Anxiety originates from an absence of adequate knowledge and experience by Pradip Shroff (Guest)
Onboarding an external President into a newly formed group of an organization with international presence is a challenge because of what is at stake. Recognizing the scope of work that was facing the new president, the CIO*, invited me to become his external coach and support him as he started his new role. In this blog, I share my case study and holistic approach to coaching this client. All names have been changed.
Background and Coaching Agenda
Saral joined a well know business group as President of the innovation fund. The group has a presence in several countries in the world. The chairman of the group decided to create innovation as a new corporate function. Saral joined the group in February and reported to James, CIO and Head corporate services group. The company engaged me in June and I started the coaching assignment from July.
At our first sponsorship/tri-partite meeting, James outlined the expectations for the Innovation group.
To bring in customer-centric innovation culture.
Change thinking from “Inside – outside” to “Outside-Inside”.
This is unchartered territory; we have to bring a silent revolution with the following outcomes.
We will build a new purpose statement and communicate it to all stakeholders.
We want to add $ 5 Billion in value in the next 5 years.
James then mentioned his expectations of how Saral is to fulfil the role.
Saral would partner with CEOs of various businesses.
Help them identify new business/satellite opportunities.
Help unlock value in Opex / Capex of the existing business.
In a nutshell, Saral must convince these top business leaders to invest in Innovation.
Saral's anxieties and sources of stress
Saral was anxious professionally and personally.
He has not worked in a $ multi-billion business group. He is new to the group and does not know anyone in the company. Each business unit is unique and very large, and each SBU heads have challenging targets to achieve. Will they agree to invest in something new and unknown? To achieve his remit, he will have to understand the dynamics of varied businesses. Saral also has a special child requiring his time and attention. Balancing time for work and family will be quite a challenge, and after sharing this with his boss, he is happy that his boss is very supportive and is mindful of his need to balance his time.
Feeling supported in his situation, Saral felt that an external coach will be a great help in settling in his new job.
In our first session, Saral shared his personal and professional life story. He mentioned at least twice, “I am not sure if Presidents of various SBUs will be willing to spare a budget for innovation”. Stress in any transition is natural. I felt that he had too many unknown vectors to handle. I asked him if he would like me to help him discover sources of pressure with an objective tool. He agreed and I administered "Sources of Transition Pressure".
We identified the following as potential sources.
a) Understanding and setting role expectations with other stakeholders.
b) Building trust-based relationships with stakeholders
c) Communicating
d) Building a relationship
e) Managing transition on a personal (family) front
f) Being able to recognize one's time to handle the priorities
Saral's leadership style and strengths
We identified sources of pressure in the first session. In the second session, we agreed that we focus on discovering his strengths. I asked him to narrate and reflect on his past stories of success. We connected the reason for success to what may be his strengths.
I normally use an interview-based 360 by involving stakeholders and one psychometric assessment. However, Saral had joined the group very recently. He did not have enough connections within the company to carry out an effective 360. I decided to drop the stake holders' interviews.
At the end of the session, I suggested that we should validate his strengths with an independent and well recognised psychometric assessment. We agreed that he will take Thomas PPA assessment. I am certified for Thomas assessment and have used it for many of my coaching assignments. I ordered a Personal profile assessment on Saral's leadership strengths and limitation report. I gave the background of the coaching case and requested for their special view on the profile.
In the next session, we reviewed the Thomas assessment report. Saral connected what this meant for him and explored how it influenced his approach to leadership, work and collaborations. Interpretation of his profile reflected beneficial insights.
He is very cautious. He does not readily reveal what is in his mind.
Once he takes up task, he will complete it with minimal errors. He prides himself on error-free work. He may often spend a lot of personal time ensuring this. He may end up "re-doing" documents/work, because of this nature.
He prefers to do one thing at a time, do it well and take up the next task. He prefers serial processing rather than parallel processing. He may find it difficult to manage many tasks at the same time.
He is not a natural communicator. He may prefer written notes and memos than face to face communication. He may come across as a good listener and a curt and dry communicator.
He does not like to express his feelings. He seems to be under a lot of pressure. He holds it within him (and has not shared with others).
Special message for me from Thomas team was "Please rely on a logical approach with him. He may tend to view "softer" areas like emotions, "emotional intelligence" as non-essential."
Having these insights not only helped him, it also provided me with useful information to better support him in his role.
Strategy and Action plan
Saral’s home work was to explore the assessment and our discussions. Thereafter prepare a 2x2 matrix of actions that he would like to Start, Stop, Continue or Modify.
Saral had time to absorb what this meant for him. He shared the 2x2 matrix. He then said, “I am still not sure, if all these will be enough to win hearts of tough number focussed business heads.”
I felt that Saral wanted to have holistic help beyond traditional coaching.
I said problem and solution are two side of a coin. "Anxiety originates from an absence of adequate knowledge and experience."
Saral's eyes brightened. "Aha," he said, "I can now think of ways to overcome anxiety. I am good at learning and understanding new subjects. I can get all the information about each business. Once I have done my homework, I can talk to SBU heads from their point of view. I can partner with them to explore new ways to see their problems as an opportunity. I can add value, and they will want to speak to me again and again."
Saral was still doubtful.
He said: "Will they give me time for the first meeting?”
I said: "What do you know of SBU heads?”
He said: "They are some of the best professional executives in the world."
I said: "What do they know about you?"
He said: “Oh, I understand. Chairman has announced my appointment. They all must be aware of me. I am sure they will give me time once I ask for it.”
Saral was now comfortable. He could now specifically list the following area he needed to work on:
Master communication skills to be able to connect well and influence stakeholders.
Learn practices followed by multinational companies, known for their success with innovation.
Identify who and what can help in influencing stakeholders
Get a good understanding of SBUs of the group, their priorities, challenges etc.
Use all the above to prepare before meeting SBU heads
After each meeting Reflect, Review and Refresh plan for next meeting.
Actions taken and Outcome
In between our sessions, Saral followed his own action plan. We discussed outcome of his efforts. We followed a three-step process of Reflect, Review and Refresh. Reflect on how did he go about implementing actions outlined. Review of what worked well and what could have been better. Refresh, the plan to make further improvement in the next period. Saral summarised all actions taken.
Mastering influencing skill and building knowledge bank.
Saral worked on each of the action points very diligently. He read articles, saw videos on influencing skills and used them in his meetings. In some instances, I helped him share some of the case studies that I was aware of. I arranged his meeting with the CIO of a global company. He took the opportunity to share his experience in setting up an Innovation function at the corporate level.
Saral also found that in the meetings, SBU heads gave him ample time and took a keen interest in his thoughts. He developed a good rapport and connected well with all stakeholders.
Who and What can help?
The chairman decided to announce next year as "Year of Innovation in the group". Saral decided to have a daylong event on Innovation to support this strategic initiative. He is now planning the event by inviting the best speakers. He has made a list of top professors from globally best schools, top consultants on innovation, PE fund managers, top R&D laboratories and top scientists to address at the event.
What worked well in this assignment
Saral saw that the antidote to his anxiety and fear is by building knowledge and experience. He now knew he can deal with any situation using his strengths. Furthermore, the SBU heads will all appreciate when he brings value to the table. Receiving positive feedback and encouragement, as well as appreciating his strengths was a major turning point.
As we worked through our coaching assignment, Saral saw a big value in our discussions during sessions and the way I challenged him to think out of the box.
My Insights and Reflection
Introverts can connect well and influence people.
Become an expert and add value.
Coaching Saral draws on my personal and professional experiences of heading a business that also had Innovation as its lifeline. I have partnered several innovative developments of products, manufacturing processes and innovative marketing. It is well known that every business must continuously change to meet changing requirements of customers. I believe that successful business, lead the change. They anticipate the future needs of the customers. They are ready at the right time. For me it is the innovation that assures future growth. Innovation has been my passion. I continue to look for new ways of helping my coaching clients.
Connect with Pradip Shroff on Linkedin
Pradip is a certified CEO Coach based in Mumbai, India. In last 9 years as CEO Coach, He has completed 55 Senior level Executive coaching assignments. He has done 4 Leadership Team coaching Programs. He has guided 30 Coach Interns of PG program in Executive coaching.
Pradip Shroff brings over 40 years of business experience, with 25 years at CEO level. He brings a strong business acumen and strategic thinking. He is very analytical and innovative in developing solutions. Pradip uses his corporate experience in his coaching assignment. He is a Case author in CFI's book "Are you ready for the corner office”.
