The coaching client was recently promoted from a Business Unit Director, to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. This promotion moved him onto the Executive Team for the Canadian subsidiary of a US-based multinational corporation. The client was a confident, well-experienced leader within the business, and someone the company wanted to develop further within the global organization. It was critical for the transition into his new role to be smooth and seamless.
Our first step in this coaching engagement was to understand how the client was assimilating into his new role, what the gaps were, and how we should focus his development. We supplemented the insights gained from the organization’s internal assessment and feedback tools with a series of interviews that included his new leader (CEO), his former leader (also a member of the Executive Team), the Senior Vice President of HR, and the Director of HR who supported his team.
As with many transitions of this nature, the biggest area of focus for the executive was learning on what to focus his efforts and what to delegate to his team. The coaching focused on debriefing key situations both within the client’s team and at the executive team level, reviewing literature on transitioning to an executive level, observing the client’s interactions with his team, and clearly defining role priorities and expectations.
The client transitioned successfully into the executive role and grew to be viewed not only as a key member of the Canadian executive team, but also as a key global resource for the organization. The organization continued to invest in his development by nominating him to attend a very select global development program.