THE SABOTEUR IN YOU
A senior leader is struggling in her new role. Her output is successful but she struggles to connect with her team. Can coaching help her onboard successfully?
The issue
Anne B has recently stepped up into a prominent multinational organisation as head of compliance and is part of the global senior leadership team (GSLT).
She is in her mid 40s and has had a very successful career to date. She is a positive and engaging leader who understands the way businesses work and has been in the role for six months. However, while her work outputs have been successful, her relationships have proved challenging.
Anne’s talents for collaboration and teamwork with her peers do not seem to be working, particularly during GSLT meetings. Often, she feels unable to contribute to meetings and when she shares her ideas she is not listened to, and in some cases, completely ignored. She feels she is looked down upon and is not as smart as others, is doubting her own capabilities and as a result she is becoming increasingly withdrawn. On a couple of occasions she has felt frustrated and had some heated interactions which she says are completely out of character for her.
She is finding her confidence is being eroded, her credibility is impacted, and she wonders whether she has made a big mistake in joining this organisation.
Anne has asked for a coach to work with her to resolve these challenges. How would you support her?
Veronica Munro is an international executive coach and author
The interventions
Christina Bachini
Transformational executive coach, Chrysalis Executive Development
Anne’s issue is complex as there’s a high level of self-doubt in her abilities which isn’t backed up by her work output. It seems she’s finding it hard to assess her contribution and experience, and this may be impacting on her identity and self-concept.
I would explore her history regarding when she moves to new roles in order to uncover how familiar she is with this pattern. I’d also ask, what was her motivation to apply. Did she choose the role or was she recommended to apply by someone who saw her qualities as suitable? Has this any bearing?
I’d explore with her what strategies she has tried to resolve this situation. Did they include her feelings, behaviours, attitudes or how she relates to others? Have they had any impact? Who, in particular, is she having difficulty with? Do they remind her of any previous situations that she didn’t manage to resolve? Who is she measuring herself against that is causing her to doubt her skills? What external or internal evidence does she need to help allay her fears about the role? Who are those that she believes look down on her and when can she gain some genuine feedback from them?
Once she has all the evidence and a deeper understanding of her response in this situation, we can help her integrate and connect with her confidence and abilities – enabling her to accept the positives others see in her so she starts to change her self-concept; and her self-esteem – developing self-awareness and trust in her ability to step into the role.
Reshma Aziz Khan
Transformational coach, K’enso Consulting, Kenya
I’ve heard similar stories in my coaching work particularly over the last year, as virtual working has made it harder for leaders and teams to connect effectively. I would look to support this client in the following areas:
Cultural exploration and different ways of working and supporting
The client could explore having informal conversations with each member of the senior leadership, to better understand how they work, the different leadership cultures, what they value, how they see the world and also to share how she feels ‘not listened to’. Simple questions like: ‘What is important to you?’ ‘What can I do to best support you?’ and/or ‘How do you like to receive feedback?’
Sharing the same with each team member would be most helpful for her to forge stronger relationships. Underpinning this is the deliberate commitment to connect more informally as colleagues, and to actively seek to know the whole human beyond just the professional role.
Exploring feedback
We could explore any feedback received, allowing the client to reflect on what is being said. One could also ask the client to embody the specific individuals providing feedback, and ‘sit in their voice’ and imagine how the client may be appearing to them, in terms of attitude, behaviours and willingness to collaborate.
Exploring the voice within
The client experience could be further impacted by the ‘saboteur voice’ that might be telling the client she is not good enough, that she doesn’t belong, or that she made a mistake in joining this team. I would work with the client to visualise and converse with that saboteur voice, and deeply reflect on where that voice might have come from.
This often elicits an Aha! moment for clients and is perhaps a catalytic moment of transformation.