Benefits of Leadership Agility Coaching: Developing "Catalyst" Leaders
Case Studies and Results
How has this Leadership Agility Coaching been used to help leaders add Catalyst leadership to their repertoire?
Read real-life examples of how certified Leadership Agility Coaches have helped leaders operating at the Achiever level develop Catalyst-level leadership. Three case studies are presented below ...
- Opening the Door to helping a CEO Transform his Company
- Bringing a High-Potential Leader to a new Level of Agility
- Aiding a Technology Leader in Transforming Organizational Culture
Opening the Door to helping a CEO Transform his Company
Imagine that being a certified Leadership Agility Coach opened the door to a long-term relationship, supporting an innovative CEO in transforming his company. Here's what really happened for one certified coach ...
The need
A very smart CEO, who we’ll call Ethan, had founded a software company 8 years ago. He wanted to increase customer and employee satisfaction by creating a culture that was truly empowered, and collaborative, and agile – something he’d really never done before.
Reading the Leadership Agility book was one key source of inspiration. He realized that he would need to model the desired culture in his own behavior, so he hired a certified Leadership Agility Coach to work with him.
The work
Together, Ethan and his coach created a coaching agenda, first, clarifying his most important leadership initiatives. They were (a) to develop and implement a vision for transforming the organization and its culture, and (b) to develop an executive team that authentically embodied this vision. The leadership practices (changes in mindset and behavior) he chose to work on with his coach's help were:
1. Lead the company more consistently as a Catalyst: Lead from a compelling vision that incudes developing an empowered, collaborative culture
2. Find ways to communicate my vision in a more compelling, emotionally resonate way.
3. Overcome my bias for unanimous executive team decision-making. Consensus is not unanimity. When differences arise, explore them, then find a decisive way to come to closure.
Ethan's coach helped him identify the specific new behaviors needed and the shift in mindset that would make it easier to put each practice into action. In the coming month's Ethan made great strides in putting these practices into action in ways that furthered his key leadership initiatives. Once he had experienced the value of this coaching process, Ethan introduced it to his executive team.
The results
The coach's status as a certified Leadership Agility Coach was key to opening the door to a relationship that was immensely rewarding for both Ethan and his coach – and for his executive team. Amid many business challenges, Ethan was able to model and cultivate his desired culture. He moved beyond his bias for unanimous decisions and developed the skills, depending on the situation, to be more decisive or to facilitate consensus decision-making. As the executive team evolved through his leadership and through coaching, the culture throughout the company changed, becoming more customer-responsive while also generating high levels of “happiness” among employees. Ultimately, Ethan was able to sell the company for a good deal of money, and his coach experienced the fulfillment of having a key role in the transformation process.
Ethan's quote
"Through the Leadership Agility coaching I received, I was able to develop as a leader in key areas, like how I lead and communicate with my executive team. My development as a leader has transformed the team and helped to inspire culture change throughout the company. We’ve created a more agile organization with a more agile culture, and we’re reaping the business benefits.”
Bringing a High-Potential Leader to a new Level of Agility
Imagine that being a certified Leadership Agility Coach gave you the opportunity to provide coaching that facilitated a senior-level client's development into the Catalyst level of Leadership Agility.
The Challenge
A high-potential leader at an ISP (let's call him Adam) had recently been promoted to VP of Central Services, an organization that included several hundred people. At 40 years old, he was a bright, competent manager who exuded a natural enthusiasm, even though the company was going through rough times. He was actually someone who already realized that, although he had achieved a lot, there was a new level of leadership that was possible for him. He just didn't know what that would look like.
The coaching engagement and results
Adam's was a fully developed Achiever, who wasn't big on asking for help. It was rare that he actively involved his team in the decisions he made. But he realized that this tendency held him back from being the leader he wanted to be. As soon as he learned about the Catalyst level of agility, he knew it was the next step in his development. He wanted to create a compelling vision for his organization, build a participative team, and take more time to develop his direct reports. He was also drawn to the Catalyst level of development, because he wanted to experience a deeper sense of meaning in his life and work, a clue that he was ready to step into Catalyst leadership.
Adam and his coach worked together to create a clear coaching agenda that identified specific leadership practices he wanted to put into action. One of these practices concerned how he personally interacted with colleagues and direct reports. For example, as he prepared to make an important presentation, he became preoccupied with his boss's feedback that his presentations sometimes didn't exude enough confidence. He said to his coach, "How can I project my passion for the new solution I'm presenting, so I can convince them of its value?" His coach directed his attention beyond his preoccupation with himself to his audience, asking, "Are there ways that they, personally, will benefit?" Adam said, "Absolutely!" and went on to describe these benefits with enthusiasm. His coach then said, "I can tell your motivation isn't just to get a win for yourself. You actually care about these people and want to help them succeed. Just speak from your heart - person to person - from that feeling that you want to help them succeed." The presentation was a huge success, and Adam began applying this approach to many situations. His boss noticed. "You're speaking with more confidence, asking more questions, not shooting from the hip so much," he said.
Adam said, "I feel like I'm connecting with people more, person-to-person." For example, his initial conversations with two people who'd just joined his team had been surface level. He decided to "put myself more into their worlds, ask better questions, and get more real with them. It made a big difference. This even helps in talking with my wife."
His coach sensed that Adam was ready to practice "Catalyst-level awareness" learning to "reflect in the moment," becoming conscious of various feelings, assumptions and behaviors that had formerly been out of his awareness. In particular, Adam found the phrase, "feel the feeling and let it go" to be an excellent way to get out of his head and contact his actual feelings. For example, he began to notice that, when someone expressed a differing point of view, his immediate emotional reaction was "a need to be right." By becoming aware of this formerly unconscious feeling, he was able to let it go and become receptive (though not a push-over) to other's perspectives.
Previously, when important projects we at stake, he monitored his direct reports closely. But he began to realize "my Directors are really intrinsically motivated. So my job isn't to make them feel motivated. It's to create conditions where their intrinsic desire to learn and achieve is channeled in the right direction. Take for example, Jason, someone I used to almost micro-manage in these situations. Now my contribution is to provide coaching: Helping him identify the key stakeholders and think through how best to work with them. And more generally, just asking questions, listening, being a sounding board, and providing encouragement."
Although most of his peers were in a constant frenzy, Adam became calmer, less frazzled, and more centered. Previously his confidence came from performing well, but he now felt a growing sense of confidence in himself as a person. As he began to involve his management group in making important decisions, they responded very positively and began to function more like a real team. For example, because of the company's financial challenges and a perception that some top executives were just out for themselves, morale had become a real problem in most parts of the company. Adam brought his team together to discuss what they could do in this difficult environment to remain true to their own values and ensure that their oganization did the same. When the company's senior executives ordered Adam and his peers to institute a new round of layoffs, he brought his team together, and they made the decisions together. "It was gut-wrenching," he said. "But we did a good job, and we did it in 3 hours - much faster than I could have one on my own."
As the coaching engagement wrapped up, Adam reflected on the changes he'd made in his life at work and at home. He attributed these changes primarily to his newfound ability to shift into "Catalyst-level awareness." "I do that a lot now. I ask myself what I'm feeling and then let it go. If I'm not on the right path, this little practice helps me get on a better one. If I'm already on the right path, it makes things more interesting."
Aiding a Technology Leader in Transforming Organizational Culture
Imagine that being a certified Leadership Agility Coach provided an opportunity to work with a technology leader over time, resulting in dramatically increased effectiveness, a promotion to CTO, and a transformation of organizational culture.
The opportunity
Joe was a very bright and very likeable manager, who had gradually worked his way up from coder to Director of Engineering in a small, rapidly growing technology company. His interest in a coaching relationship was sparked by his participation in a leadership
workshop led by a certified Leadership Agility coach. Joe and his coach quickly formed a trusting relationship. He had done 360 exercises in the past but had never worked with a leadership coach. He was clearly open to learning and looked forward to reviewing his feedback report.
The first coaching engagement
Overall, his 360 feedback report showed that he was a strong Achiever leader, on the cusp of moving into Catalyst. This instrument generates very specific feedback in three leadership contexts: Leading organizational change, leading teams, and pivotal conversations. He chose to work on a leadership practice in each of these areas. Customized for his particular situation, what he called his "coaching goals" were:
- In reorganizing my unit, set the context by clearly stating the needs for this change, its scope, and what the desired outcomes of the change are. Deepen the context-setting by including not only new processes, reporting relationships, roles, and responsibilities, but also needs for change and desired outcomes in culture and relationship dynamics - bringing them more in line with our company's stated values.
- In meeting with a development team that's had lackluster performance, I can be so direct and even harsh about this that it alienates the team, which doesn't help to improve their performance, to say the least. I'm going to try to be more aware of my emotional state, so I can modulate how I give feedback. I'll also put my feedback in its larger context, making sure they understand the consequences of their current performance, while also inviting and listening to their perspective on the underlying problems, including feedback they may want to give me.
- In discussions where others disagree with me, I can quickly become argumentative or ask leading questions to try to bring them around to my view. in order to drive the discussion to a point of conclusion, instead of simply stating what I think and allowing the group to react to that. I want to become more consistently aware of preformulated opinions I may have on a topic and more comfortable simply communicating them - being transparent about my own thought process and inviting others to share any differing views and the thinking behind them.
Joe was able to put his first coaching goal into practice right away. To get started, Joe used the three questions for framing change initiatives that he'd learned about in the leadership workshop and incorporated into his first coaching goal. (See Bill Joiner's blog post about these 3 questions). These questions set the context for reorganizing his unit, bringing structure and clarity to his own thinking. This clarity was instrumental in making his intentions known to all the relevant stakeholders and in getting their input. The reorganization was so successful that several of his peers began to practice the context-setting methodology he had used. As part of the change, Joe's middle managers renewed their commitment to implementing Agile practices after previous attempts had not gone well. The new structure allowed Joe to oversee a software development function that created award-winning projects, while transforming R&D into several independent teams, able to pursue multiple projects at the same time.
Joe's second and third coaching goals were closely related. Both required developing an increased awareness and ability to modulate his emotional state under stress, as well as new communication skills - balancing his strong assertive tendencies with an expanded ability to listen and understand views that differed from their own. The main difference between the two goals was that he needed to practice #2 in group settings where he had the ultimate authority, whereas his #3 goal required working though differences with peers who had differing incentives and perspectives. Joe made important strides in making both practices part of his leadership repertoire. Central to his ability to make these changes was his increasing practice of "Catalyst-level awareness," developing an increasing capacity to "reflect in the moment" on formerly unconscious assumptions, feelings, and behaviors.
In a short time, Joe was promoted to VP of Engineering. In that role, he grew the function by 100%, giving him multiple opportunities to frame and lead organizational change. It was around this time that Joe and his coach decided it was a good time to put the coaching on pause, so he could see how he would do on his own.
A second coaching engagement
About a year later, Joe was asked to lead company's engineering and product organization, a significant increase in responsibility. Once he'd been in that role a little time, he reached out to his coach again. His coaching aspiration now was to lead more consistently from the Catalyst level when leading change, leading his two teams, and engaging in pivotal conversations, both at the executive team level and with his direct reports. During this period, he became a greatly trusted advisor to the CEO. They developed a very open, constructive relationship that made both more effective in their roles.
Now, once Joe had set the context for an organizational change, he added a new level of depth by asking:
- What culture and relationship dynamics need to change as part of this initiative?
- What assumptions am I making about the scope of this change that might be useful to question?
- What are the desired outcomes in terms of culture and relationship dynamics?
These questions helped him clarify his values at a very practical level. They became so important to him that he would not lead a change without including them. For example, he realized that full, consistent implementation of Agile practices required an agile leadership culture and a more empowered team. He also realized that he himself needed to get better at modeling the kind of culture he wanted to develop.
With this vision, Joe was able to do deeper work on his pivotal conversations. He had already become a better listener, but now wanted to "actively explore" views that differed from his own. This meant going beyond understanding other's views to a new level of empathy, understanding the context surrounding these views. What are the pressures and incentives that inform these viewpoints? How does the other person's thinking style shape how they communicate and how I need to communicate to reach them more effectively.
Joe's increased empathy and ability to explore and be influenced by others' views became a hallmark of how he interacted with others and led to breakthroughs in many key relationships. Over time, he led the way in creating a more empowered, collaborative team culture in his team, in the Engineering and Product organization, and beyond - a big part of the reason the company began winning "best place to work" awards.
Joe's Quote
"One of the greatest benefits of my career has been the opportunity to work with a certified Leadership Agility Coach. This help has been invaluable in advancing my career. During this time, I was fortunate to receive two promotions. Far more importantly, I believe the coaching I've received has benefited our company by giving me better skills to manage the mixed bag of growth, risk, opportunity, conflict, strategy, management, culture, environment, etc. - all part of the reality of leading a company in today's dynamic environment.
"In particular, the Leadership Agility 360 process used to start our relationship was a fabulous, fantastic experience! The look and feel of the report are awesome. I got more helpful, actionable feedback than I've gotten from any other 360 feedback exercise. I look forward to each session and cannot more highly recommend this 360-feedback and coaching process."