Jermaine, Robert, and Nancy are three sides of the same coin. They are up and coming leaders in their respective organizations, on the fast track to senior management.
We began working with Jermaine as he started a new assignment leading a $1 billion operation in his company. He was promoted in a reorganization designed to breakdown functional silos. It was a mass culture change. Jermaine had many organizational challenges to juggle in addition to his new assignment. He was a natural leader and recognized that this new assignment was going to stretch him and his team. We worked with Jermaine over a period of three years. We honed his leadership skills, managing up, down, and laterally. We had time to experiment with different techniques and ways of interacting and to regularly assess his progress and modify his development objectives. Jermaine continues to successfully apply the skills he gained working with a creativechange.biz coach to advance his career by building sound working relationships and effectively leading innovative work teams that are highly motivated.
Robert was in crisis when he came to us.His last assignment was a train wreck! His self-confidence was shattered and his future with the company in jeopardy. Using Triage Performance Coaching®, we worked with him for six months. We took stock of this job assignment, and figured out what had gone wrong. Using 360° interviews with current and past co-workers, we created a candid picture of his strengths and weaknesses. Robert discovered that he had overplayed his strengths and applied them to every situation, whether they worked or not. He needed to extend his toolbox and expand his leadership skills. Through the process of structured coaching and intensive practice, he learned to listen, collaborate, and lead; in six short months his confidence returned. Within a year after our work together, he was promoted and back on the fast track.
Nancy had done all the right things.Her leadership team had the appropriate management and leadership training in addition to excellent technical skills but they were not jelling. As a result, Nancy felt isolated because she could not trust the information she received from them. Team members were polite in each other’s company, but decision making was excruciating; people were not collaborating, decisions did not stick and her organization was drifting from lack of a coherently executed strategy. We applied a parallel process of coaching with Nancy and her leadership team; coaching each person individually, while simultaneously coaching the team as a group in real time during their management meetings. This parallel process produced improved team functioning and culture change faster and more efficiently because members got immediate support for changing their behavior, and built trust much more rapidly than individual coaching or team building alone would have. This parallel process also built group level leadership capacity which in turn increased the chances that the team could sustain their improved performance beyond the honeymoon period.
A relationship with a trusted coach provides a safe, confidential and supportive environment. You too can address all these challenges successfully. Coaching takes you beyond mere training. It engages your heart, soul, and gut as well as your head. You learn new skills and behaviors. You address fears that hinder your success. Further, with the support of a coach, you can safely reflect on your leadership dilemmas, gain insights and develop effective action skills and lead with confidence.
