Being a Manager is tough and being accountable for the work as well as the behavior of a subordinate adds another layer of complexity to your challenges. Ensuring that the right person you promote is capable to do the work and fit-in with their new work peer group is necessary. The Case Study Below is true, the company and names have been changed. These results can be replicated using the Exponent Leadership Process…To make your team and leaders better Contact Mike.

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Situation

Contacted by a COO of a mid-size manufacturing plant. The COO Nikhil recently promoted Jackson from Production Manager to General Manager of Production.

A promotion that required Jackson too;

• Determine, handle and plan many projects of the Subordinate Managers, as well as his capability to see the interconnectedness within each project.
• Individually pursuing subprojects simultaneously and connecting them, keeping the Subordinate Managers, himself and the multiple goals + projects in synchrony with one another in resourcing and on schedule.
• While adding value by guiding any or all of them into alternative paths when necessary.

Additionally, Jackson now had to attend the Executive Briefing Meetings where the CEO, COO, CFO and all the General Mangers from the other Manufacturing areas of the plant met weekly to find solutions and update status on various projects.

Nikhil was concerned because in these Executive Meeting Jackson did not share freely and openly; he would only speak when directly asked a question or spoken too. The climate of the Executive Meeting was aggressive and often the executives would become engaged in passionate discussions about the plant’s future and current projects. The Executive team was high functioning – meaning that these debates were always focused and for the betterment of the facility NOT the individual Manager or project. These meeting always ended with a shared agreement of what to do next and the CEO consistently was held accountable for the outputs of her subordinates. The COO-Nikhil was responsible for Jackson’s work. Jackson’s quiet demeanor in these meetings was causing concern amongst the other C-level managers in the plant, and Nikhil was getting some guff for perhaps making the wrong choice in promoting Jackson.

Intervention

Nikhil and I sat to determine some objectives for the Leadership Coaching with Jackson, they were;

1. To determine if Jackson has the Capability to handle the level & time-span of work required.
2. Improve Nikhil’s standing with the of Executives, by highlighting the talents and skilled knowledge of Jackson.
3. Get Jackson to speak up in the executive meetings.
4. Jackson to come to the meetings prepared to share solutions the challenges and successes of the Production Projects without Nikhil’s prompting and support.
5. Evaluate Jackson’s ability and meeting presence in his meetings with his subordinate managers.

Jackson and I sat to determine some objectives for the Leadership Coaching, they were;

1. To better show his capability to handle the work to the Executive Managers.
2. Get Nikhil to stop “over-managing” him in the Executive Meetings.
3. Be able to speak with confidence in the Executive Meetings.
4. Improve his ability to lead meetings with his Subordinate Managers that lead to solutions and shared goals much like the executive meetings.

All the above objectives were placed on an Interview and evidence through observation and feedback metric. This feedback metric was used to develop a baseline of where Nikhil and Jackson perceived themselves to be about the objectives and perceived each other to be regarding the objectives.

Resolution

I met with Jackson and quickly determined that he had the Current Applied Capability to handle the role and the complexity of the work. What he lacked was the skilled knowledge of how to be heard in a room of 12 powerful, proud and screaming executives. Determining these two things allowed all the other objective to fall into place.

Jackson had to develop skill in being heard. Normally he is a quiet and reserved person, and that has worked well for him. The following brief experiment was suggested after our second Leadership Coaching meeting;

• Talk Less
• Listen More
• While you listen, take notes and observe the signs that people show when they are going to speak.
• While you listen, take notes and look for the signs that people show when they are ready to hear.
• While watching think to yourself and write in your notes, “If I was to speak how would I interject into this conversation. How would I know that it is appropriate to talk and when to listen.”

We met one week later to see what was better. Jackson had TWO 6 x 9, 70 sheet steno pads full of notes! During the leadership coaching meeting, Jackson shared that by taking the notes and listening more, “I have a comfort to use what I already have and realized that I speak more than I notice. The problem was in the Executive Meetings I was not looking for the signals…Now that I am again looking for the signs I know how to solve the problem and be more assertive in the executive meetings.”

I asked, “When is the next Executive Meeting?” Jackson replied, “This week in two days.” We scheduled a time to meet after the executive meeting.

In our next leadership coaching meeting Jackson reported;

• He engaged in a challenging argument with the General Manager of Sales over unrealistic time frames for production on an item. The CEO agreed with Jackson, and the Executive chose to change the time-frame to match Jackson’s input.
• Nikhil took Jackson out to Dinner after the meeting and shared how impressed he was with Jackson’s new found confidence.
• Jackson also reported that Nikhil had changed his behavior around him, he now seems more laid back and is allowing Jackson greater autonomy to complete the projects and speak in other Production meetings.
• Jackson shared that in his recent Subordinate Manager Meeting – he challenged a Production Manager who was being a jerk and demeaning another employee; This made Jackson feel more in control of his meetings.

In a follow-up meeting with Nikhil he reported;

• Jackson had made an 180-degree turnaround in the Executive Meetings and is now sharing and pushing the Executives to hear his points.
• The other C-Level managers were congratulating Nikhil on promoting the right person and coaching him to be so effective.
• Nikhil reported that Jackson’s on-time production has increased, and the overtime in the department has decreased – again highlighting Jackson’s skills and talents.
• Nikhil sat in on several of Jacksons Subordinate Manager Meetings and was impressed at the level of professionalism, competence, and passion the Manager showed for their work and Jackson.

The Leadership Coaching Contract lasted two more months and the metrics we created at the beginning based on observations and feedback continually improved with an average improvement of 4 points on a 10 point scale ( the Average increase was from 3 to a 7, with evidence to show the improvement).

Specific Exponent Leadership Content Used;

• Goal Setting & Time Span
• Planning Creating a Future
• High-Performance Teams
• Communication; Effective Listening
• Coaching: Building Capacity for Effectiveness
• Managerial Authority: Time Span and Accountability
• Bringing Out the Best in People

 

These results can be replicated using the Exponent Leadership Process…To make your team and leaders better Contact Mike.

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