Executive Coaching Case Study
Bill Warner Sunday, January 06, 2008
Executive Coach to the CEO of a Mature Company
Situation: The CEO of a late stage software implementation professional services company with over $10M in revenue and 65 employees was struggling with stagnating revenue growth. Sales growth had flattened over the last three quarters as new account acquisition had softened, some current customers were abandoning the company and repeat business had slowed. The CEO wanted a management consultant to analyze his current strategy and assess whether or not it is on target. In addition, he wanted to get a second opinion on the effectiveness of the existing marketing and sales strategies as well as the effectiveness of the management team.
Engagement: Paladin became the coach for the CEO and his management team. Paladin was formally introduced to the executive team and empowered as outside assistance to the management team, hired to analyze and assist the entire team with the company’s sales issues.
Paladin conducted one-on-one interviews with the entire team and reported the composite results. The company had great products and services, but their effectiveness at sales and customer support were lacking. Many process and staffing improvements were identified through facilitated sessions with the executive team and the process towards their implementation was jointly reviewed every month.
As this engagement progressed, Paladin also became the personal executive coach of the CEO. In private sessions, Paladin listened to the issues that the CEO was wrestling with and helped the CEO think through the decisions he was about to make. The relationship between Paladin and the CEO continued to strengthen as the CEO gained more and more confidence that the coaching process really did give him the hard-hitting advice he needed.
Results: Once the executive team started to have frequent communication and jointly worked through the company’s marketing and sales issues, the whole situation improved in six months. It did result in two significant executive changes because they were not in support of the company’s strategy, but they were quickly replaced and the team became even stronger.
Summary: One of the most important roles a CEO plays is making sure that the entire executive team is working effectively as a team, understands the company’s strategy, knows what is expected of them and is accountable for results. The information that a CEO gets from the executive team is often filtered by their biases. Having an outside executive coach often helps a CEO see another perspective that may change the way they are handling key decisions.
Filed Under:
Bill Warner is the Managing Partner of Paladin and Associates, a business consulting firm in the Research Triangle Park area of central North Carolina, and is the Chairman of the Triangle Accredited Capital Forum, an angel investor network with over one hundred members throughout the southeast.
