One of the initial coaching assignment I signed in 2016 was with a real estate developer. I was assigned 4 middle-level managers from different departments. The assignment was challenging in the sense that this was my first corporate client and the success of it meant a lot.
The first two-three sessions went well and I developed a very good rapport with each one of them. Three of them began to find solutions to their challenges and got a quick breakthrough.
Seeing the initial success, the director of the company Mr Behl added Mr Harish Rao also to the group. Harish was the Head of Finance and was the boss of Vijay Khanna, one of the four people assigned earlier.
In the subsequent session the issues began to unfold when both, Harish and Vijay shared that their individual challenge was the poor relations they had with each other. They blamed each other for the issues in the departmental objectives not being met, delay in decisions or implementation. When I discussed the issue with the Director and checked what he expected as an outcome of the coaching assignment with these two people, he said, I do not want to lose any one of them and that their personal differences should not affect the company in any way.
As a professional coach, I went into the sessions (all these coaching sessions are one-on-one) with an open mind and tried to explore the real issues for this situation, what were their fears and expectations from each other.
And the revelations were simple facts but too often ignored in personal as well as professional life:
1. There was no 'clearly defined' Job description for each of the positions they held. This resulted in either duplication of certain tasks or lack of accountability of some other important responsibilities;
2. Though the departmental goals and short term objectives were defined but no clear written down plans were made or shared between them;
3. They had an Ego clash and at times personal aspirations superseded organizational interests, though there were no issues of integrity or loyalty to the company;
4. There was no regular communication between them (They sat in two different chambers in two different zones in the same office and at times did not meet each other even once in a day).
5. They did not really attach any significance to their differences and did not think of these issues to be an obstacle to organizational performance and growth.
The positive side was that both were sincere, very knowledgeable, and trustworthy, had been working for more than 7-8 years in the same company, had mutual respect and never had any awkward fight or ugly scene. Both had their individual strengths and were brilliant in their work, relations with other departments or other stakeholders.
Two sessions down, we worked on generating all the alternatives they could think of to resolve the issues; challenged them to explore unconventional ways and options and created the steps they will commit to taking in the next 2-4 weeks. With the help of HR and the Director, a workable Job Description for each of their positions was created with clearly defined Accountability and Responsibilities. They also devised an effective and mutually accepted line of communication.
The results were amazing. They not only became a good team but also good personal friends. Their families visited each other’s home for dinner. They teamed up their minds together and resolved many of the long-pending issues and found solutions to the economic challenges being faced by the Real estate industry in the post-demonetization period.
I am sure, a similar situation exists in many organizations, small or big. Many businesses or functional heads face these type of situations or have people like Harish Rao and Vijay Khanna in their teams.
You know your people have a potential which remains unexplored due to personal issues or unclear Role, Responsibilities, clearly defined Accountability and poor lines of communication. And you are not touching these issues for the fear of losing out people or leading to further damage.
If you too want to find innovative, workable solutions to the challenges and issues faced by you or your teams that are hampering their as well as organizational performance and growth, reach out to me for a free demo session. A Coach like me will create awareness among people about their current reality, bring out the real issues on the table and act like a partner in finding appropriate solutions.
Unlock the potential of your team, trigger stimulating creative thinking of your people to help them dig deeper into their mind, and explore possible alternatives that you never thought existed and reach peak performance levels.
Contact: 87796 20761 | Visit: www.coachsuniel.com
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