Case Study One: "The President Who Couldn't See Straight"
After coming on-board and serving his first year as President of a billion-dollar international corporation, Bill threw up his hands in frustration.
He felt as if he had inherited a band of incompetents he couldn't trust to carry out the simplest operation without fouling things up. He wondered how the company had made it as far as it had. Its top executives were unresponsive. They couldn't or wouldn't deliver. He had begun to view them with mistrust. He felt they didn't respect him or what he was trying to accomplish.
Finally, he met with O'Brien Group. He was presented with what
seemed to him to be a far-fetched idea - what if he were part of
the problem? He then agreed to something he never thought he'd do.
He agreed to listen to his top executives, one-by-one, over the
course of four hours, tell him what they thought of his leadership.
It was his first breakthrough.
He discovered that the feelings he had were mutual. He was told
he was a micro manager. That he interrogated his staff. That he
was power hungry. That he didn't trust them. That he conducted ineffective
meetings. That they were afraid to take action because he found
fault with everything they did. But in the process, he developed
a new level of respect from his executives. They appreciated his
courage in hearing them out. And realized he wasn't to blame for
all of their problems.
As the coaching process continued, he found ways to work with his executives he'd never considered possible before. They discovered how to use his strengths in operations instead of being intimidated by them. They discovered his gifts - his logical, rational mind and his loyal heart. They appreciated his unshakable ability to establish ambitious goals and reach them. They learned his fears and concerns - and he learned theirs. Together, they learned to overcome them and build on their strengths.
Each side was able to recognize its weaknesses, take responsibility for them and take action to overcome them. Where they were once antagonists, they've now become allies and know how to work together.
Today, everyone is on the same side. Because everyone is working
as a team.
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