1 Need

Recently promoted team leader of rapidly growing, flagship brand, was struggling with the jump in scale and scope of the assignment, finding motivation triggers of his key direct reports and dealing with average performers

3 Result

• Team leader and management report greater impact
• Line clients recognize improvement in team’s strategic plans and tactical support
• Promotion of team leader

Need

Recently promoted team leader of rapidly growing, flagship brand, was struggling with the jump in scale and scope of the assignment, finding motivation triggers of his key direct reports and dealing with average performers

Response

• Utilize company-delivered leadership program with feedback on management style and climate to create baseline leadership picture for team leader
• Coaching sessions — develop a picture of needs for and demands on team leader’s time, prioritize key result areas, develop action plans to leverage the team leader’s time and experience
• Utilize Myers-Briggs to help leader understand why they do what they do and develop new strategies for connecting with both high and average performers
• Full team offsite, using pre-meeting team effectiveness questionnaire to identify top areas for improvement. Using structured breakouts, teams develop recommendations and action plans
• Development of short and mid-term goals for team leader, his people, team and business. Develop a communication approach to link various efforts to create a consistent change story

result

• Team leader and management report greater impact
• Line clients recognize improvement in team’s strategic plans and tactical support
• Promotion of team leader

1 Need

Senior leader has taken over Area responsibility for a top pharmaceutical company. His new direct reports’ strong desire for personal development has caused him to consider how his style needs to change to meet the demands of the new position, his new reports and his new boss.

3 Result

• Team leader and management report greater impact
• Line clients recognize improvement in team’s strategic plans and tactical support
• Promotion of team leader
• Re-survey / interviews of key direct reports resulting in updated development plan

Need

Senior leader has taken over Area responsibility for a top pharmaceutical company. His new direct reports’ strong desire for personal development has caused him to consider how his style needs to change to meet the demands of the new position, his new reports and his new boss. 

Response

• 360º data collection using new company developed behavioral questionnaire
• Personal development plan built and tested with boss
• Leader prepares for and conducts 1:1 debriefs with each direct report and provides feedback for their development planning.
• Ongoing coaching (monthly) for 12 months

Result

• Team leader and management report greater impact
• Line clients recognize improvement in team’s strategic plans and tactical support
• Promotion of team leader
• Re-survey / interviews of key direct reports resulting in updated development plan

1 Need

Senior executive in a mid-size firm is slotted for CEO succession if she is able to develop a leadership approach that builds consensus and commitment and successfully empowers other senior leaders

3 Result

• Other executives report the leader’s style has successfully evolved 
• Client succeeded to the CEO position 

Need

Senior executive in a mid-size firm is slotted for CEO succession if she is able to develop a leadership approach that builds consensus and commitment and successfully empowers other senior leaders

Response

• Select interviews to identify strengths and areas of development 
• Six months of twice monthly coaching conversations focused on understanding critical issues, deconstructing proposed approaches and developing new insight on how to lead other senior executives and guide the evolution of the company’s culture 

Result

• Other executives report the leader’s style has successfully evolved 
• Client succeeded to the CEO position 

1 Need

VP of Sales and Marketing for a start-up pharmaceutical company was struggling to develop a concise operating style commensurate of other top managers

3 Result

• VP has rebuilt credibility with CEO and COO
• Key stakeholders report substantial improvement
• Cross-functional alignment improved
• Re-survey / interviews of key direct reports resulting in updated development plan

Need

VP of Sales and Marketing for a start-up pharmaceutical company was struggling to develop a concise operating style commensurate of other top managers

Response

• Develop understanding of current state through interviews of the senior management team
• Clarify development needs with manager, turning interview data into hypotheses/action plan
• Top team offsite focused on charter, agenda, way of working, role clarity, 100-day plan
• Weekly coaching sessions focused on analysis of recent experiences and preparation for upcoming events
• Introduction of tools and techniques in influence, strategy, presentation, executive presence and communications

Result

• VP has rebuilt credibility with CEO and COO
• Key stakeholders report substantial improvement
• Cross-functional alignment improved
• Re-survey / interviews of key direct reports resulting in updated development plan

1 Need

New Division President taking over from long-time leader, needing to turnaround division performance and create an accountability culture

2 Response

• Built initial rapport which enabled invitation to create leadership team offsite, driven by interviews of all team members and resulting in data synthesis which protected confidentiality.
• Offsite was anchored in telling personal stories of where each team member was coming from, moving into MBTI insights, top team new purpose, norms and discipline, culminating in introducing a new accountability framework applied to the work of the top team and cascaded to next level LTs.
• Coaching of chief of staff to prepare better agendas and drive quality meeting preparation. Partnering with HR partner on ongoing support for leader and LT

Need

New Division President taking over from long-time leader, needing to turnaround division performance and create an accountability culture

Response

• Built initial rapport which enabled invitation to create leadership team offsite, driven by interviews of all team members and resulting in data synthesis which protected confidentiality.
• Offsite was anchored in telling personal stories of where each team member was coming from, moving into MBTI insights, top team new purpose, norms and discipline, culminating in introducing a new accountability framework applied to the work of the top team and cascaded to next level LTs.
• Coaching of chief of staff to prepare better agendas and drive quality meeting preparation. Partnering with HR partner on ongoing support for leader and LT

Follow-up

• Observation and immediate feedback and feedforward with LT as they wrestled with an agenda sorted between the tactical and the strategic and with fully implementing the team discipline that would enable high quality dialogue, candor, and clarity on action steps.
• Cascade of accountability framework at following annual meeting.

Result

Turnaround in performance and accountability culture in progress.

 1 Need

New country manager, taking over a traditionally run $500 million dollar business, needs to develop an enhanced leadership style fit for purpose to this assignment, that better enables performance and supports culture change

3 Follow-up

Annual follow-up offsites (3 years) focused on role of top management team, efficiency and effectiveness of group contribution and on talent planning
Continued observation of country manager in management situations supplemented by phone and face-to-face coaching sessions

Need

New country manager, taking over a traditionally run $500 million dollar business, needs to develop an enhanced leadership style fit for purpose to this assignment, that better enables performance and supports culture change

Response

• Interviews of top team members with team role diagnostic
• Ongoing coaching (2x month) for 6 months, follow-up monthly coaching
• Offsite focused on developing top team goals and organizational mission

Follow-up

Annual follow-up offsites (3 years) focused on role of top management team, efficiency and effectiveness of group contribution and on talent planning
Continued observation of country manager in management situations supplemented by phone and face-to-face coaching sessions

Result

• Leader considered a seasoned country manager and ready for next assignment
• Leadership team has been turned over while achieving top IBA in region
• New management leadership approach fully embedded in culture

1 Need

Expatriate country manager needed support in understanding the local and business culture and in driving change and preserving business growth during an acquisition

2 Response

• Develop understanding of current state through interviews of the senior management team and through use of existing climate survey data
• Coaching of country manager – turning interview data into hypotheses/action plan
• Top team offsite focused on charter, agenda, way of working, role clarity, 100-day plan and building relationships that sustain performance
• Regular coaching discussions to examine the leaders actions and results, the gaps and the learning and needed next actions

Need

Expatriate country manager needed support in understanding the local and business culture and in driving change and preserving business growth during an acquisition

Response

• Develop understanding of current state through interviews of the senior management team and through use of existing climate survey data
• Coaching of country manager – turning interview data into hypotheses/action plan
• Top team offsite focused on charter, agenda, way of working, role clarity, 100-day plan and building relationships that sustain performance
• Regular coaching discussions to examine the leaders actions and results, the gaps and the learning and needed next actions

Follow-up

New data collected followed by top team offsite to update charter, integrate new members, develop decision-making clarity, develop and work integration punch list

Result

• Country Manager reported increased confidence in his people as well as improved receptivity to the vision of the new organization.
• Top team members felt heard, issues were put “on the table” and action plans were implemented
• Top and bottom line continued upward trend. Regional VP showcased the process

1 Need

As the business was moving from the turnaround to growth phase, the executive wanted to bring his country managers together to set a new way of managing, gain input on strategy and goals and promote business-focused collaboration across geographies 

2 Response

• Introduce learner-focused methods for reviewing and improving strategic focus and goal clarity 
• Minimized talking-head, information only presentations 
• Minimized limitations for participants working in English as a second language 
• Created workshops that produced significant business-enhancing ideas and specific action steps 
• Facilitated the meeting so that the executive remained in charge while encouraging transparent dialogue on sensitive issues

Need

As the business was moving from the turnaround to growth phase, the executive wanted to bring his country managers together to set a new way of managing, gain input on strategy and goals and promote business-focused collaboration across geographies 

Result

• Top rated meeting 
• Significant improvements to strategy and goals 
• Significant ownership built in field management

1 Need

With a significant number of new country managers, the Area President needed a meeting that broke through existing cynicism, successfully and practically launched the new vision for the business and triggered deep and productive conversations on critical business issues

2 Response

• Partnered with design team to clarify goals 
• Created innovative method for describing the desired business future and launching the new vision 
• Engaged CEO’s speech-writer and helped to create compelling, tightly linked and provocative CEO presentation 
• Utilized café methodology to advance conversations on critical issues 
• Facilitated meeting of 40 participants 

Need

With a significant number of new country managers, the Area President needed a meeting that broke through existing cynicism, successfully and practically launched the new vision for the business and triggered deep and productive conversations on critical business issues

Response

• Partnered with design team to clarify goals 
• Created innovative method for describing the desired business future and launching the new vision 
• Engaged CEO’s speech-writer and helped to create compelling, tightly linked and provocative CEO presentation 
• Utilized café methodology to advance conversations on critical issues 
• Facilitated meeting of 40 participants 

Follow-up

Post-meeting action plan with on-going coaching of executive to insure action items were completed

Result

• Country managers coalesced into a strong team.
• Image and results of the business made a marked improvement with the meeting seen as a critical component to those results

1 Need

Very experienced R&D scientific officer struggling to fully empower reports, develop a successor and partner more productively internally

3 Result

• Action plan with on-going coaching of executive to ensure style changes stick 
• Took on coaching of a direct report and potential successor, with clear confidentiality between the manager and the report.
• Steady improvement in approach on all fronts

Need

Very experienced R&D scientific officer struggling to fully empower reports, develop a successor and partner more productively internally

Response

• Replaced previous coach who’s 360 was rejected. Built rapport by working constructively and pragmatically on new challenges.
• After a precipitating event, conducted interview-based 360 with a strictly feed-forward orientation, enabling receptivity to quote-driven data and resulting development plan endorsed by R&D President and HR
• Coaching on seeing triggers and learning new responses in all three areas of learning

Result

• Action plan with on-going coaching of executive to ensure style changes stick 
• Took on coaching of a direct report and potential successor, with clear confidentiality between the manager and the report.
• Steady improvement in approach on all fronts

1 Need

High potential Marketing leader in biotech struggling with missing a promotion, at risk of leaving.

3 Result

• Leader achieved promotion based on significant change in how s/he was showing up with senior stakeholders.
• Mentoring pairing for leader with two senior stakeholders
• Leader showing and feeling increased confidence in triggering situations

Need

High potential Marketing leader in biotech struggling with missing a promotion, at risk of leaving.

Result

• Leader achieved promotion based on significant change in how s/he was showing up with senior stakeholders.
• Mentoring pairing for leader with two senior stakeholders
• Leader showing and feeling increased confidence in triggering situations