Executive
Coaching -- Getting Past Resistance to the New Kid on the Block
Note: Key
identity descriptors have been changed to protect client confidentiality.
Coached a recently-hired,
entrepreneurial VP who found key people avoiding him and shooting down
his ideas (including the CEO, the Board, the VP’s peers, and his direct
reports). After coaching, these same key people said that the VP became a
successful, innovative manager who stopped creating resistance in his wake.
Throughout this VP’s
career, he had achieved results by finding a market opening and making a
fast break to fill it. He used
“push” management. The CEO
originally hired my client because he wanted to “shake things up.”
But he also put a high priority on creating a team-based
organization. People complained
to the CEO that the new VP was “heavy-handed.”
The new VP was confused at what he saw as “mixed signals.” (Shake
up organizational complacency but don’t ruffle any feathers in the
process.)
Coached
the VP to look for recurring patterns in his relationships with his boss,
peers and direct reports. Upon
reflection, he came to recognize a pattern of “pursuit and avoidance.”
The more he pushed his peers and direct reports, the more they avoided or
resisted him. Provided coaching and action learning assignments in how to
make others feel heard, build collaboration, and create “pull,” instead
of defaulting to “push.”
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