The Need
In discussing this situation later with John, we concluded
that John’s leadership style had focused too much on
1:1 performance management with his executives and not
enough on developing an enterprise view for the station.
We also concluded that he needed to spend more time mobilizing
the entire station around the urgency of improving ratings.
In his coaching plan, we identified three initiatives
where I could help him as a coach:
- Build an enterprise perspective among each member
of his leadership team.
- Develop a stronger team commitment among his top
leaders.
- Create ways of engaging the entire station.
Approach to Coaching
In my experience, successful executive coaches do three
things well: they listen, they give advice, and they bring
ideas from the outside world. In John’s case, we talked
every other week for the first three months. During these
calls I often acted as a sounding board. At other times
I made suggestions based on my experience with executives
in other situations. I also sent him a copy of Execution
by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, which we discussed at
length.
During one of the phone coaching sessions, we planned an
off-site meeting which he then ran and I observed. During
this meeting the group developed a strategic vision for
the station. They also developed a 90-day plan that focused
on how each member of the team could contribute to improved
ratings in the 11:00 P.M. newscast. Finally they developed
a communication strategy for involving the entire station
in their strategy.
The first 90-day plan was so successful that John held
another planning off-site in the following quarter. At
this meeting they created another 90-day plan. As team
members gained more confidence in their ability to execute,
they also gained more confidence in John as their leader.
Ratings slowly began to improve, and with it financial
performance also began to improve.
There was one decision that John was slow to make. As we
talked about his relationships with each of his people,
it became apparent that his sales manager was a source
of divisiveness on his team. Before John could take direct
action to replace the sales manager, however, the sales
manager announced that he was leaving to take a similar
position with a competitor in the market.
John’s feelings were mixed. Sales was not one of his strong
suits, and this defection was leaving him vulnerable at
a time when sales were starting to improve. On the other
hand, this particular person was not performing at the
level that John needed, so there was also an opportunity
here. John used our subsequent coaching sessions to define
clearly the type of Sales VP he needed for his strategy.
I also spent time helping him navigate between the urgency
he felt to get a replacement in that position and the dangers
of expediency if he put the wrong person in the job. John
also got help in this process from his human resources
group. In the end he found someone who had the sales management
knowledge he needed, but equally important he found someone
who was enthusiastic about being part of a leadership team.
John and I worked together for slightly more than a year.
At times we worked intensively, particularly as we were
planning off-sites and then debriefing the results. At
other times, the bi-weekly meetings were just check-ins.
As we got to the end of our formal engagement, John sent
me a graph that he was using to brief his management on
station performance. The graphic plotted four variables
over a 6 quarter period. Those variables were viewership,
revenue, financial performance, and commitment of the leadership
team.
The first three metrics were generated as part of the station’s
monthly management reports. To measure commitment, I gave
him a tool to document his subjective assessment of his
team’s alignment to station strategy, support for each
other, and existence of shared goals.
Results
John’s analysis showed that commitment to the station was
increasing on the part of individual members of the leadership
team. What was even more powerful is that commitment to
the leadership team appears in the graphic as a leading
indicator. That is, as commitment increased in one quarter,
viewership, revenue, and overall financial performance
increased in the next quarter. John had not only turned
the performance of the station around, he had discovered
a way to leverage the talent of his leadership team.
In all coaching engagements, the credit for success must
go to the client. I asked John if there were any specific
ways in which he felt that coaching helped him turn things
around. He identified three things, all related to building
his executive team: First, I had pointed out to him early
on that the lack of shared goals seemed to be contributing
to a lack of commitment to the station’s strategy. Second,
I was able to help him structure engaging planning meetings.
And third, by helping him think through his relationship
with each member of the team, he was able to become a better
coach for each of them.
