Accounting Firm
Situation: Claudia* was a partner in an accounting firm was stuck. She was working long hours and often project were late anyway. Her staff of 10 professionals and an administrative assistant was not producing results and were missing client deadlines. She had already fired on assistant and the new one couldn’t seem to do her job the way Claudia need her to.
In addition one of the young professional didn’t stay on task, cooperate with other or get her work done on time.
Our Work: I learned that Claudia wasn’t comfortable confronting people so she didn’t say anything at all to them. She would silently complain that no one listened to her and worry about productivity. She was miserable and was receiving negative feedback from the managing partner.
Outcome: It took a few months, and Claudia began to be able to talk openly with her people. After all, she had spent her whole life not sharing her expectations, opinions and desires. She started with the assistant who then progressed from being nearly a failure to becoming her right hand person as well as a representative for the firm in the community. The young professional wasn’t interested in being held accountable, so she left to work for another company.
Morale and productivity are higher in the department!
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Engineering Firm
Situation: The founding CEO of an engineering firm was preparing to retire. His replacement held an important position in the firm, but had not been a CEO before. How would stability be maintained during the transfer of leadership and how would the company thrive going forward?
Consulting/Coaching: The Dynamic Leader Coaching Program for the incoming CEO during the 3 months before taking office allowed him to take over with confidence and clarity. Within three months he held a Strategic Visioning Retreat – facilitated by Leadership Dynamics – where the senior leadership team spent 2 days offsite getting comfortable as a team and planning the company’s future.
Outcome: The Leadership Team developed a dynamic Vision with 3 and 1-year measurable strategies for success. Based on the 1-year strategies, several teams were formed to execute them.
Leadership Dynamics worked with both the CEO and the team chairs to orchestrate achievement of their goals. Over a four year period the company held two strategic retreats with team follow-up and key leaders were coached. Employee retention increased, productivity went up, and the firm grew nearly $7 million in revenues.
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Small Services Firm
Situation: The CEO of a small financially solid services company was well positioned for growth. However, he was thinking of selling because the company was stagnant and he want’s having fun anymore.
Consulting/Coaching: Through the coaching partnership it came out that the CEO was working ‘in’ the business, not ‘on’ it. He didn’t trust anyone to do their jobs, so he looked over their shoulder and sometimes actually did their jobs for them. Partner meetings focused on what want’s working and day-to-day operations with little attention on strategically gorwing the company.
Outcome: One the CEO understood that his micro-managing style demotivated and stifled his staff and partner – he let go a several administrative tasks. This freed up his time so he could consider fresh options for building his company. He also started having monthly strategic meetings with his partner. The company is stable and ready to grow
Accounting firm
Situation: Francis* and her business partner have a firm with about 20 people and a good sized client base. Her partner (Bill*) tended to take over in meetings and often set up a plan of action with the staff that the partner had not previously discussed. When anyone tried to give input or suggest a change to his goal, he would say demeaning things and even yell at the staff. The people would sink lower in their seats, look at the floor and basically decide that they would not cooperate with this out-of-control person. Francis would shut down and did not try to stop him. As a result people resisted doing their work and the company lost clients and revenue.
Coaching: When Francis and I worked together, she learned that her reaction to Bill’s unpredictable, controlling behavior was a trigger to her earlier life when her life was chaotic and she felt insecure and lost. Even though the situation is different now, her reaction is the same as that earlier time: to find a way to hide. She did this by emotionally shutting down until she felt safe and in control of what was happening.
Outcome: Once Francis understood how se was being triggered, she learned to recognize the feeling of fear and stop to think about what she wanted to happen. It took some work on her part and she decided the best action to take was to talk to Bill before the next important meeting and make it clear that she expected him to treat everyone with respect. She also committed to stop him the next time he started a tirade.
Bill finally accepted that his behavior was not helping the company and stepped back. Francis was able to pull the staff together, bring in more clients and satisfy the ones they already had. The company revenues increased by $100,000 the next year!