Do Only What You Can Do
The feedback I get on these articles is that readers appreciate real-life coaching examples, so I thought I would share a session I had this week with James, the CTO of a multinational tech company. James (not his real name!) has a team of over 1,000 spread across 3 continents. The business is demanding, and the market is fast-paced. James has had feedback that he is becoming a bottleneck. His challenge is a common one: how can he lead and delegate to drive quicker decision cycles, empower his team and ultimately deliver better customer outcomes?
It is quicker to do it myself, I have the most experience, I don’t want to lose control, I worked hard to get to a position where I run the team
As is often the case, we started by examining his current beliefs. In that first conversation, I heard many of the usual issues: ‘it is quicker to do it myself, I have the most experience, I don’t want to lose control, I worked hard to get to a position where I run the team’. We patiently worked through all these beliefs with James realising these were proving a barrier to the outcome he wanted.
Over a few sessions we worked through:
- Current habits that James wants to re-engineer: For example, James does all his planning in isolation, meaning that at the point he engages his team members, the execution plan is already well formed. James also spreads himself too thin, taking control of everything from grand strategy to the smallest tactic. He has little time to think, as he spends most of his day reviewing PowerPoint and Gantt Charts, and emergent issues often must wait until James is available.
- We discussed, and agreed, the things that ‘only he can do’. Although the list will vary, the typical three themes came through: 1. Setting strategy and ensuring budgets and resources are in place 2. Hiring the best capability to deliver the strategy and 3. Integrating the work of his function with that of his executive team colleagues.
- How to most effectively set direction for this team members; After being crystal clear on his expectations and defining what ‘good looks like’, James will get out of the way (a habit that generally defines the success of this whole exercise).
- Ensuring that the cadence of review is appropriate to each team member, and that his role is coach not instructor.
Whilst we will, no doubt, iterative these commitments over the course of our work together, James is clear that by developing these four new habits, he will grow his team and move activity on at a greater pace. My role will be to hold him to these commitments and support him to recognise signs of positive change.
