The issue
A first-time CEO has found remote working isolating and draining. Her self-criticism may well be leading to burnout. Could coaching rebuild resilience?
Janine was appointed CEO of a medium-sized international campaigning and advocacy organisation a year ago – her first time leading an organisation.
Her team works remotely and members are located around the world in different time zones. She was excited to be appointed to the role and started with high hopes, yet her first year has been a mixed and at times bruising experience. While substantive results in fundraising and campaigning impact have been good, some harshly critical feedback from outspoken staff has been painful and she finds remote working draining. The loneliness of the role has come as a shock and she feels isolated.
She has the classic ‘insecure overachiever’ profile – she’s highly competent and expects a lot from herself, but is inclined to be hard on herself when things don’t go according to plan. She’s conscientious and takes good care of her staff but sometimes over-extends herself at personal cost. She may be at risk of burnout. Staff have observed that she can become stressed and irritable when tired, and that she tends to dive in and fix a problem when it arises rather than coaching staff to resolve it themselves.
She’s beginning to wonder if she is cut out for the role and has sought out one-to-one coaching to see if it can help to build her resilience. Her previous experiences of coaching have been mixed so she’s keen to find someone with an approach that’ll work for her.
Liz Rivers
Executive coach and co-founder of Purpose Power Presence
I’d address Janine’s needs at three levels: personal, interpersonal and systemic.
Starting with the personal level (her relationship with herself) I’d get her to notice the critical voice in her head by writing down what it says and then countering it robustly, eg, by writing a daily list of achievements and collecting a file of positive feedback she receives.
I’d invite her to revisit her core values and purpose. How does she keep these in mind in her work so setbacks and conflicts are part of the bigger picture?
Finally, I’d explore her self-care practices. What activities drain her and can these be reduced? What activities does she find restorative and how much priority are they being given?
At an interpersonal level, with her colleagues I’d conduct a 360 degree feedback exercise to get a rounded view of her first year’s performance, which I’d then debrief with her. It’s likely that there’ll be a mismatch between the unduly critical perception she has of herself and the reality of her performance. Where critical feedback has validity, I’ll support her to make the necessary changes to address it.
I’d encourage her to seek out coaching, to create a support network of trusted peers and mentors who she can call on for support, insights and to let off steam. I’d also support her with setting boundaries about expectations from others, creating a sustainable way of using her energy rather than risking burnout and micromanagement.
Finally, at the systemic level I’d explore the impact of organisational culture. Are her staff experiencing secondary trauma from the challenging issues they’re campaigning on? Is this causing them to unconsciously project their distress onto her as an authority figure? The organisation may benefit from setting up trauma processing practices to enable staff to work through their feelings.
Kiki Maurey OBE
Executive coach and speaker
Firstly, it may help Janine to know that none of this is unusual – most people new to a CEO role have proved themselves to be excellent in their operational roles, but have not yet been tested as ‘the organisational leader’.
The transition to a more strategic CEO role is something that few find easy, falling back to what they know, ie, expecting operational excellence and delivery rather than building great teams. And of course, the CEO role is, by definition, a potentially lonely place – all the more reason to have a strong and trusted team around her.
Secondly, there’s everything to be gained by retaining her initial excitement and hopes for the role. However there are slight changes to the way she perceives her leadership style and behaviours that would benefit her in many different ways.
Thirdly, and probably most importantly, is to be kinder on herself; find time to sit back and take a wider view of her leadership role. Focus in on a few key wins as a leader that she’d like to achieve by working with a coach. None of this is rocket science and new ways of feeling, thinking and understanding how others experience her, can be a really positive game-changer for the new CEO.
In the meantime, here are a few questions she may find useful:
How is she sharing her vision and strategic goals with key influencers and subordinates? Is this a positive dialogue leading to shared ideas for the way to operationalise key goals?
How might she strengthen her top team leads by providing direction, trusted support and guidance – helping them to learn from their mistakes?
How might she better understand her staff’s needs for some autonomy, many of whom will know better the idiosyncrasies of her organisation?
Could there be some cultural differences that need to be factored in when building relationships and rapport across her different locations?