3 month whirlwind case study
3 month whirlwind case study
This Director came into coaching with clear intent, a desire to be at board level, a willingness to explore the gaps between their current knowledge, skills and capabilities and commit to moving them forward.
During the initial phase of coaching, they delved into the familiar coaching territory of confidence and the client labelled themselves as having ‘imposter syndrome’. It is the most common topic to raise itself in executive coaching. It limits growth and potential and allowed to thrive, it kills superb leaders.
The client reported a shift early on, and credited the coaching for helping her gain new perspectives on previously ‘swept under the carpet’ successes.
With new gained confidence, she started to show up even more, making a powerful impact at board meetings, ExCo members requesting her input and being asked to represent the organisation at some significant external events.
In addition, she threw herself into her coaching objectives, working on strategic direction at the same time as developing an enterprise mindset.
It’s fair to say that the coaching objectives weren’t necessarily addressed as a topic, the underlying issue of confidence had created such a powerful shift that this Director was unstoppable. Her own belief and confidence had her making moves and taking steps that were previously ‘scary’ to her. But the snowball effect happened, the more she tried, the better she got, the better results and feedback fed her confidence and she was seen as formidable leader within a couple of months.
By the third session, their leadership had shifted significantly. They were contributing with authority, thinking enterprise-wide, and trusting their judgement. Feedback from colleagues and senior stakeholders was exceptionally positive. The objectives they set out to achieve over a 10 month period had been met in just 3 sessions.
Great coaching has an end point. It develops self-leadership rather than reliance. In this case, confidence and capability were clearly in place, and further sessions would not have added value.
Knowing when to step back is part of doing executive coaching work well.
