Real Leadership Coaching Success Stories - SHELL REAL ESTATE
Shell Real Estate Leadership Workshop: A Case Study in Fine-Tuning for Peak Performance
The senior leadership team at Shell Real Estate was already high-performing, but they sensed an opportunity to move from "good to great" – to function not just as a collection of strong individual leaders, but as a truly cohesive, unified team. My challenge was to fine-tune their dynamics and unleash their collective potential.
The Shell Real Estate workshop stands as an impactful leadership training success story — a real-world example of how one day of well-designed training can move a high-performing group from good to great.
The Challenge: Unifying High-Performing Individuals into a Cohesive Leadership Team
Shell Real Estate's senior leadership team comprised talented, high-performing individuals, excelling within their respective areas. However, as Leon, Head of Real Estate, observed, they were "more a function based on specific working groups (golf buddies!) than a traditional function with specific skillsets (a Footy Team)."
The team needed to build shared clarity, address decision-making and accountability challenges, and deepen their understanding of leadership styles and team dynamics, especially amidst ongoing organisational transitions.
Originally scheduled for March, the workshop was rescheduled to May 20, 2025 due to organisational changes. This provided a perfect opportunity for the team to address their current realities and make the session even more impactful.
The Solution: A Tailored, Immersive Leadership Fine-Tuning Workshop
I designed and facilitated a full-day, in-person workshop titled "Fine-Tuning for Peak Performance: From Good to Great".
The purpose: to enhance interpersonal communication, clarify decision-making, improve team rhythm, and strengthen cross-functional accountability within this already strong leadership group.
The workshop included a robust pre-work component, which participants completed ahead of time.
This involved my proprietary Signature Leadership Style Quiz, a Legacy Self-Reflection Questionnaire, and a Team Effectiveness Survey. This preparation ensured that participants arrived ready to dive straight into personal insights and team dynamics.
Key interactive activities throughout the day included:
Personal Growth and Reflections:
“Today has been great—I’ve found my true self and now have a path to improve.”
“Today has been insightful because I’ve realised I’m a mixed bag of personalities and I can adapt and improve.”
“Recognise other people’s leadership styles, spend more time managing senior stakeholder relationships.”
- "The Domino Effect": Demonstrating how minor communication breakdowns can ripple into performance.
- "What's Your Leadership Lens?": Interpreting individual leadership style profiles and discussing their impact on team dynamics.
- "Championship Comparison": Benchmarking the team's performance against high-performance criteria.
- "Meeting Makeover Challenge": Auditing and redesigning their recurring meeting structures for greater effectiveness.
- "The Bottleneck Dilemma": Exploring where and why decisions stall within the team.
- "The Responsibility Auction": A fun, reflective exercise to identify accountability gaps and build shared expectations for crucial team behaviours.
- "The Golden Thread": Connecting everyday leadership behaviours to commercial and stakeholder outcomes through a creative decision-making game.
The day was based on these 3 Leadership Lifts
------>>>
Authentic Leader
High Performance Leader
Future-Focused Leader
The Impact: Unifying the Team, Practical Shifts, and "Marginal Gains"
The workshop achieved its goal of fine-tuning for peak performance, uncovering unexpected and deeper insights than anticipated. The team left with a renewed sense of unity and practical strategies for immediate implementation.
Key Outcomes & Participant Feedback:
Realisation of Team Identity:
A core "aha" moment emerged: the team realised they were a group of aligned individual leaders working well in their own areas, but not yet a cohesive leadership unit. They understood that functional alignment does not automatically equal team unity.
“Today has been a valuable reminder of what our team has achieved—and where we can tweak to perform for the next 6 months.”
Overwhelmingly Positive Experience:
- Out of 8 participants, 7 rated the workshop as "Very Good" or "Excellent"
- An impressive 93% would recommend it to others.
- My facilitation was also highly praised, with 4 out of 8 participants saying I was "among the best they've experienced"
- Comments highlighting my "high energy, relevant, adaptive, business-aware, encouraging" style.
“Very interactive and steers great, meaningful conversations.”
UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP STYLES (MOST VALUED):
- The "Signature Leadership Style" activity was the most valued aspect of the day.
- Participants gained understanding of leadership styles and team diversity, recognised blind spots in themselves and others, and learned strategies to influence stakeholders.
- Leon confirmed this was the "clear winner" and the "fun and laughs we had calling them out!
“Learning about my colleagues’ leadership styles gave me a completely new understanding of our dynamics.”
Immediate Practical Shifts:
- Since the workshop, Leon noted an immediate change in the team's "meeting cadence/approach to better reflect the type of engagements we need to best collaborate and help each other strive for success".
- Participants committed to communicating more clearly, applying leadership style knowledge in interactions, and taking more ownership of meeting structures and communication habits.
Focus on Accountability:
- The "Responsibility Auction" effectively surfaced accountability tensions, revealing that many essential leadership behaviours lacked a clear owner and that accountability was often functionally siloed, not peer-to-peer.
- This clarity laid the groundwork for future improvements
“Great trainer—understands our business and our needs. Well delivered and relevant materials.”
As Leon aptly summarised, "Sometimes its the marginal gains (the tweaks) that can make a real difference in transitioning to becoming a high performing team."
Bonus Value from Deep Sector Experience:
Having worked with Shell and its subsidiaries like QGC for over 16 years, I brought not only facilitation expertise but deep industry understanding to this leadership training workshop. Earlier in the year, I had started writing a 7-part article series on High-Performing Teams, originally developed for the QGC ICT team.
It was perfect timing to share several of these articles with the Shell Real Estate team. Because the content included Shell- and mining-specific examples, it resonated deeply — reinforcing key workshop concepts and offering practical, on-demand reflection beyond the session.
This added layer of industry-relevant content amplified the team’s learning, and demonstrated the value of strategic alignment between development resources and business context.
Other Comments about the Day:
“Great flow— Kerry Anne was agile and adaptive to our team’s needs.”
“Insightful with great takeaways.”
“Activities challenged my thinking and opened up new perspectives on the leadership role I play—and can take.”
“Excellent. Enjoyed the workshop. Lots of activities.”
“Strategies to influence stakeholders was a standout.”
"We’ve already changed up the meeting cadence/approach to better reflect the type of engagements we need to best collaborate and help each other strive for success."
The Kerry Anne Cassidy Difference: Where Expertise Meets Empowerment
This engagement with Shell Real Estate demonstrates Kerry Anne's unique approach to unlocking a high-performing group's collective brilliance.
Beyond simply delivering content, the workshop's highly interactive experiences were designed to facilitate profound "aha" moments that shift perception and drive tangible action.
By providing bespoke diagnostics and immersive, interactive sessions, Kerry Anne's program enabled the team to move beyond functional alignment towards true unity.
This process transformed high-achieving individuals into cohesive, impactful leadership teams, preparing them for their next level of "peak performance."
Let’s Talk Next Steps
Let’s Talk Next StepsThe Shell Real Estate Leadership Workshop stands as a powerful example of how a tailored, immersive program, incorporating bespoke diagnostics and highly interactive experiences, can unlock a high-performing team's collective brilliance.
This isn't just about fine-tuning individual skills; it's about transforming a collection of strong leaders into a truly cohesive, impactful unit ready for their next level of peak performance.
- Is your high-performing team ready for the "marginal gains" that lead to truly cohesive performance?
- Are you ready to build brilliant leaders?
Curious how your team would benefit from a session like this?
Based in Australia | Serving Clients Globally
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Based in Australia | Serving Clients Globally