Associate director to head of operations in 3 years

Achieving full leadership potential

Synopsis
Nicholas had recently joined the Fixed Income Change team at a global investment bank, but felt his colleagues and managers couldn’t see his full potential. He was ready to manage a team and earn a higher salary than his new role allowed, and felt he was still waiting to be discovered.

Over the course of our coaching we developed his leadership style – daring him to openly want more – and helped him actively manage other people’s perception of him.

Context and characters
A dedicated, intelligent and hard-working leader, Nicholas had the knowledge and experience to be leading at a higher level. What he needed was to give himself permission to achieve his full potential.

Our first objective was to help Nicholas recognise when he was giving other people power over his perceived capabilities. This helped him take back control over how he was projecting his leadership potential to others.

The second objective was to develop a coaching leadership style to fully prepare him for the bigger role he was aiming for.

Stepping stones
We started by identifying the key leadership and personal challenges in his self-perception and how he was underrating himself in front of others.

Over the next 7 sessions, we focused on improving Nicholas’s self belief to the point where he could project his true abilities and strengths in a way his superiors, peers and team could understand.

Along the way, we integrated a monthly feedback loop from Nicholas’s team to inform him in real time how they were perceiving and responding to his new leading style. It provided a platform for him and his team’s future growth and highlighted any areas to address next.

We also worked on Nicholas’s ability to present himself as a senior leader, including feeling at ease with executive language. Finally Nicholas was able to give himself permission to lead in a bigger way and he was promoted a year later.

What changed?
We witnessed a crucial change of perspective towards the end of the coaching programme, where Nicholas was able to proactively manage how others perceived him, rather than relying on them spotting his virtues. He started to invest in his team and develop them in a focused way, demonstrating his true leadership potential.

The story continues
Three years after the first session, Nicholas has more than doubled his income. He’s now head of operations, managing a large, diverse team and is on the leadership trajectory he dreamed of.

*Name has been changed for confidentiality