After twenty five years as a partner in TKA, Tim is frequently asked to facilitate days with people running organisations. These have become known by many clients as Bull’s Eye Days; we do this work in businesses with just a handful of staff to plc’s with hundreds of people.

Sometimes it is a direct result of the keynote talk MARRIAGE GUIDANCE FOR BUSINESS LOVERS ® .that people spot the sheer transparency and practicality of this approach to organisational performance improvement. After all, the material has not come from learned professors or University ‘think tanks', it has all come directly from the hundreds of organisations that Tim has worked with, or is working in.

The unique ‘Bull’s Eye’ technique is the starting point to clarify direction for any organisation. The clearer we are about where we want to go the more likely we are to get there. The paradox is that the more uncertain the world, the more important this work is. It requires directors / SMT to discuss, debate, maybe disagree but to finally sign off ONE Bull’s Eye. The demands of the knowledge world require this degree of clarity of direction. Vague, wordy, meaningless mission statements and visions can all be binned when you have a Bull’s Eye.

As soon as Richard heard Tim speak at an executive group meeting he knew that he was the person to help with his business. Richard and his brother John inherited the family business from their father 10 years ago and were equal majority shareholders. The senior team of four were working hard to stand still and there seemed to be a lack of transparency between them. Being all male and having worked together for several years there was an ‘all boys together’ attitude that allowed them to gloss over the fact that they were dysfunctional. The business was not realising its potential but Richard knew that the real problem lay between him and his brother and their inability to resolve issues.

Richard said to Tim that with his brother it felt as if everything he did was wrong. “However I approach John, he invariably reacts with sarcasm, reluctance to engage or downright hostility. Yet out of work he is a really nice bloke”.

Tim started work by facilitating a Bull’s Eye day with the senior team to ascertain the levels of openness, honesty and transparency that existed at Board level. Although the first day was a success up to a point, there were clear areas of disagreement particularly around future products and services and also the level of ambition that the shareholders aspired to. Tim sensed that emotions between the two brothers were starting to run high so he changed tack and introduced an exercise on behavior. He pointed out that everyone serves the business and that our behavior is a key element of trust in building powerful relationships. Everyone, including the shareholders and directors needs to look at their behavior profile and celebrate what is working well but equally most of us have things that we could do better. And this is what we needed to talk about.

After three days offsite, with gaps in between, we ascertained for the first time a Bull’s Eye that both Richard and John were agreed upon. Upon completing the directors’ appraisals with the senior management team, frustrations that had marred the brother’s relationship both at work and home were acknowledged. With all four directors committed to their personal development points, and having shared them, they were able to focus on the business through a much-improved working relationship. We cascaded the process down through the rest of management team to the staff. Ultimately this meant that everyone knew what they personally needed to do in order to help achieve the Bull’s Eye. Everyone, including Richard and John, were in alignment.