Individual Coaching

Successful but disconnected, stressed and anxious

Bryce (not his real name) by all accounts was already successful. He delivered on individual and company expectations year after year but at his personal cost and therefore a cost to the company.  He consistently ‘roared’ at his people and those who did not meet his high standards.  Bryce was disconnected from his people (they feared him) and he was extremely stressed to the point of anxiety and sleepless nights.

Commitment to Growth and Change

An in-depth executive coaching program began by developing emotional intelligence skills, specifically self-awareness. Bryce had not been in this type of learning environment before, but had taken company sponsored training courses. He had an attitude of willingness to change as he knew he couldn’t go on with the elevated stress levels and sleepless nights. He had ‘enough’ commitment and most importantly the commitment and support of his manager. Over time, his commitment to the coaching program became so strong, he sponsored members of his own team for their own coaching programs.

Promoted, trusted and confident

With instant feedback on his behaviour in our sessions, Bryce started to realize how he was perceived by others. He was encouraged to experiment with new behaviours and report on his progress. Over time, he realized how he negatively impacted others with his behavior and changed it. In addition, he actively involved his direct reports in his own growth and gained their trust. His boss started noticing changes and told him. As a result of this feedback and the trust he built with his team, his confidence increased dramatically and he stopped ‘roaring’.

Today, Bryce is approachable and listens. He has been promoted and is known to be fair yet still holds high standards. Although he may slip back into old behaviours from time to time (we all do!) he is much happier, worries less, and sleeps at night.

Research

Failed Leadership Transitions

The head of an information technology function wanted to find out why many of his technical specialists (individual contributors) were having difficulty making the transition to leadership roles. The cost of failed transitions was measured in derailed careers, financial impacts, employee churn, employee morale and disengagement. Because this area was so specialized, keeping existing and new hires and not losing them to the competition was of critical importance.

Identifying Emerging Leader Gaps

Research, interviews, conversations and workshops were conducted giving large amounts of data to work through. One of the main discoveries was that a common definition and understanding of the people leader role was missing. Through a custom-designed workshop to define the meaning of the people leader role in this particular organisation, the participants were shocked to discover how much the role encompassed – far more than leading people!

Once the role was defined, a comprehensive framework and set of assessments was created for senior managers to identify talent, gaps in skills, competencies and behaviours for a successful transition to the people leader role.

Roadmap for Successful Transitions to Leadership

With a set of custom designed assessments and a framework, our client was able to determine the readiness of potential people leaders. We also provided them with a process to help identify talent, map developmental areas in skills, competencies and behaviours to individual development plans, and create a leadership pipeline. Their engagement scores have increased, less people have left and more technical specialists have been promoted and have successfully made the transition to a leadership role.

Individual Coaching: From short-fused techie to respected people leader

Short-fused, frustrated, highly stressed

I was asked to work with a talented technology professional (Joe) who was a software applications subject matter expert. He was being considered for a people leadership role but found it difficult making the transition. He went into too much detail when communicating with senior levels in his organization and others found it difficult working with him. As a result, he was highly stressed trying to manage his perception at higher levels while learning to manage at least one direct report. He was short-fused, frustrated and highly critical of himself.

Learning and Applying Emotional Intelligence in Real Time

An executive coaching program was designed and integrated the GENOS International 360 degree emotional intelligence skills assessment both at the start and end of the program. Joe was highly motivated to change and extremely committed to his own professional development. Identifying and working in depth around those issues getting in the way of his optimal performance was the focus. The transition from a technical professional to a leadership role was the main focus of Joe’s work. This included uncovering mindsets, skills and behaviours which needed to change. Relying on the GENOS results, increasing his emotional self-awareness very quickly made a noticeable difference. Because his boss was highly supportive, the changes were noticed, recognized and reinforced.

Promoted to People Leader and Nominated for Excellence Award

Through his customised, in-depth coaching program, Joe dramatically increased his Emotional Intelligence skills in self-awareness, awareness of others and self-management. His hard work paid off and he was promoted to a leadership role with 5 direct reports. 8 months after he started the program, he and his team were nominated for an Excellence Award. One direct report returned from extended leave some months into his program and could not believe Joe was the same person she left 10 months before!

Large Group Training: Learning skills for the future of work

Disconnected and Low Trust

The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in a major bank wanted to change his organizational culture. One-off courses had not delivered the changes and results he and his senior leadership team were looking for. A different approach was needed because  our client had previously implemented unconnected and ad-hoc courses to address technical or leadership skills gaps.

Individuals were avoiding or poorly managing conflict and difficult conversations, and not feeling empowered. Trust was low, people were not clear on their value to the organisation, frontline employees were not feeling valued and overall employee engagement scores were low. 

Our approach was to address both organizational and individual issues for maximum impact. 

Changed Mindsets and Increased Skills

In collaboration with our client, we designed a multi-module program for Senior leaders, mid-level leaders and front-line workers which lasted 15 months. All aspects of the future of work were covered as participants were given the opportunity to learn and apply key mindsets, skills and behaviours to thrive in a disruptive and constantly changing world. They were equipped to take control of their professional and personal lives as well as their careers.

Senior leaders demonstrated the mindsets, skills and behaviours being taught. The fully integrated design consistently built upon  previous modules so that individuals’ understanding of learning  and practical application were reinforced. 

Although the content was the same for each department level, the focus was delivered according the needs of that level. The participants left each module with new skills and insights, applied them in the workplace, and returned to an Integration Session to discuss the results of their application, ask questions, and share their experiences with peers at all levels, and facilitators. 

Collaboration and High Engagement

The Eagle Achievements program was designed as a fully integrated and custom program. As a result, the culture has changed and employee engagement has increased dramatically - an increase of 38 points, higher than expected. Strengths were identified and leveraged; trust increased; change and personal resilience strengthened; interpersonal skills learned and applied; particiapnts were given the opportunity to take control of their professional and career goals.

One of the side benefits of the program was that new people joining CyberSecurity got to know their colleagues (across the 200 people in the organisation) they might have never had a chance to meet, creating a place for people to belong.

At the conclusion of our program, CyberSecurity experienced one of the highest engagement scores in the bank’s wider technology organization.