CHALLENGE

I received a call from a CMO who wanted to grow one of his most valuable direct reports into a more comprehensive leadership role. This company is one of the largest tech organizations on the east coast.

The CMO’s direct report was an incredible workhorse who gave his all for the organization for many years. Unfortunately, he cared too much for his team and let them influence his decisions — he also was suffering from a massive work/life balance deficit.

ACTION

Out of the gate, we dissected each element of his workday, especially when it bled into his home life and weekend. We developed an overview of a typical day when he got to work, and what occurred during each hour on average. And guess what — we found a significant amount of time-suck from his team and peers who live their lives around unplanned emergencies. His first action was to take back his day with a short (15-minute) status meeting with his team every morning to let his staff inform him of their progress in ONE meeting and not fifty little ones all day.

In addition, we worked on his leadership skills every other week — using self-assessment tools to define his leadership style and figure out strategies to better lead his team, his peers, and communicate more effectively with management. We leveraged my leadership development coaching by focusing on increasing his motivation, expanding team education, ensuring two-way communication, and ‘vicious’ daily delegation.

RESULT

Management, peers, and staff saw a significant positive change (via 360 reviews), and he experienced a drastic positive upswing in work/life balance. The CMO immediately renewed our contract and expanded our presence with two other executives in the organization.