Case study

The key to development is ‘right input, right time’.

What was needed

An under-performing manager had been sent on the company’s favourite leadership programme – which involves three weeks and more than 30,000 Euros. The manager found it extremely beneficial but six months later his staff reported very little change. The question of how to get personal development to change work-based practice is a perennial issue.

What was done

The manager was offered a series of six coaching sessions with the aim of exploring his issues and motivation. Initially his aim was to focus on what he needed to do to become more effective. The first two sessions concerned his stated aim to ‘be a more effective manager.’ He wanted to focus heavily on the experience of the leadership programme where he felt he had learnt a great deal but that it was not working because ‘the organisation was not ready’. However, in the third session it became clear that his frustration went beyond what seemed warranted by the objective situation and he agreed to explore this further. He acknowledged that he needed to become more self-aware and should control his need to find an immediate solution – his mantra had been ‘what do I need to do to make things better?’

To help with this more reflective agenda he completed a number of PfS questionnaires over the next few weeks (and he extended the number of coaching sessions to be able to cover the ground). Some of the highlights were:

• using the PfS Values-based Indicator of Motivation (VbIM) helped confirm that there was a strong alignment between the company, his role and his values. He became committed to trying to change and make things work;
• completing the Individual Audit (a 1-day assessment process to establish a profile of skills and capabilities) helped to boost his view that he did have many skills but that his style needed to change in order for him to be more effective;
• using the Type Dynamics Indicator (TDI®), he became aware of how his approach was very different from most of his direct reports and that his ‘facilitator style’ probably frustrated them. This insight allowed him to discuss openly with his staff how they could work better together;
• using the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (EIQ^3D) revealed a significant mismatch between his self-perception and that of his ‘challenger’ – the EIQ^3D invites a significant other to provide challenging feedback and he chose his former boss to provide this.

What the benefits were

After nine sessions and a team event with his team the climate changed considerably. He is now seen as one of the better managers in the company.