Leadership Directives · Charlotte, North Carolina
T&T Consulting Group gives managers and leadership teams eight working directives for leading people well. They reduce turnover, build trust, and turn good intentions into daily practice.
The eight directives
Each directive comes from a step in Common Sense: 8 Steps to Successful Management. They work in order: authority comes first, then listening and organization, and trust holds it all together.
Step 1 · The Power to Empower
Give associates real authority to decide, along with the facts, tools, and support to decide well. Teach them the order of interest: the customer, then the company, then themselves.
In practice: mentor through mistakes. A wrong call is a step toward growth, not a failure to punish.
Step 2 · Listen to Learn
Active listening takes attention and clarifying questions. Your team sees problems and solutions you cannot see from where you sit.
In practice: ask a follow-up question before you respond to any idea.
Step 3 · Orderly Organized
Arrange work around what it has to achieve rather than the order it arrived in. A team that knows its priorities stops guessing.
In practice: start each week by naming the three outcomes that matter most.
Step 4 · Discerningly Delegate
Explain the purpose and the finished format. Provide the systems and past examples. Set a check-in, then have the person summarize the assignment back to you.
In practice: "Get the report done by Friday" is an instruction. Delegation includes clarity, resources, support, and accountability.
Step 5 · Prideful Power
Prepare a direction before you ask for input, so the team has confidence. Stay open to better ideas, admit mistakes, and say "I don't know yet, but I will find out."
In practice: replace "we've always done it this way" with "tell me more about how that would work."
Step 6 · All Work No Play
People have families, interests, and lives outside work. Respect that, and invest in their professional development. Both reduce turnover and raise productivity.
In practice: set aside regular time for learning tied to each person's career goals.
Step 7 · Freedom of Flexibility
Policies exist for a purpose. Stand firm on safety and ethics. Yield on method and timing when flexibility serves the purpose better than strict wording.
In practice: an extra day for an accurate report beats an on-time report that is wrong.
Step 8 · The Mediator
Keep your word, be transparent about decisions, and treat everyone consistently. When conflict comes, create a safe space, hear every side, and help people reach their own resolution.
In practice: follow up after a conflict is settled to make sure it stays settled.
As a manager you may have the monopoly on decisions, but you do not have the monopoly on ideas.From Directive 02, Listen to Learn
Partners
T&T Consulting Group LLC is led by Timothy and Thomas Dillahunt. Tim sets the firm's direction and Tom runs how it delivers.
Partner · Chief Executive Officer
As CEO, Tim sets the direction of T&T Consulting Group: its strategy, its client relationships, and the standard every engagement is held to.
He brings more than 30 years of leadership in the insurance field and is accountable for making sure the leadership directives the firm teaches are the ones it practices.
Partner · Chief Operating Officer
As COO, Tom runs the firm's operations and delivery, from scoping an engagement through the training room to follow-up. He is the author of Common Sense: 8 Steps to Successful Management.
He brings more than two decades of experience in technical training and change management consulting for large enterprises. Earlier, he managed a staff of more than ninety at First Citizens Bank.
Services
Training
The Common Sense program teaches managers the eight directives through lecture, participation, case studies, and projects.
Change
Prosci-based change management for new systems, restructurings, and new ways of working. We focus on whether people actually adopt the change.
Advisory
Ongoing consultation for leadership teams that want to apply the directives to real decisions, conflicts, and team structures.
Individual
Join a public classPrivate group
Your team, at your locationEnterprise
Built around your organizationPricing depends on group size, location and format. Contact us for a quote.
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Tell us about your team and what it needs to lead better. Ask us for pricing and class dates. A partner will respond directly.