Case Studies

Case Study 1

Carl was recently appointed Head of the client sales group for a multinational bank. This was a welcome step in his career and Carl was keen to hit the ground running. He dove in, and worked diligently to ascend the learning curve associated with leading the team. The problem was he was overloaded; Carl was still doing much of his direct client responsibilities, while at the same time trying to manage a new team of people and assuming his new leadership responsibilities. He was time-starved, frustrated and exhausted. Since Carl was considered a high potential in the bank, he was given a coach to help accelerate the transition adjustment.

Together, Carl and his coach set out several objectives, informed by the results of 360 feedback. Carl wanted to shift from being a 'player' on the team to being the 'coach', and identified a number of ways he would do this. He wanted to make room for more long-term strategic thinking and relationship building within the organization, and create more wide-reaching and effective communication practices. He decided to delegate many of his transactional responsibilities and focus on developing his team.

Carl was able to delegate most of his direct client responsibilities and working closely with one of his senior team members, groomed her to act as the 'team captain'. He put focused attention on each of his team members and as a result was able to promote two of his most deserving people. Carl stepped up his formal communication with senior levels of the organization, and became a visible and strategic member of the organization by intentionally building relationships with colleagues. He also created a plan for his team a full year beyond his required planning horizon and established a system of reviewing direction and targets in team meetings. Carl was relieved and energized because he felt in control of his time and his agenda. He had gained confidence in his new leadership role and it showed. Seven months after the coaching began, Carl was promoted to Regional Head.

Case Study 2

Pat felt stuck. She had been in the same management position for 3 years and was frustrated. She was unclear about her role and the direction of her career and felt undervalued as an employee and team member. Her enthusiasm was waning, and this was starting to show up in her performance evaluations and team interactions. She lacked confidence and clarity of direction, and she was afraid and uncertain how to address this issue. Her supervisor contacted us and suggested that Pat work with a leadership coach.

Pat and her coach developed a trust relationship where she was able to honestly assess her strengths and weaknesses. She identified a plan for personal, behavioral and pe/rformance goals, which she shared with her supervisor. This plan also involved the areas of support Pat needed to allow her to work towards these goals. Her supervisor was supportive in all the areas Pat requested, which proved to be a major contributor to the overall success of this leadership development initiative.

As Pat worked on the plan she developed, she addressed a number of barriers she was able to overcome. Because of the accountability factor in a coaching relationship, Pat stretched herself to address some of her challenges week-to-week in her job, therefore honing her skills in "real-time". This was by no means easy for her! Simultaneously, Pat experienced attitude shifts -- she learned to look at issues with new eyes. This translated into improved relationships, increased individual productivity, and it increased her personal engagement at all levels in her work and personal life.

Pat was able to put most of her goals into place. Based on her improved leadership skills Pat developed over the nine-month coaching initiative, Pat was promoted five month after the coaching completed.

Case Study 3

Clive was a brilliant engineer and an eager contributor in a large multi-national firm. He spoke in a soft, monotonous voice with carefully chosen words, and was able to express ideas and concepts he had learned in a coaching training program that the company had provided for all its managers. It appeared that he was practicing them; however, Clive's coach became aware as she "shadowed" him during one of his team presentations that he was completely disconnected from his audience, and that his tone and choice of words were creating resentment and discontent within his own team.

Early in the coaching, Clive had identified that his goal was to be able to work harmoniously with a team and to have that team be recognized in the organization for producing first-rate work. By way of some exploratory exercises, Clive's coach was able to help him define the behaviours that were preventing him from working harmoniously with others and recommended some tools that would enable him to change those behaviours. He became aware of the degree to which his language excluded others from participating. Using their own coaching conversation as an example, the coach was able to reflect back to Clive the ineffectiveness of his communication style.

His challenge was to include other people in the conversation by listening carefully, eliciting ideas from them and respecting their contributions. Through diligent practice, monitoring and feedback, Clive made significant improvements. Within weeks of the first coaching sessions, Clive was asked to head up a new team and after the very first meeting with the group, received a phone call from one member expressing his appreciation for being on the team and commenting particularly on how included he felt.

Case Study 4

Angela was a highly skilled and experienced senior staff member of a national not-for-profit agency. When she started coaching her goals were to gain more self-confidence, improve her public speaking skills and increase her leadership capacity. Within eight months of the start of the coaching partnership, Angela was promoted to Director of the Department, a much more accelerated pace than anticipated.

Angela has strategically realigned the Department's focus to enhance bottom line financial results. She has also built a new staff team, ensuring that competencies match job requirements. Staff morale has made an about turn and her department has outperformed their own results two years in a row, despite significant funding cutbacks and increased donor requirements. The overall result of Angela's leadership is that more services are being delivered to those who require them. Angela speaks regularly at the state and national level and often jokes that she did not realize for many years just how much fun speaking is!