Set yourself on the right course

You see your colleagues’ strengths and weaknesses, but can you see your own? Even if you could see yourself as others do, do you have the distance and the expertise to set yourself on the right course? And would you always know you were on it?

I’m a trusted sounding board to senior executives in Australia and internationally. They are men and women who have already achieved in their career. They have the potential to lead at the highest level, but they have the experience to know the road to that point is not straight. They have seen others held back (or derailed entirely) by gaps that they couldn’t see for themselves.

My clients want a coach with the skills to see what they can’t, the courage to tell them what they see, and the insights, training and frameworks to bring them to the top of the game.

High pressure tests of leadership

As a leader you will face extraordinary challenges, and business situations that are far out of the usual. You may appear before a royal commission… The board may demand you cut $1 billion of costs out of the business.

These challenges leave you vulnerable. Who can you talk to? Colleagues have conflicting interests. Your family doesn’t understand the mechanics, the dynamics or the pressure — and you don’t want to burden them with the details. So whoever you talk to has to be knowledgeable, discreet and on your side.

I have coached leaders in these lonely positions. They can test their thinking with me, talk through their concerns and count on me to speak up if I see something they don’t. I have helped them to navigate the stress and to preserve personal relationships at a time when they’re easy to neglect, causing long-term damage.

Case study: Executive coaching in a high-pressure situation

My client^ held his company’s reputation in the balance — not to mention the risk of exposing the company to legal action. As a witness to a regulatory enquiry, a wrong step could have been career ending, and that pressure was coming home with him in the evenings, too.

I was called in by my client’s employer to offer confidential, structured support on a more personal level. We worked on stress-management techniques and building self-confidence. We discussed how to carve out the thinking time that’s essential when dealing with pressure. That relationship led to a long-term coaching engagement, preparing my client for leadership at the most senior level of the company.

^ Industry and other identifying information has been changed to protect confidentiality