Kevin, serial entrepreneur and CEO of a profitable start-up organization, was experienced in managing small teams of highly intelligent and engaged employees. He had built strong relationships with smart and talented people in his industry and tended to hire for the budget. So far, his enthusiastic followers had been capable and motivated enough to stretch into the requirements of the organization.
His latest organization was hugely successful in getting on the track. After two years, he closed a very large contract with a key client, and the time had come to scale the organization to meet that client’s demands. Another by-product of his success, however, was pressure from the Board to grow the top line, and his current leadership team was beginning to bump up against the rails of their limitations. Employees were stretched to their max, and the leadership team seemed fragmented and misaligned with the challenges they were facing. In addition, Kevin was being called more and more to be out of the business working with clients, leaving behind a gap in leadership.
One challenge he faced, which he acknowledged as an “entrepreneur thing,” was his love of the start-up process, but not creating systems and procedures or dealing with day-to-day operations. He recognized that he needed to hire a more experienced leader to take on the operations responsibility and add maturity and stability to the leadership team.
Coaching provided Kevin with a place to create intentional developmental goals and clarify habits and roadblocks to his success. He invested in development for his current team to help reduce stress and improve working relationships. And he was able to accelerate his development with clear and well-articulated goals that met his needs in the moment and the organization’s needs for the long term. Today he’s still in the race and driving with a much more stable and productive pit crew that exceeds Board and client expectations.
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Start Your Engines
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