Client
Project
Expansion team formed for new sales vertical struggling with empathy and problem-solving.
The Problem
Faire works with Brands and Retailers. Sales efforts typically focused on Brand Sales and managing those accounts. A key strategic objective for their business in 2023 was to grow their Retailer business, specifically retailers making $1M-10M in annual sales.
The Roadblock
The client assembled a large cross-functional team— the VP of Retailer Sales & Account Management plus 18 other senior leaders across Engineering, Product, Design, Finance, Strategy, BizOps, and Customer Experience.
The team had very little familiarity with each other, resulting in a lack of trust and communication between team members, making it difficult to progress on the project. Additionally, they were struggling to come up with innovative solutions to the problem at hand.
The Process
We were running a pilot program in partnership with Wharton, and Faire got wind of the study. We both realized our program could help them unlock innovation by driving cross-functional collaboration in the newly formed Retailer team.
We flew the team into their corporate HQ in San Francisco, and kicked off a program that accomplished four things:
1. Shift into narrative thinking
Goal – tap into creative thinking centers of the brain.
2. Reserving judgement
Goal – break down barriers between new team members.
3. Seeing multiple perspectives of others
Goal – learn to see others’ perspectives as valuable and helpful to your own cause.
4. Plotting forward
Goal – teach them a way to plan that was adaptable to change.
Upon completing the workshop we conducted a detailed participant survey and reported back with a 10-page report on how to run and improve on the work we started with them.
The Solution
NPS of 50.
Client reported:
Increased optimism, resilience and self-belief as crucial for their creativity.
They now embrace obstacles or problems as positive challenges.
They actively enrich their minds with competing viewpoints, building strong emotional bonds with each other, and have established a shared narrative.
We continue to work with them in ongoing engagements and are monitoring the team as part of an academic study to measure their progress over multiple years.
The Reaction
“Curious Lion positively impacted our daily work environment. I recommend this program to organizations interested in supporting creativity and teamwork. As a participant summed it up after the workshop, “That was one of my favorite and most productive work days in the last 2 years!”
“Curious Lion helped our team build empathy, embrace experimentation and adaptation, and spot exceptional information. Our work with them also served as a blueprint for how to build connection and collaboration when working across teams and timezones.”
