Case Studies
Regaining confidence
Client’s Challenge:
At the start of his coaching engagement, Mitch was COO of a global manufacturing company who had recently experienced a blow to his confidence – instead of being moved into the CEO role of a recently acquired company (per earlier strategic planning), he was asked to stay in his current role in support of the incoming CEO’s one-year transition. In a rapidly changing environment, the larger organization’s plans had shifted due to economic headwinds, high employee attrition, and a larger change management plan being implemented around the integration. Although Mitch understood this was the best course of action for everyone involved – and would render the best results – his ego was bruised and he felt his professional objectives were being put on hold.
Suzanne was brought in to partner with Mitch through this challenging time, supporting him in a measured hand-off with the transitioning CEO, honing his skills as a clear and confident communicator, and motivating both himself and key team members to stay the course.
Results:
Suzanne worked with Mitch to better understand his strengths, challenges, and areas of misalignment with the organization’s needs. She conducted a 360-review to recognize where he was adding value, and where there were opportunities to adapt his leadership during a time when his company greatly needed effective collaboration, courageous authenticity, and a shared vision.
Although Mitch spoke to being a fan of feedback, he openly struggled with some of the input shared by his colleagues. What was evident was a need for more empathetic leadership and letting go of the need to always have the answer, particularly in hard conversations. While the 360 feedback was the “aha” moment that Mitch needed, Suzanne’s steadfast support and honesty allowed him to both effectively process the information and commit to actioning on it in alignment with what he and the organization wanted to achieve.
Over the course of the year, their coaching partnership provided Mitch with the momentum, perspective, and accountability he needed. He put his intentions into action, with daily opportunities to experiment with new techniques. He worked together with the transitioning CEO and talent team to become a better listener and a calming influence during difficult times, setting the course to ensure the organization’s success.
Now in the CEO role, Mitch is a well-regarded leader with a team that speaks to his “composed, inspiring” style. With the support of Suzanne, adaptive employees, and a tightly-knit executive team, the organization is thriving in new ways, with Mitch right along with it.
Uplevelling a leadership team
Client’s Challenge:
The leaders of a multinational pharmaceutical company’s customer success team were facing a number of challenges, compromising their results and quickly leading individuals to burnout. This geographically dispersed group struggled to work cohesively under rigorous deadlines, with emotions running high as they adapted to a hybrid work environment where fractured trust and a lack of honest dialogue limited their ability to effectively lead their teams in supporting a demanding client base.
The organization’s executive leaders enlisted Weller Collaboration’s help, kicking off a 6-month Cultivating Leadership program for the cohort of 10 leaders. We created a solid foundation for their development, delivering a series of interactive workshops and tailored coaching opportunities (both collectively and in 1:1 settings) to learn new concepts, practice a new set of skills, and build trust across the team. Gauging this group’s need for open dialogue and productive accountability, we anchored our work on themes of feedback, adopting a coaching mindset, and increased self-awareness to foster curiosity and humility.
Results:
Through participation in the program, the leaders came to better understand their strengths and opportunities for development, learning to lean on each other for perspective, support, and how to confidently use their own voices. They’ve become more adaptable to the change, agile in their thinking, and are communicating more more effectively with each other and their teams. These leaders have gained increased visibility throughout the organization through clear communications, and are connecting with their teams on a new level that empowers them to deliver better results for clients.
Today the cohort continues to meet as a group in support of each other, where they coach and challenge their peers for broader impact as a leadership team. The Cultivating Leadership program inspired these leaders to expand on what they learned, continuously developing themselves through practices that equip them for creative solutioning, successful collaboration, and improved efficiencies in their work.
Moving beyond being known as the "go-to guy"
Client’s Challenge:
Will manages international business operations for a global consulting firm. He wears many hats in this role, including providing business management, project leadership, and facilities management. He is proudly known as the “go-to person for running the business,” thriving in an environment of rapid expansion and metric driven decision-making. But there were times his decisive style of leadership leaned so heavily toward achieving metrics, he appeared insensitive to the realities of operations and repeatedly jumped into his team’s projects to fix things himself. His strong push toward meeting deadlines was eclipsing other parts of his life, he worked late nights and weekends because he wouldn’t delegate. In order for Will to be more effective in his role, and be considered for a promotion, he needed to “get out of the weeds,” be a more relatable leader, and increase morale across his team.
Results:
Suzanne consulted with Will and his manager, then designed and delivered coaching to increase Will’s awareness, inject more empathy into his communications, and realign how to achieve strategic objectives both individually and collaboratively.
Through candid observations and a focus on progress without judgment, Suzanne supported Will to draw boundaries around his time and energy, grow trust in his team to directly manage larger projects, and realize measurable results while being able to enjoy his weekends and be fully-present with his family.
Will developed stronger relationships with his team, manager, and company president as a result of his commitment to personal transformation. He learned the difference between when he needed to step into a situation to fix it himself, or rely on the talents of his team members to not just bring successful projects over the line, but develop themselves through new opportunities.
Embodying the leader she aspired to be
Client’s Challenge:
Laura was senior program manager for a large technology organization. As she was looking to the next step in advancing her career, she partnered with Suzanne around personal skill development, cultivating her Emotional Intelligence, and increasing her overall executive presence.
Her position was quite demanding, resulting in long days and not always taking care of herself as she would have liked. Her reputation was as a person who brought a strong passion to her work and committed to delivering exceptional results. Through her coaching work with Suzanne, she identified that she wasn’t proactively growing relationships across the leadership and broader teams, and tended to be more focused on the “what” of her work and not enough on the “how”. With Suzanne’s support and skilled questions, Laura set her intentions on doing the work on herself -- changing her priorities and developing an approach that would enable her to better channel her energy and ultimately move into a more senior leadership role.
Results:
Fast forward 11 months. Laura received the promotion she was working toward after having increased her visibility with leadership, built more solid cross-functional relationships, and stepped into a more composed presence (which was essential during her work following the start of the COVID-19 quarantine). She’s also reclaimed more time for herself through creating more structure in both her professional and personal life, re-focused her healthcare/self-care routines, and is living an intentional life where she makes every day count.
Due to the sensitive nature of many of our engagements and our strict adherence to confidentiality, names have been withheld. However references are available upon request.