Building High-Performing Team: A Case Study on Leading Across Regional Silos

In large, decentralized organizations, aligning leadership across geographies, structures, and business pressures is no small feat. For Optimum’s Field Operations division, recent restructures, evolving demands, and cultural remnants from legacy systems created both a leadership challenge and an opportunity. This case study explores the transformative experience of Optimum’s Director+ leadership team as they came together for a strategic one-day retreat. Designed and facilitated by La’Nita Johnson and the iluminada+ team, the retreat unpacked systemic dysfunctions and activated meaningful behavioral shifts. The goal was clear: move leaders toward the aligned, high-performing culture they envisioned.

Industry

Telecommunications

Team Size

Medium - Large (40+ leaders across VP, Senior Director, and Director levels)

Location

Plano, TX

Services

Retreat design, leadership workshop facilitation, custom case study development, and qualitative evaluation

Customer Profile

The client, Optimum’s Field Operations Division, is a cornerstone of one of the nation’s leading telecommunications providers. This large and geographically dispersed team includes Directors and senior field leaders responsible for driving operational performance, customer satisfaction, and team alignment across multiple regions.

Tasked with delivering service excellence at scale, the leadership group faced a mix of challenges including legacy silos, evolving regional priorities, and the need for greater cohesion and trust. Bringing together senior leaders from across the country, this offsite was designed to strengthen communication, accountability, and collaboration as they continue to build a unified culture and strategic vision.

Challenge

Optimum's field leadership team faced persistent regional silos, variations in communication methods and frequency, and unclear accountability among senior leaders. The restructuring left many feeling disconnected across geographies. High-performing moments existed, but collaboration and shared purpose weren’t consistent. A retreat was needed to foster trust, increase clarity, and build momentum toward unified leadership.

Solution

iluminada facilitated a full-day offsite rooted in Patrick Lencioni’s “Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” The retreat began with a needs assessment informed by field interviews and insights from team leaders. This shaped immersive case studies that mirrored current leadership realities and prompted real‑time learning.

Key design elements included:

  • Regional trust-building – exercises to dismantle silos and encourage vulnerability

  • Strategic conflict & commitment exploration – creating space for healthy debate tied to decision clarity

  • Defined accountability actions – linking decisions to ownership and behavioral follow-through

  • Forward-thinking action planning – teams selecting high-priority ideas for rollout

Final group Lightning Talks reinforced ownership and leadership intent.

“Now what appeared before as a vast operation has shifted in my vision to this small core group… my paradigm shifted in a positive direction.”

RETREAT PARTICIPANT

“I personally feel more like a key piece to the puzzle after seeing how we all fit in and align.”

RETREAT PARTICIPANT

Results

Leaders reported an immediate shift in engagement, connection, and clarity. Many commented that the retreat helped them see each other not just as regional peers but as part of a unified team with shared goals. Through facilitated conflict and accountability discussions, the group surfaced actionable ideas rooted in trust and transparency. Post-event evaluations showed over 80 percent of participants rated activities as “Useful” or “Very Useful,” and a similar majority identified specific action items for follow-up. Collective excitement around pursuing those actions indicated a renewed results-driven mindset.

Conclusion

iluminada+’s retreat catalyzed a transformation in leadership behaviors across trust, communication, accountability, and shared purpose. By embedding real-world challenges and facilitating direct action planning, the experience moved the team from intention to execution. As one senior leader put it, “We walked away with a roadmap—now it’s time to follow it.” This retreat sets the stage for continued growth and provides a scalable model for developing high-performing leadership teams across organizations.

“This session brought us together in a way we hadn’t experienced before. The conflict exercises gave us permission to speak up. Now I feel empowered to hold peers accountable—even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Regional VP, Optimum Field Operations