CASE STUDY
Executive Coaching for Incoming CEO
Client Industry
Professional Services
Client Situation
A seasoned executive leader took on the role of CEO. The leader had a history of success but recognized the need for support in this new role, especially given the immediate challenges of merging two different companies, building a high-performing executive team, and fostering positive connections throughout the organization.
Intervention
Bright Arrow coached the CEO as a trusted partner, providing guidance and support throughout the engagement. The engagement included a psychometric assessment, a "listening tour" (series of interviews) with the incoming CEO's key stakeholders to uncover what should be top priority, sacred/hard-to-discuss topics in the organization, quick wins, and potential pitfalls. The coaching process included:
- Stakeholder Engagement: Developing a plan to engage stakeholders and build relationships.
- Visibility and Interaction: Implementing strategies to increase the CEO's visibility and interaction throughout the organization.
- Emotional Intelligence: Supporting the CEO in recognizing, understanding, and using emotional language.
- Executive Team Development: Creating effective team rhythms, meeting agendas, and delegation strategies.
- Rewards and Recognition: Tailoring a reward and recognition strategy to meet the needs of individual team members.
Business Outcomes
Enhanced Leadership:
The CEO shifted from an operational, hands-on leader to an inspiring and visionary CEO, receiving high approval from both the Board and employees.
Reorganized C-Suite:
The CEO successfully reorganized the C-suite to prepare for future growth, including key role changes and strategic hires.
Significant Growth:
The firm experienced substantial growth, increasing from $100M to $1B in 4 years under the CEO's leadership.
Built a highly productive, value-driven executive team:
Reorganized C-suite, created executive team rhythms and meeting agendas, implemented strategies to get more done through the executive team.
Increased positive personal connections throughout the organization:
Created stakeholder engagement plan, increased visibility and interactions, used emotional language.
Professional development for the leadership team:
Created pre- and post-transaction professional development plans, focused on select senior team members.
Conclusion
Bright Arrow's executive coaching proved to be instrumental in supporting the CEO's successful transition and leadership of the organization. By focusing on key goals such as team building, stakeholder engagement, and emotional intelligence, the CEO was able to achieve significant business outcomes and position the organization for continued success.
As a result of this initial success Bright Arrow has become their go-to provider for executive coaching across the organization. From Directors to C-suite.
The CEO uses Bright Arrow periodically to do “CEO Listening Tours” where we co-create a list of interview questions based on what he needs to know in order to chart the future for the organization. These listening tours have been done to:
- Gage how he is being received by the organization more broadly
- Hear what his development areas are and what he needs to work on/improve on in his leadership approach
- Provide feedback for how well he had led key organization initiatives and communicated throughout (including the pandemic and upcoming merger potentials)
- Uncover CEO bench strength within the organization
