Wickland Westcott

Stepping up to Senior Leadership

An experienced and ambitious public sector professional was given the opportunity to ‘act up’ as Director of his function. This meant he was leading a team of senior managers that had previously been his peers. The organisation was working through a restructure in response to new government initiatives, and discussions in Board meetings were often heated and contentious. Recognising that he needed support to help him meet these new challenges, Jeremy chose to work with a Wickland Westcott coach.

His coach quickly observed that his confidence was faltering, and that he needed to recognise and build upon the strengths he already had. In preparation for his first meeting, Jeremy was asked to complete the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in conjunction with the Firo-B, which in combination give the individual a deep sense of who they are. Through feedback, Jeremy learned that his present discomfort arose from a desire for harmonious relationships, and a need for others to show him that he was liked. This combination of factors was preventing him from adequately performance-managing his team, and from doing little more than acquiescing in Board meetings.

Jeremy’s coach helped him to visualise what it would be like if he were driving performance and fully contributing to board decisions. Together, they created a plan of incremental steps to achieve that goal. These included communicating his expectations to his team, agreeing specific objectives with them, exploring delivery against these objectives in 1:1 meetings, and challenging poor performance. He was encouraged to invite his team’s ideas for solutions, and to accept that he did not necessarily need to have all the answers. Jeremy’s coach also helped him to work on a range of influencing strategies to employ with Board members that complemented his natural style.

The coaching programme lasted for six months. Within twelve months it was clear that Jeremy had emerged as an effective leader of his team, and within eighteen months he had been promoted to an Assistant Chief Executive role. (This is a true story, although the names and context have been changed).