What kind of outcomes can you expect from coaching?
In 2019, I was approached by the CEO of a not-for-profit NGO comprising four paid employees and a board of volunteers. The organization had been running at a loss for several years, the staff were in constant conflict with each other, and there were concerns the board might need to wind up the business as it was getting close to insolvency.
The lack of effective internal communication was causing a vicious cycle of inefficiencies:
- A lack of knowledge sharing and group problem-solving led to duplication of effort: problems which could have been anticipated were not being identified until it was too late.
- This led to a negative work climate: a lack of mutual respect, mistrust, blame, and a lack of accountability, all of which was exacerbating the problems described above.
- The failure to anticipate and share problems or carry out proper planning led to constant re-work, time that should have been invested in commercial activity.
- The time the leadership was spending on managing conflict could have been spent focusing on new opportunities
A new volunteer President was about to take office, and both the CEO and President asked for my support in managing the situation.
The focus of my coaching was on effective communication – in leadership and team management. I worked with the new President on setting clear objectives with the CEO: as a volunteer the President had to make every second of his time count. I also worked with the CEO on how to do the same with his staff and with the volunteer stakeholders.
First we established a set of shared core priorities: to generate and carry out more activity, reduce costs and aim to break-even after a contribution to the organization’s reserves.
To achieve these priorities, the next task was to get the staff communicating together effectively. We borrowed some techniques from the world of Agile teamwork, such as regular standup meetings and publicly sharing lists of planned and prioritized work tasks. We also implemented performance management processes for the staff, specifically periodic one-to-one meetings to set and monitor individual performance objectives.
I worked with the CEO on learning to delegate rather than doing his staff’s work for them, by adopting a coaching approach to managing them. His goal was to train them to work more autonomously and reduce conflict in their day-to-day communications.
Two years after I began working with them, the organization had stopped losing money and even returned a modest surplus, despite the pandemic. This financial turn-around, resulting from the increased commercial efforts of the CEO and President, had been made possible by resolving the resource-draining communication problems described above.
“Elena has radically changed various aspects of the way we work through a series of tactful and encouraging team sessions. Her approach and techniques combined with her genuine caring for our success, has enabled our team to work more effectively and harmoniously. She has achieved more than we had expected was possible. Through her one on one coaching I have learned increased my ability to communicate effectively and seek an honest rapport with co-workers and stakeholders at large. “
Aaron Pugliesi – Secretary General & CEO at The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy.