Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Fortune 500 Company
Presenting Challenge:
Next Wave Leadership was hired by client’s direct superior to support him in developing the interpersonal skills he would need to be considered for the next level of executive leadership. The challenge was that communicating the message of “needs improvement” to the kind of accomplished employee that he was would have been counterproductive. He needed to see and own the desired change as a self-determined goal, not as a failure of his current leadership style.
Next Wave Leadership Coaching Plan:
Scoping the summit:
Understanding his need for personal ownership, Dov developed a coaching plan that first scoped the summit – helping him identify the leader he most admired and why. This description became the blueprint of the goal, the kind of leader he wanted and needed to become.
Taking Stock at Basecamp:
We then paused at basecamp and took stock of his own leadership persona and began to map out where he was falling short of this experiential ideal. Once he connected with the persona of the leader he wanted to become, we were able to reverse engineer his behavior until he had a clear sense of how he wanted to show up.
The Ascent:
Only then did we specifically address the areas for growth outlined by his superior and worked on skill development to change how he was showing up and leading on a day to day basis.
Reaching the Summit, Results:
In less than four months he was promoted to Sr. Vice President & Chief Technology Officer. His team’s responsibilities were expanded and he was given more headcount.
His superior reported that he was now demonstrating the interpersonal skills he needed to lead more effectively – active listening, engagement and respect for peers and direct reports, openness to ideas other than his own, and attention to clear and concise speech.
The client reported that he learned to prize and see himself as a different kind of leader, a leader that is respected because he empowers his people through trust, communication and delegation.
