The Problem
A high-potential sales director may be out of his depth in his new role. Complaints are coming in about his leadership ability and the CEO is close to dismissing him. Can coaching save the day?
Margaret, an HR director in a multinational retail organisation, is receiving complaints about a newly appointed European sales director. He has been with the business several years, and has always been regarded as a high-potential individual, excelling in previous senior roles. He was appointed to the new role three months ago – a significant achievement. However, in recent feedback, serious concerns have been reported about his leadership from two different members of the sales team. These were reported directly to his line manager, the European CEO. There has also been a downturn in this team’s overall performance. While there is no doubting the sales director’s abilities, his line manager has serious doubts about his ability to manage a complex and geographically diverse team. Without a dramatic change in the short term, he will have no option but to dismiss this individual from the role.
Margaret has considered appointing an external coach to support this individual but wonders what approach a coach would take in such extreme circumstances and whether it is possible for coaching to achieve a turnaround dramatic enough to satisfy the CEO.
The Solution
As a coach, I believe one of the most hindering beliefs is that a person does not have the ability to improve their performance. This sales director has had time to settle into the role, and his CEO is now quite rightly expecting results. Margaret’s instinct to look for a well-matched, challenging and supportive coach is a potentially powerful solution.
The sales director deserves some honest, open feedback from his direct reports. It is vital that he is willing to see himself and the impact he has from his team’s perspective. If this feedback can be collected by his coach, it can help him to decide how he can work differently with his team to get some quick wins to improve performance.
I find most people know what they need to do differently; they simply get stuck by trying too hard to do a great job. This is particularly true in this case a promotion into a first board appointment where the sales director may feel he has a lot to prove. In my experience people do the best they can with what they have available at the time. The job of the coach is to help them see other perspectives, and help them check their personal standards are as they would want. One of the traps here can be the temptation to rescue the individual but wading in to “help” would rob the sales director of a great opportunity to learn and expand his capacity to lead.
I would encourage a three-way meeting with the client and CEO where I would facilitate agreement about what needs to be different and gain commitment from the CEO to provide regular feedback. As for time frames, if there is desire and support, behaviours can be changed very quickly.
ANGELA RUTTERFORD- ADAMS
Partner, Dawes Ryan Consulting
The sales director has an excellent track record and the selection process must have picked up the relevant potential in him. So what’s wrong? A couple of complaints, a short-term downturn in team performance and the CEO is ready to push the fire button. Through coaching, a quick turnaround is possible, but only with preparation. The most important of these would be to:
- hold a meeting and build a strong, committed team consisting of the new director, the CEO, HR and
- the coach;
- investigate and understand the reasons behind the complaints,a wider 360-degree feedback process would help to gather perceptions from all parties;
- investigate and understand the reasons behind the downturn in performance and agree objectives, measures and targets;
- identify what the CEO needs to see from the sales director;
- identify what support, reviews, training and mentoring might help to achieve a quick turnaround
Armed with this, the coach could engage the director with confidence and credibility and quickly move to the root causes of the issues. The resulting coaching will be both a safe place for the client to open up but also a challenging place where he is confronted with the full reality of the current issue and its possible consequences. The first three months of a new role are critical. Whatever the outcome here, I would recommend that the HR director implement a structured “First 90 days” coaching programme for all similar appointments in future. This would reduce the risk of the same problem happening again and show that all involved have learnt from this.
NEIL SCOTTON
Director, Coaching Professionals
Volume 2, Issue 6