Case Studies

My coaching clients have created outstanding results in their businesses and their lives. Here are some of their stories:

Coaching for Global Leadership

(International Consulting)

Part 1:
Joseph, a brilliant and gifted consultant, came to coaching because he was twice passed-over for Partner. Each time he was told, “You’re really smart, but no one knows what you think because you never communicate. We can’t put someone like you in a partner role!” Joseph was frustrated because he did not know how to be any different.

We worked together to help him develop a new set of communication skills for both onstage and small-group situations. I also helped him learn how to let go of the details he was so good at and instead adopt a strategic perspective.

The following year, he made partner.

Part 2:
Over the next several years, Joseph returned to coaching at times of major transition:

  • To develop his presentation & negotiation skills to expand his revenue-generating capacity.
  • After a promotion into senior leadership, to help him learn to effectively nurture middle and upper-level managers and improve retention of valued staff.
  • To make the leap from the US to working as an ex-pat based in Asia and the Indian subcontinent. We worked to successfully translating his core skills across multiple cultures, including much work “beyond language” with to leverage his non-verbal and emotional communication.

Today, Joseph seeks continually to let go of more and more detail to work at higher levels of thinking and strategy. We focus much attention on deepening his gifts of reflection and introspection (his core strengths) even as he continually practices the art of conversation and engaging others.

He was recently named a global leader in his firm, an achievement he shared with his coach.

Better Leadership AND Better Life

(Director of Marketing Services and Strategy)

Kate is Marketing Director for a large professional services firm. She came to coaching because she was feeling marginalized – the only female leader in an All-boy’s Club, and she was afraid that a huge project coming her way was going to “take her down.

First, we helped her recognize several behavior patterns that diminished her impact in conversations. Shifting just a few of those patterns helped her dramatically improve how she communicated with her peers and boss. Then we reworked her entire infrastructure, how she ran her department, and how she managed her priorities.

Today, she is considered THE go-to person on the leadership team, the one who makes things happen. Her boss considers her invaluable, and she was recently asked to step up to a far bigger job with the parent organization.

In the midst of her coaching, she encountered a significant medical challenge, to which she brought her newly confident perspective and leadership skills. As a result, she weathered the health crisis in remarkably good spirits while her department barely missed a beat. Kate has subsequently adopted a much healthier lifestyle that has improved her overall health, including a reduction in both her weight and her stress load!

Translate Knowing into Doing

(Online Business Manager)

Debbie is Director of the online division of her company. She came to coaching because her workload was increasing exponentially, and she was starting to have breakdowns with her team, primarily because she was stressed beyond her max. She was desperate for help.

It turned out Debbie KNEW exactly what she needed to do in most situations, but she had no idea how to manage her stress, so she was constantly living on edge and in anger. Much of our work was, simply put, helping her master her emotions.

After six months, her team took me out to lunch to thank me. Their boss had become much calmer and was communicating far more with the team. The best part was when four people on the team confessed that they were ready to jump ship, and when they saw the huge shift in their manager’s behavior, they decided to stay. Without coaching, she would have had 40% turnover!

Boldness Leads to More Business

(Sales Executive, Global Manufacturing)

Gary is VP of Sales for a global manufacturing firm. He’d grown up with the company from its infancy, but a recent overseas expansion required him to step up to a role that was far bigger than before – he was scared, the company was vulnerable, and the company was planning to hire a new sales leader over top of Gary.

Through coaching, he created a new vision for his role. He completely restructured the department to take advantage of his core skills while developing others to succeed him. He also adopted bold new communication practices that helped him with his CEO as well as with his many long-distance relationships. Finally, he adopted numerous personal practices that dramatically improved his personal efficiency while dropping his stress load both at work and at home.

My client’s new boldness led him to make a proposal to two large manufacturing entities that had historically been “out of their reach,” and the resulting contracts added nearly 50% to their revenue stream. This business increase required yet another reorganization of the sales function and the hiring of another sales leader. Today, Gary leads an external sales force that, while technically half of his old department, is actually larger than his old role due to the expansion. The company now has multiple succession plan options available for the sales function. Best of all, Gary is far happier at work and in his home life!

Finally, he has taken his newly strong leadership skills to others, tackling leadership gaps in his community and in his professional associations. Recently he wrote of taking on a lead role for a redesign committee, and shared, “The team is smarter than me, and yet I’m fulfilling my role of leading them. Wow. What a concept! It’s given me a lot of pride!”

A Loss Becomes a “Win”

(Non-profit/Healthcare Executive)

Sue was the Development Director for a very large non-profit healthcare company. Her fundraising skills were superb but… her staff was in turmoil, she was always in backlog, and she was told that her management style “needed improvement.”

In our work together, I helped Sue adopt new communication practices that helped her up, down, and across the organization. She also learned to manage her personal stress load very differently. Most importantly, she created a powerful personal vision that helped her realize that her passions were not being served in this role.

With this realization in hand, she was able to sit down with the CEO and craft a proactive exit strategy that allowed her to find a better position, yet retained her to help with a very smooth transition to her successor. The CEO was pleased, she was happy, and the positive way in which the transition was handled created a powerful and positive story for the organization.

P.S. I continued to work with the client company, and in fact now coach the CEO!