A young man, Lorenzo, was seen as a star performer in sales operations – knowledgeable, technically astute and a quick learner. His boss quickly promoted him into a leadership role.
His colleagues of several years were now his direct reports. The transition quickly became difficult and contentious. Several of his team complained to the People and Culture (P&C) Business Partner, and two were threatening to quit.
The P&C Business Partner suggested that an executive coach could help protect his team and accelerate his transition by helping him develop some key leadership and management competencies. Lorenzo and his manager decided that a 360 interview process could yield important information about where Lorenzo was falling short. Working with his OLG coach, they established the following goals:
Over the following six months Lorenzo worked on improving his leadership and management competencies in increments. His action steps included:
Read the Audience
Know when and how to push back
Use the managing resistance formula:
More Natural Leading Meetings
Lorenzo “graduated” from his work with a coach and remains in a leadership role.
Cadence of coaching interactions: bi-weekly, with prep and/or debrief calls scheduled in between scheduled meeting, as needed.
Resources used during the coaching engagement: Meetings with the coach, presence experiments, articles, Ted Talks, reaching out to more experienced colleagues for their feedback.