Ewing Change Consulting Success Stories

Case Study 6: Using Assessments in Coaching

The Client: Senior Treasury Manager, International Manufacturer
The Goal: Solving Director’s Dilemma – ‘Fix’ the manager or fire him?

The background: The director of treasury had a dilemma. He was in the final year of a five year plan for overhauling his organization’s treasury function and needed a strong management team to help him finish the job. He had two senior managers reporting to him – one who was a creative thinker and another that was not. The choice was – to ‘fix’ the second senior manager through leadership executive coaching or fire him.

When the director first joined the organization, the treasury function had, in his words, “been in the dark ages.” The organization had different treasury practices in almost every country, disparate and incompatible technology, less than satisfactory banking relationships and cultural sensitivities that got in the way of discussing and solving the issues.

The director created a plan to revolutionize the treasury function and hired the two senior managers to help him. They built excellent banking relationships, an enterprise-wide treasury management software system, created a shared understanding of best practices, improved the cross-cultural relationships and rolled out a code of best practices that was adopted by all the member firms.

After three years, the first senior manager showed that he could be innovative and work well in the environment. The second senior manager, however, was a source of major frustration for the director. So the question surfaced – do you ‘fix’ the employee or fire him?

The solution: The director hired Esther Ewing to see if the second senior manager could improve with some leadership executive coaching. What Ewing did first was to give all three of them the Kolbe A™ Index, developed by Kathy Kolbe, which looks at a person’s instincts and how they approach a task. The director scored as extremely driven toward innovation and a spontaneous style of working and the first senior manager’s score was similar. The second senior manager’s score, however, was at the other end of the spectrum, showing that he needed to work systematically and rather than being driven toward innovation, was driven to maintain stability and more cautious about taking risks. While they each had strengths that were useful, it was the differences in style (and striving instincts) that led to the frustration in their relationships.

Ewing also conducted a 360-degree feedback assessment on all three (using Panoramic Feedback™), getting comments from coworkers, peers, staff and customers. The results showed that the second senior manager was successful and appreciated for establishing and maintaining excellent cross-cultural relationships. He had effectively bridged the gaps between treasury managers in other countries and had smoothed the path for the global treasury function innovations.

The result: Using executive leadership coaching techniques, Ewing demonstrated to the director and second senior manager how to work better together and how to tap into each other’s strengths. The director agreed that he had to accept who the second senior manager was (a less expensive option) or let him go. The director also came to realize that while the second senior manager was not the best candidate for the innovation phase, he was ideally suited for the next phase of maintaining the improvements. The director decided to keep the second senior manager in his role and to work with his strengths.

The Kolbe A™ Index is a trademarked term of Kathy Kolbe.

For more information on the Kolbe A™ Index, click here.

For more information on Panoramic Feedback™, click here.

Success Stories

Case Study 1: Coaching Executive Leadership
The Client: CIO of a Canadian Bank
The Goal: Middle managers finding their footing

Case Study 2: Organizational Alignment
The Client: CEO and Senior Team of Health Sciences Centre
The Goal: Turning conflict into coordination

Case Study 3: Merger Process Change
The Client: Chief Risk Officer, Global Insurance Company
The Goal: A global infrastructure for risk-adjusted decisions

Case Study 4: Change Management Strategy
The Client: CEO and Senior Team, Construction and Mining Equipment Company
The Goal: Rebuilding the Refurbishers

Case Study 5: Employee Effectiveness through Cultural Change
The Client: VP Human Resources, Resort and Real Estate Developer
The Goal: Boosting employee effectiveness in a culturally-sensitive environment

Case Study 6: Using Assessments in Coaching
The Client: Senior Treasury Manager, International Manufacturer
The Goal: Solving Director’s Dilemma – ‘Fix’ the manager or fire