The newly-appointed President of a subsidiary had recently rejoined the company following many years with a competitor. He had a stretching agenda for operational and culture change. He had a natural driver-style of operating, which was failing to get him results.
In conversation, it became obvious that the client’s aggressive style was at odds with the more consensual working culture. Coaching drew on recent 360 and derailer assessments to strengthen his ability to engage, lead and particularly self-manage under stress.
A major learning was that, as an athlete, he was naturally competitive and aggressive to win – so he had to learn to take a step back and view winning from a broader, more inclusive, perspective in order to take his management team with him, and position them to lead change with their own teams.
His coach guided him to re-assess the operating context and establish stretching yet realistic performance goals for the short- and medium-term; also to strengthen the key relationships on which he depended to achieve these goals.