Amanda
An executive for a major pharmaceutical company, Amanda, was wary of the challenges she encountered in her role as a director and general manager. She had recently been put in charge of a division managing an aging brand that was struggling to maintain its $1 billion in revenues in the face of increased competition. Amanda knew that the company had placed a challenge in front of her. In fact, she wondered if the company was moving her aside by putting her in charge of this dying product. Her boss, knowing the extent of the challenge in front of Amanda, offered her a coach.
At the outset of coaching, Amanda expressed her concerns about the position and her doubts about the support she might get from the organization in turning the brand around. We completed a strengths assessment and a 360 feedback assessment that revealed the confidence and respect that Amanda had within the organization and within her team. We reviewed this data and put together a coaching plan focused on her goals for the business and for her career and presented the plan to her boss. We included both public (ones she shared with her boss) and private (ones that were between Amanda and her coach) goals. Amanda’s boss signed off on our coaching plan and we continued our work.
During the initial stage of coaching, we worked to help Amanda put aside her personal doubts. We co-created strategies to help her reinvigorate the brand and vowed to refocus her staff. Amanda’s successes in the past had been built on a reputation as a leader who appreciated the contributions of all of her colleagues, whether they were employees, vendors, executives or stockholders. In this way, her teams had always produced great results and had high morale. In this, her most challenging time, through coaching, she rediscovered this attribute and relied upon it as a way to turn her department around.
In ongoing meetings with her coach, Amanda realized she needed to show her appreciation for her employees and their contributions and to involve them in the planning and strategy process in order to succeed. She also realized the need to help her team reorient to a different way of doing business. “A lot of the sales team had fallen into an overly comfortable relationship with their managers. So there was no real challenging going on and so we were chasing the penny and leaving the vast majority of the big dollars, assuming they were safe, and allowing some of that to get eroded.”
Amanda started by reorganizing her department, focusing on helping her district managers to become more comfortable actively leading and managing their teams. Amanda used our coaching sessions to think through her plans and to outline the steps she needed to take to reach her objective. We focused on reinvigorating her team through a series of team building exercises, culminating in an off-site retreat for team and their teams. Recognizing the value of the coaching she was receiving, Amanda also put in place a coaching program to help each manager become more grounded in their strengths in order to get them out their comfort zone and learn how to critique and coach their team in an appreciative, motivating manner.
Working with her team to develop effective business strategies, Amanda collaborated with them to cultivate a sense of shared decision making. She and her team took risks with decisions that ended up successful. Amanda attributed these successes to something far more tangible than the ambiguous nature of successful “gut calls,” rather it was based on the appreciation and respect she gave to her team that empowered them to make good decisions. Amanda found the coaching to be a primary factor in helping her rediscover her strength while providing the support to make the significant changes necessary.
Amanda’s gamble paid off and her department reversed the negative revenue trend and made the department profitable again. She was promoted to turn another brand around, then another. The key to all of these successes in Amanda’s view clearly reflects the benefits she derived from her strengths-based coaching, “If you set clear goals, put people in a place to work from their strengths and appreciate both their efforts and outcomes; that is way more than half the battle.”
An executive for a major pharmaceutical company, Amanda, was wary of the challenges she encountered in her role as a director and general manager. She had recently been put in charge of a division managing an aging brand that was struggling to maintain its $1 billion in revenues in the face of increased competition. Amanda knew that the company had placed a challenge in front of her. In fact, she wondered if the company was moving her aside by putting her in charge of this dying product. Her boss, knowing the extent of the challenge in front of Amanda, offered her a coach.
At the outset of coaching, Amanda expressed her concerns about the position and her doubts about the support she might get from the organization in turning the brand around. We completed a strengths assessment and a 360 feedback assessment that revealed the confidence and respect that Amanda had within the organization and within her team. We reviewed this data and put together a coaching plan focused on her goals for the business and for her career and presented the plan to her boss. We included both public (ones she shared with her boss) and private (ones that were between Amanda and her coach) goals. Amanda’s boss signed off on our coaching plan and we continued our work.
During the initial stage of coaching, we worked to help Amanda put aside her personal doubts. We co-created strategies to help her reinvigorate the brand and vowed to refocus her staff. Amanda’s successes in the past had been built on a reputation as a leader who appreciated the contributions of all of her colleagues, whether they were employees, vendors, executives or stockholders. In this way, her teams had always produced great results and had high morale. In this, her most challenging time, through coaching, she rediscovered this attribute and relied upon it as a way to turn her department around.
In ongoing meetings with her coach, Amanda realized she needed to show her appreciation for her employees and their contributions and to involve them in the planning and strategy process in order to succeed. She also realized the need to help her team reorient to a different way of doing business. “A lot of the sales team had fallen into an overly comfortable relationship with their managers. So there was no real challenging going on and so we were chasing the penny and leaving the vast majority of the big dollars, assuming they were safe, and allowing some of that to get eroded.”
Amanda started by reorganizing her department, focusing on helping her district managers to become more comfortable actively leading and managing their teams. Amanda used our coaching sessions to think through her plans and to outline the steps she needed to take to reach her objective. We focused on reinvigorating her team through a series of team building exercises, culminating in an off-site retreat for team and their teams. Recognizing the value of the coaching she was receiving, Amanda also put in place a coaching program to help each manager become more grounded in their strengths in order to get them out their comfort zone and learn how to critique and coach their team in an appreciative, motivating manner.
Working with her team to develop effective business strategies, Amanda collaborated with them to cultivate a sense of shared decision making. She and her team took risks with decisions that ended up successful. Amanda attributed these successes to something far more tangible than the ambiguous nature of successful “gut calls,” rather it was based on the appreciation and respect she gave to her team that empowered them to make good decisions. Amanda found the coaching to be a primary factor in helping her rediscover her strength while providing the support to make the significant changes necessary.
Amanda’s gamble paid off and her department reversed the negative revenue trend and made the department profitable again. She was promoted to turn another brand around, then another. The key to all of these successes in Amanda’s view clearly reflects the benefits she derived from her strengths-based coaching, “If you set clear goals, put people in a place to work from their strengths and appreciate both their efforts and outcomes; that is way more than half the battle.”