Directors Development Programme Case Study

Susan* had been in her role for several years but felt that in the last year she had lost momentum and direction, and that she was losing enthusiasm for her job. Maven provided a coach to work with the director for 3 half day sessions over the coming 6 weeks:

Session 1:

Susan and I reviewed the problems and issues of the last year and through careful questioning we agreed on a diagnosis:

Susan was spending too much time fire fighting small scale operational issues
Her direct reports were more likely to bring problems to her than attempt to solve them for themselves
The absence of a detailed plan for the department meant that a great deal of Susan’s time and that of her direct reports had been ‘hi-jacked’ by the agenda of the other directors
A lack their own ‘departmental vision’ had left her team unable to fight their own corner

From this diagnosis we were able to establish some actions for Susan to undertake before the next session, including some ‘quick fixes’ to give her a sense of achievement and enthusiasm for her role.

These actions included:

Undertaking a rapid review of all activities currently planned and underway that related to fire fighting existing problems. Susan was then to identify those issues that were causing the most disruption and put a small team together to fix them
Defining a vision for the coming year, identifying the achievements that Susan wanted to feel proud of 12 months from now
Using that vision to identify sizeable initiatives that she wanted her management team to take responsibility for

Session 2:

We reviewed the progress that had been made and then used the vision and key initiatives to formally plan the improvement agenda for the department for the next 12 months and identified the initiatives that were ‘nice to haves’ but were better addressed in the coming 24-36 months.

We devised a set of criteria that could be applied to every new situation, to evaluate its strategic importance, its contribution to improving the department and its relative priority in comparison to all other ideas and issues.

This has given Susan an ability to say no to what appear to be good ideas on the surface but which contribute very little to the longer term plan for the department.

Session 3:

We reviewed the job roles for each of Susan’s direct reports, identified relevant key performance indicators and competencies based on the improvement agenda and discussed in detail how Susan would address poor performance with each of her managers.

As a result of these sessions, Susan has said:

“I have the passion back for my job. Everything was just getting on top of me and I could not find a way out. This intervention has allowed me to see what I need to achieve and to prioritise with my management team so that I no longer feel the only one who is working to implement change.

Before this I was beginning to feel trapped, as every day there was a new crisis to handle and I could never plan further than the end of the week. We are now more of a team as well, as my vision has given us a chance to agree team objectives and work together to achieve them.”

David* wanted support in making the transition from senior manager to board member, having been recently promoted. Maven provided a mentor to work with David initially for three months, and this has now been extended for a further 6 months.

Session 1:

David wanted help to identify tasks that were ‘director level’ rather than simply continuing to manage the operational and customer services side of the business that he had previously been responsible for.

We discussed the differences between leaders and managers and what this meant for David’s role.

We identified some key responsibilities that David thought were most pertinent including:

Leading processes – setting direction, setting standards and performance measures, being clear about priorities
Leading people – building relationships, demonstrating integrity and building trust between members of different groups

Before the next session I asked David to identify key activities for each of these responsibilities and to devise a weekly and a monthly plan to demonstrate how he would carry out his role.

Session 2:

We reviewed his plans and tackled some of the practical issues of diary management, as David was a member of so many committees and groups that he had ‘meeting madness’ with every hour of the day scheduled for him to attend an event. There was no time for David to action anything agreed at any of these meetings or to think through the implications of what had been discussed.

We reviewed the need for his involvement at this more ‘micro’ level and prioritised those groups that he needed to work with to free up time for him to get his work done during the week, rather than the weekends he had been working.

The sessions are continuing, as we further plan the priorities for Customer Services and initiate strategic initiatives to realise efficiencies and launch new services.

David says

“These sessions have been vital in making me think how I want to work and giving me access to a vast range of experience and someone to debate ideas and incorporate best practice from other organisations. In only a few sessions the ideas that my mentor has shown me have really helped me understand my new world. The confidential nature of our discussions means that I have been able to be totally honest about my concerns, share my ambition for the future and plan towards my longer term goals.”

* to protect the privacy of our clients we have changed the names of the directors and excluded the names of the organisations that they work for