able to quickly determine what they needed to do. The core of the change was in the way they viewed themselves, the sister division, and the situation as a whole. By adopting a more objective, blame-free way of seeing things, they were able to effectively implement an outward mindset that powerfully animated the subsequent behavioral shifts.​

In fact, when Spandex's corporate parent was in the process of being acquired by another firm, the purchasing company specifically mentioned the unusual cohesiveness and rapport they noticed within the Spandex leadership team. According to Rod, the implementation support and executive coaching work ensured that the impact of the Arbinger training remained just as intense as it had been immediately after the initial session. Rod said the difference in his team after the Arbinger work was "like night and day" and credits Arbinger with producing "remarkable results."​

Night and Day Team Performance

"After the training, the way we worked with each other really changed from night to day. As a team, then we're able to work so much more productively together. I think we became much better at realizing opportunities and solving problems," Rod summarized the transformation.​

"It really improved week by week, month by month. And I will say we have today a very good functional local management team. It's disciplined, it's respectful, and it's effective and efficient," Guido described the sustained progress. Rob captured the productivity gains: "So we made better, quicker decisions. We still argued, we still debated, and there were still pieces that didn't get resolved as quickly. And we're not...and we're still not perfect at getting things done as quickly as we should do. But my goodness, we get a lot more done now."​

Product Manager Now Trusted in Field

The change enabled entirely new ways of collaborating. Rob described a breakthrough with a product manager: "We've now got this product manager who's actually now really willing to pick up the phone and all of a sudden we're talking frequently. 'Hey Rob, how about this? I've seen this.' 'Rob, I had a look at this portfolio. Actually, you know we talked about this a few months ago. I think that could really make a change here.' That's a great idea. Would you mind picking up the phone to my guys, my business managers, making an arrangement to go and see them? I'll sponsor it, I'll drop them a note."​

He continued: "So we've got to the stage now whereby I don't necessarily need to coexist with him. He's now let loose into my territories, and he's going out there with my support." This level of trust would have been impossible before the transformation.​

Sister Division War Ended—Without Working With Them

The transformation in the way that Spandex viewed and dealt with the sister division was so stark that the president of the sister division told Rod, "We don't know what you're doing over there, but whatever it is, it's working." In response to the changes made by the Spandex team, the sister division quickly reciprocated, becoming open, honest, and helpful themselves.​

As a result, the overall relationship radically improved in both directions, even though Arbinger worked only with one party to the conflict. The change was so radical that executives within the parent company, who were not themselves directly involved in the conflict, were nonetheless able to sense a profound shift had taken place. Rod summed up the changed relationship in one word: "remarkable." 

Spandex proved that you can't fix sister division wars by convincing the other side they're wrong, you fix them by changing how you see your own contribution. When a European leadership team's internal politicking and blame culture prevented them from capitalizing on opportunities, the dysfunction spread to frontline sales. Worse, an adversarial relationship with their manufacturing sister division had escalated to withholding critical information and even providing misinformation, despite both being part of the same company. Traditional conflict resolution would focus on getting both parties together to work it out. Instead, through two-day workshop, year-long executive coaching, and implementation support for just the Spandex team, leaders discovered how they were unwittingly inviting the very behavior they despised. By changing how they viewed themselves, the sister division, and the situation, Spandex became so different that the sister division president said, "We don't know what you're doing, but it's working"—and reciprocated with openness and honesty. The relationship radically improved even though Arbinger only worked with one party. When the parent company was acquired, buyers specifically mentioned Spandex's unusual cohesiveness. The lesson: you can end perpetual conflicts without waiting for the other side to change. Transform how you see your contribution to the problem, and reciprocal change often follows naturally.