Case Studies

Coaching for Performance

The relationship between coach and client is a confidential one. These case studies are designed to show the genuine benefits of coaching and some details have been changed so that the client's confidentiality is maintained.

A senior executive of a UK based media organisation sought coaching support because he wanted help in bringing about transformational change to his 300 sales team. Mr R had recently been recruited to improve sales performance and to develop this part of the business to make it more dynamic and to enable people to take greater responsibility.

It was a new team for Mr R, in a part of the business that needed significant change. His immediate seniors were directly challenging some of his decisions and had complained that he wasn't tough enough in getting his people to achieve.

Mr R had not experienced coaching before, however, he recognised that in facing the challenges of the role he would welcome a confidential coaching relationship. He was not looking for mentoring, but he wanted to be able to talk through the many issues he faced in a confidential environment.

The quality of the goals and success measures that are agreed at the beginning of a coaching programme are the single greatest factor - after the relationship - that impact on the success of the coaching.

The overall goal of Mr R was to establish a firmer connection with his inner authority so that he could motivate his team to achieve their sales targets. He needed to gain clarity with his own vision and seek out and foster excellence and wisdom.

The coach built on the annual goals that Mr R had agreed with his CEO to start with. His organisational goal was to deliver £500,000 sales in the first half year. In order to do this he recognised that his most precious resource was his 300 staff and that improving his abilities to do more through others was a key way forward.

He was also keen to develop a greater capacity for enjoying his work. The coach was there to help him understand himself and his situation more fully so that he could make better decisions.

The intention of the coaching was to ensure that Mr R achieved meaningful results from the relationship mostly by really getting to grips with what was getting in the way of progress and then building on his innate abilities.

The only real measure of the effectiveness of Mr R coaching lay in the achievement of his goals.
The outcome from the coaching resulted in Mr R making a significant transition to his new role. He is now seen as an effective senior executive throughout the business, and colleagues are feeding back to his boss that he is now more open and inclusive with team members and is very much the person in charge.

The impact of his having a clear articulation of vision, strategy and values had significantly improved staff motivation scores as demonstrated by a confidential staff six month survey.

Mr R reported that the coaching, and in particular the questioning and the challenging of his original assumptions and perceptions, had enabled him to identify his habitual processes and responses and helped him to change. This enabled him to gain greater flexibility and choice and provided a sounding board and space to offload what was holding him back.