A CASE EXAMPLE
I coached Anne (not her real name) when she was general manager of her division. I was called because Anne faced several challenges – she had team members with longstanding interpersonal conflicts; corporate revenue goals were not likely to be met; and Anne’s boss withdrew support because he was frustrated with her division’s problems. Anne was considered a “high potential” leader and was respected by many in the company for her demonstrated gifts and skills. At the time I met Anne, however, it was a stretch to get the kind of traction that would count as success in her boss’ eyes which led to a loss of confidence in herself.
Early in our conversations, Anne and I discussed the three Key Factors and ways she could identify them in her area. At first, Anne wanted to focus on “improved staff relations” as her business result because she spent so much of her energy dealing with conflict between team members. “Improved staff relations,” however, is not a business result, it is a team behavior. I encouraged her to move it onto the team interactions list.
After we explored many of the challenges she faced, Anne chose the business result of increasing revenue. Ultimately, that was the factor that the company and her boss cared most about. In order to boost revenues, Anne thought her own leader behaviors needed to revolve around resolving staff differences. This is an example of a painful symptom stealing all of an executive’s attention. As we talked it became clearer to Anne that some of these differences could be originating from Anne’s lack of clarity in her expectations of the staff. So she put “define role clarity” on her leader behaviors list.
A great challenge for the coach in working with a leader to identify the three Key Factors is establishing the linkages among those Factors. The Factors may seem so self-evident that leaders do not pay much attention to them and only consider the factors on a vague, general level disempowering themselves and their teams. The deeper challenge comes in working to customize and render measurable each of the three Key Factors while demonstrating their interrelationships. This is the first building block to establishing an ROI approach. Link and make measurable, link and make measurable — the mantra of three Key Factors work.
Download Article 1K Club
