Intervention coaching is tough duty. Clearly, interventions are not our preferred coaching cases, though many come our way. To my way of thinking, executive coaches who seek out these extreme cases must have some underlying masochistic emotional needs. The going-in distress level tends to be daunting. Despite the rocky and emotionally draining nature of the task, if done well, interventions can be remarkably rewarding. When a leader is creating havoc and when bad behaviors have gone past the threshold of tolerance with no plausible solutions in sight, we get the call. We come in to do our magic.

Magic may sound over the top. The term is germane given that the solutions we reveal tend to amaze our clients with relief. Yet more striking is that the derailing leaders themselves are the ones who frequently seem the most pleased and relieved to get the monkey off their backs. Magic is often described as an illusion or trick. While we are not tricksters, we can get past the smoke and mirrors that most consultants cannot or do not penetrate. We perform our magic by revealing correct and logical options that are otherwise elusive to clients. This may not be garden variety type stage magic – though our clients tend to be genuinely surprised and pleased with outcomes, despite the extremely negative starting points of the interventions.

Intervention Feedback

“Hi! I could hardly sleep last evening. My mind was turning over and over all of the ideas and plans for implementing this “new lease” on career, and life as it were. THANK YOU! Your clarity, forthrightness, and professional coaching skills are awesome. It is so rare in government to have change and progress occur simultaneously in such a nurturing and supportive manner. I am forever grateful to (my boss) and to you — for a most inventive and affirming intervention.”

DHHS Leader, Washington DC (2004)

 

THREE UNPLEASANT LEADER STORIES

By the time we get the call senior management is at its wits end.

Story 1 – Nasty Ned

One case involved a director of a highly visible department, Ned, who had been verbally abusive to staff and other key constituents for more than seven years. Change and unexpected events caused Ned to explode emotionally and staff received the brunt of his anger. One staff member said that “I have lost count on the number of constituents and staff members Ned has brought to tears. If you stand up for yourself, you WILL experience his retribution at a later time.”

“Compassion may be one of his weaker characteristics,” said one direct report. “I have witnessed Ned become angry at one of our staff because she wanted time off to attend the funeral of her mother.”

Making matters worse, racial tension entered this leader’s troubles. “Ned constantly complains about racism at our organization, yet he spews racism on his staff without hesitation. I have experienced more racism, sexism, and other ‘ism’s’ from him than all experiences combined.”

This feedback is just a small sample of the patterns of problematic behaviors and tension that had been permitted to suck the life and passion to perform out the department. Inappropriate behaviors were not aberrations for those within earshot of Ned. They had become the norm.

Story 2 – The Obliviously Happy Leader

When first meeting Barry it was easy to find him charming and warm. This high-level leader in the information systems world was upbeat, excited about the company business and its future. Barry acted like a bubbly, proud cheerleader when promoting the organization’s mission and good will. The picture he painted was captivating and compelling.

The truth is that he was cloud-nine happy until we met. He loved working for the organization and found his team’s accomplishments and the technical work fulfilling and challenging. Barry felt great being at the top – a role he was confident he deserved given his hard work, know-how and intelligence. He also was quite fond of his team.

Unfortunately, this is where the love affair ended. Unbeknownst to Barry, his entire staff and department experienced the affair with a significantly different take. It seems that Barry’s actions were translated by others describing him as one who:

  • Micro-manages
  • Blames others when things go wrong, never takes responsibility or admits a mistake
  • Is condescending towards others; is insincere
  • Places very little trust in others
  • Dictates rather than leads
  • Holds back information and is manipulative, and more

We had our hands full with an obvious disconnect.

Story 3 – The Work Horse Who Paid Her Dues

This case had a different love/hate scenario that evolved over time. The organization loved the work output Tammy was capable of achieving. Yet dealing with her was torture. In the earlier days when the organization was emerging, as a producer and broadcast personality, Tammy performed with distinction. She was unusually productive and could tackle and complete the toughest assignments. In those early days, she ran into little or no resistance and was viewed as a key team member. Because of the lack of hands on deck to get so much work done in the forming years, she had the free rein, the clout, broadcast talent, determination, and the technical competence to meet the challenges of the day. She worked until she dropped. Her life was work and she loved it.

Nearly 10 years later, the business had done quite well, grown significantly, now holding a major market share. Unfortunately, while Tammy continued to work hard and dedicated her life to her work, she was struggling, angering more people than not. The organization had transformed, the needs had changed dramatically, business volume and programs peaked, the size and number of staff increased tenfold, yet Tammy was no longer the star she once was.

Tammy was a true work horse – working relentlessly and around the clock. During her initial coaching session, she said had given all to her work she never found time to marry or to invest in a serious relationship. On the job Tammy tended to like things done her way and wanted in on everything. She micro-managed every aspect of her projects driving the production people, actors, journalists and others to the brink. She was inflexible, dogmatic, and cynical. Worse yet, she tended to look down on staff and could barely tolerate newer producers and assistants. She treated them “as her minions” and felt like none of them had paid their dues. After all, she had paid hers and paid them well. When she didn’t have a major piece of the action in new projects would become irate. More and more, she tended to whine and gripe behind the scenes. Tammy would secretly try to undermine management when she didn’t get her way. The last straw (for her) was when she was stripped of her office and moved into a cubicle. This was like tossing her onto burning coals for no other purpose than public humiliation.

 

THE MAGIC

There are a couple of key ingredients required to do our magic. Our intervention formula includes:

  1. Reality acknowledgement (current & political outcomes)
    • With an understanding that change(s) will be necessitated
    • Necessary background information for coach
  2. Candid, truthful, straight shooting (up to and including in-your-face coaching) and communications requiring grit and wit
  3. Two assessment tools that pinpoint both the root causes (CDR 3-D Suite) and impact (360° Leader Scan) of leader behaviors
  4. Commitment by client organization to provide the agreed (as determined via intervention work) upon follow-up support, action, and resources to correct and improve the situation

How Does This Create “Magic”?

 1. Reality Check

Communications shuts down as a result of tolerating inappropriate leader behaviors for long periods of time. Omission, things unsaid, and detachment create a boxed-in environment. Naming the behaviors and outing the ogre become impossible for the organization. It is akin to hiding the family problem (alcoholic, abuser, etc.). Confronting the issue with clarity and objectivity is something the coach objectively does in the beginning phase of the project.

Initially, the coach discusses with key management personnel the ground rules, parameters/expectations of coaching, and spectrum of potential outcomes of the coaching intervention. Establishing clarity around spectrum of potential outcomes is critical.

Questions like: what is the best possible result? Worst result? What are you willing to tolerate? What flexibility do you have? How important is your investment in this individual? How much more can you invest? What’s the preferred time line? And, after the intervention days, it is wise to come back and test actual ideas and scenarios to what an organization is willing and able to do to improve or fix the situation…

This feedback is just a small sample of the patterns of problematic behaviors and tension that had been permitted to suck the life and passion out of performance for the department. 

And, after the intervention days, it is wise to come back and test actual ideas and scenarios to what an organization is willing and able to do to improve or fix the situation….

Next, we let clients know, up front, that this may well be a “poor job fit” situation. More often than not – this is the crux of the problem. Clients need to know that the intervention process can lead to the derailing leader quitting, retiring, requesting a transfer, or ultimately in dismissal if the person does not take responsibility and make the changes needed to perform the job satisfactorily. The only thing certain going in is that change must happen.

2. Truth above all else.

Probably all coaches consider themselves to be truthful. When we refer to truth, we mean the spoken truth. Frankness in coaching, candid and open dialog, timely feedback, and unvarnished honesty are imperative. Many executive coaches tend to be truthful-to-a-point. Coaches using hide-and-seek truth, honesty-curtailed-by-kindness, or political correctness techniques offer superficial services that dance around the issues.

The whole point of the intervention exercise is to get the monster out of the closet to accurately identify it and carefully slay it. If a leader is acting like an arrogant jerk or like Nasty Ned (the leader without a compassionate bone in his body), they need to know this with vivid examples how these behaviors will harm their own future and success. (Ouch!) Sharing the truth clearly void of sugar coating or camouflaging is essential to the magic of intervention coaching.

3. Power Source for the Magic

As a review of second things first, the 360 feedback process is important but is the second piece of the coaching intervention process. This data confirms the impact that the failing leader is having on his troops and organization. The feedback instrument, if done well and using both statistical and narrative feedback (as does the 360 Leader Scan), should clarify the details of the reasons for the intervention. This documents what behaviors that stakeholders observe or experience with the leader that are objectionable.

Too many coaches use a 360 tool and stop there. This falls short. 360s describe symptoms. 360s do not tell us a thing about the root cause of problems. It is really pretty simple: don’t we need to know what is causing a problem in order to fix it? Intervention coaching using 360s alone string out the coaching process. This allows for defensive posturing and endless fruitless dialogues.

We prefer nailing the problems early on and then zeroing in on the finding the best solutions. That brings us to the first step.

The real power source behind our magic comes from the exclusive CDR 3-Dimensional Assessment Suite®. Without this, the magic is missing.

The CDR 3-D Suite accurately reveals a leader’s:

  • Character (acumen, EQ, and leader fitness);
  • Risk Factors that can lead to derailment; and
  • Drivers & Reward needs which measure one’s motivational and reward needs and aversions

These personality-based character traits, risk factors, and motivational facets yield the why’s that cause performance behaviors. This data is not explained or measured by 360 feedback instruments. Developing leader potential and performance requires an authentic and a clear understanding of each individual, not just what can be garnered from external perceptions (i.e. 360s). This is especially true when things are a mess as in the case of “intervention” coaching. The CDR 3-D Suite exposes the hard wiring or inherent tendencies of a leader. To learn the specifics on how the leader will work best and worst, this information is required.

 

FINISHING THE STORIES

Story 1

The truth is that Nasty Ned wasn’t nasty after all. He was actually a decent, creative guy who was miserable. Ned was in a horrifically bad job (for him). He didn’t have an ounce of leadership capability, yet he was the director of a prestigious and highly visible department. One of the scales on the CDR Character Assessment (part of the Suite), is Leadership Energy. For selection and succession planning purposes, in order to be considered for any management position, a mid-range to high score on the scale of Leadership Energy is needed. The scale range is 0 to 100 percent. Ned scored 1% on Leadership Energy. He was completely out of his element. He was trying to work against his own grain and had been failing miserably. His Risk Factors were out of control because he was stressed, depressed and agitated most of the time.

During the coaching process, Ned was remarkable. He was tired of the fights and frustration. He was ready for help and was responsive and engaged. In the end, Ned (being the creative guy he was) designed the job he would like to do that he thought really could add more value to the organization, yet could tap into his strengths. Also, it included the type of work and environment he really enjoyed. I helped him shape it up and propose it to senior leadership. Also remarkable, management thought it was a great idea too… did some realignments, budget shifting and made it happen (while keeping his salary whole.)

Story 2

Happy Barry was saddened to learn how he crushed the spirits of his troops. His over-the-top self confidence, along with his uncanny ability to detach into the technical aspects of the work, caused him to disconnect with his people. He had no idea how much they were suffering and that they found his leadership style to be quite aggravating. This was validated by his overly high self ratings on his 360 report.

Interesting, Barry cared about the people he worked with1 and had no intentions to hurt them or cause misery. Since he never admitted mistakes2, he did have a hard time at first grappling with the situation. The data on his CDR Suite confirmed his tendencies to isolate and think of himself as superior, especially intellectually3. We focused on what work he really shined at – the technical design aspects of some of the most complicated projects where he would find himself absorbed for hours on end. Again, we were able to help him rethink and renegotiate his position back to be the individual professional contributor, yet maintain pay level due to the fact that he was truly a rare industry expert. Barry was somewhat saddened by his leadership debacle, however, he was eager to stay with the company because he loved the culture, the work and the people. He went back to being a high level individual contributor and successful team member.

Story 3

Tammy was a tough case. Initially, when all the cards were put on the table, she was highly emotional ranging from tears to defensive rage. Making matters worse she felt stuck. She didn’t want to move (she lived in a beach front home – who could blame her?) She didn’t want to change companies.

After allowing time to absorb the data and once the new reality of her situation sunk in, she started to move forward. Tammy worked through “fitting” in to the evolving organization’s expectations in the here and now, versus yesterday. She worked to mend damaged relationships. She knew she had to back off and work on projects she was assigned. Perhaps most importantly, she began to focus efforts on gaining more life balance and to actually having a life outside of work. This was her new job—to try to smell the roses a bit so that she was not completely investing herself in the business. Her management team was incredibly supportive of her and showed loyalty to her not common in that dog-eat-dog media industry. It is a constant struggle for Tammy because of her need to “control” though she continues to work at it.

 

THE ENDINGS

Other Story Endings…. Not all cases end with the derailing leader staying in the organization. Post intervention, some leaders resign (and some negotiate attractive severance packages) and a few have retired or gone to “contract” worker status. To date, no “involuntary terminations” have occurred after our intervention process because the derailing leader takes charge of the situation. Also, the noble support and flexibility demonstrated by our client organizations has made the difference. Clients acknowledge that the dysfunctional leader problems did not evolve in a vacuum. These organizations had a hand in cultivating the monster. Therefore, slaying the monster with a little magical coaching support goes a long way to dramatically improve performance and morale.

 

P.S. It is really not magic. It just seems like it to clients.