| Case Studies
Executive coaching
Sophie was one of the highest earners in a
City law firm. About one year previously, she had been
made a senior partner with some significant management
responsibilities, something she had never experienced
previously. She came to see us via an appraisal that
highlighted her need for management development, in
particular, relating to her team.
Initially, Sophie was defensive, but after
reassurance about confidentiality and that the purpose of the
sessions was to assist her in becoming more effective, we
generated sufficient rapport to serve as a basis for
development. Evident from early on was a certain lack of
self-awareness; she had no idea of how she was viewed by
others, nor was she particularly interested in how others saw
her. To assist Sophie in understanding her strengths and
development needs further, she completed two personality
questionnaires. Her results were benchmarked against
other professional people, which helped Sophie to see herself
in comparison to others.
Overall, what emerged was that she preferred
to relate to people in a matter-of-fact, straightforward way,
but she was quite wary and uncomfortable with people until she
got to know them. She preferred to keep to herself,
needing time alone to concentrate and to structure and plan
her activities carefully. High standards were very
important to her and she would not compromise. She
worked very hard and, in general, she preferred to focus on
the job of fee earning, seeing her management activities as
less important.
Sophie found that simply increasing her
self-awareness of these issues was enough to lead to her
taking responsibility for her own development. The
remainder of the sessions focussed on how she could use her
strengths to shape the situation she was in, and what support
she needed to cover her blind spots.
Career decision-making
Tom came for help with a career decision.
He was approaching 40 and was soon to become a father for the
first time. He had been in sales most of his working
life and had a significant degree of success, but he had
always felt that he was not in the right job, not quite being
true to himself. He felt he wanted to be a good example
to his child by leading a life that was consistent with his
values and dreams.
We arranged for two career counselling
sessions and Tom completed a personality and values
questionnaire. He also undertook a couple of ability
tests to determine ease of re-training into a different area.
What emerged was that tasks that gave him some scope for
creativity and autonomy really excited him, even though he did
not see himself as in any way creative. He had a strong
dislike of performance targets and routine.
His personal strengths included a capacity
for innovative, radical thinking, but this was combined with a
practical desire for results. He enjoyed working as part
of a team, but gained more satisfaction out of encouraging and
stimulating others, especially in the realm of ideas, than he
did in adopting a formal management role.
Tom recognised that it was difficult to
reconcile his interests and desires with the need to earn a
decent income for his new family. We agreed that our
goal was to find a job that played more to his strengths than
his weaknesses, and that energised him. It was important
that his style matched the corporate culture of the employing
organisation.
Tom now works for a major regional theatre
in a business development/marketing/management role. He
enjoys working within a creative environment, the culture of
the theatre suits his style and he has been able to make good
use of his communication and selling skills.
|
