Executive Coaching

Context

Mrs X, alias Jane, is working in the high tech industry.

Challenge

After 15 years of a brilliant career, Jane has just been promoted as Marketing Director, Member of the Board of Directors, in a joint-venture of the group she had been working for. For the first time in her life, she had to manage a 15 expert-people team.

Jane wants to benefit from an executive coach's advice in a very short period of time. Beyond her demand, it revealed some fears for not knowing, but above all, some ‘lack of self-esteem'.

Methodology

A. Preparing by listening (June) __
Jane explains the situation she has to tackle with. She expresses her needs and her expectations: to feel more confident.

__B. Program Manager: a 6-hour individual meeting (July) __
A made-to-measure program was prepared and proposed to Jane:

• My Personal Ecology: my drivers, my brakes, my needs, my constraints
• My Style of Management: what are my preferences ?
• Motivation: how to motivate a team ?
• Delegation: how and to whom delegate what ? The Goals Management. Effort and Result Recognition.
• Communication: Adaptating to people while keeping one's integrity.

During the session, we decided to plan the work, and to work the plan:
<1> To pay attention to Monique: a strong and ambitious person, having the support from the hierarchy.
-> Because of the touchy context, it is advised to take time to meet her in face-to-face meetings in order to demystify the character, to better determine her profile, to clarify the respective perimeters of competences, to focus on the work done on the ground.

<2> To work her leadership: Jane seems “absent” sometimes. Her listening can be perceived as passiveness.
-> To activate “active listening”, rephrasing, paying attention to one's body language, summing up speechs, taking part in the discussion, making appropriate decision.
Sometimes, disproportionate and misunderstood behaviour compensates for this excess of 'absence'. Jane puts herself in danger. The suggested solution was to free flowing her energy, by expressing more openly and directly what she thinks, by not kkeping everything inside. It was also advised to speak about oneself, not about others, without judging people too quickly.

<3> To manage team members who enjoy their freedom: Some team members don't work in the same office as others and are enjoying a lot this situation of freedom.
-> To spend time with them to understand what they really do, to evaluate their added value to the organisation, to engage them as team members in team meetings, to ask them feedbacks just like everyone else, to focus on the work done on the ground.

<4> To share feedbacks as a new comer: A newcomer is an asset for a company. Most of the time, ingenuous questions from a new comer reveal to be relevant. Sometimes, this can be a source of improvement for the unit or for the company.
-> To Draft and to present an 'ingenuous report' to the Board in order to share feedbacks and 'naive' questions. Then, the Board will follow or not, according to other constraints; that's his responsibility. Jane's newcomer work will then be completed !

__C. Individual Cocahing 2X2-hour sessions (October - December) __
Jane keeps the contact with her coach. There is a link between the tow people which is sometimes necessary. It can also be perceived as a driver.

Result

• Jane collected commercial needs on the ground:

  To contribute to a new positioning, to carry out a market study, to write a more relevant leaflet on sale argumentation, to create commercial support.
• Jane is respected:
  The limits with Monique's perimeters were clearly defined -even though it is useful to repeat them sometimes-. Their relations are exclusively limited to operational work, in order to limit the risks of 'skid'.
  The delocalized team members join the team meetings now. They show engagement to the team work.
• Jane presented her 'ingenuous report' to the Board
  Ecchos were favorable. The decision is now in their hands for the application or not of her recommendations.

-> Jane becomes integrated to the joint venture
She has succeeded. She has her own style of management which is courageous, respectful and effective. That's her !