The Client’s Challenge

Becky, a young new manager in a fast-paced business, was having trouble collaborating with her direct report, Molly, to handle their tight deadlines. Becky’s supervisor was having conversations with the two of them separately but Becky and Molly were not communicating well and were not on the same page.

This was affecting morale and performance on both ends. Becky was frustrated with everyone because things weren’t playing out as she wanted. She was driven to do a great job but couldn’t figure out how to get Molly to be more cooperative and perform as expected.

The Coaching

At first, Becky used our Executive Coaching sessions to vent her frustration with Molly’s attitude and actions, so we worked to help her reframe the way she viewed the situation.

We explored the questions that she should ask herself as a leader, such as:

• What is my part in these exchanges?
• How can I develop my leadership abilities to improve the way I manage and motivate others?

The questions forced Becky to start focusing on how she could be a better boss to Molly. We reviewed her interactions with Molly and brainstormed how Becky could change the way she set expectations, to be more respectful of Molly’s time and input.

The Transformation

Through this process, Becky began seeing her own responsibility in the conversation breakdowns and worked to approach the interactions with more respect and positive expectations of the outcomes that Molly could produce.

The response from Molly was almost immediate, conflicts decreased, morale went up and the two finally started working together as a team.

Leadership Insights Gained

As a leader, you must be objective about your part in difficult relationships or conversations and challenge yourself to change the way you approach them.

Executive Coaching can help you take responsibility for yourself and your actions and increase your awareness of how to be a better contributor without blaming others.