Client: Leader of a growing division inside a major company in Philadelphia, PA

Situation: This Leader’s organization had grown to such an extent that he needed to build a leadership team around him and learn to delegate a variety of executive-level activities and tasks. In order to be successful, he needed help developing a cohesive team with a clear sense of common purpose so that each department within his organization had clarity in their goals and was receiving the feedback, coaching and development they needed in order to grow in their roles.

Through the coaching work with Lorri, I was able to better understand the unintentional impact I was having on my staff.  She helped me see I didn’t need to have all the answers, I needed to provide clarity and motivation that would allow my staff to run their departments in alignment with our collective goals.  It was eye-opening.

- Senior Executive

Process: This Leader Coaching engagement spanned a period of 4 months. During the first month, Lorri spent a majority of the time performing client discovery, data mining, and a full situation analysis. This included the client taking a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, in-depth interview with the client, interviews with his team, performance review analysis, and observation in day-to-day meetings. During the first month Lorri also had the leader set goals for himself as well as his organization. The purpose of this period was to understand the client’s leadership style, and identify where he is having the highest impact and where he needs to grow in order to reach his full potential as a leader.

The Discovery phase provides the information and analysis to launch the formal coaching sessions with a “mirror meeting.” Symbolically, this meeting helps the client see what they cannot see on their own.  The following 2-4 months, Lorri would execute bi-weekly coaching sessions and conversations with the leader. Lorri helped the client set a game plan of specific topics to work on during the remainder of the engagement. This included such topics as more visibility, better communication, and team building. Lorri spent time during these weeks continually gathering relevant, real time data. She observed exchanges and dynamics between the Leader and his team, individually and in meetings, then coached him accordingly on how to better resolve conflicts or communicate with specific types of team members.

Results: Lorri consulted this leader from start to finish, helping him fully build his new executive team, define the common sense of purpose for the organization, create goals, and clearly identify what each department needed to do in order to achieve those goals.  As his perspective broadened, his leadership and impact on the team was exponential.  The team felt valued and respected; the success of the department was evident.