No One is Perfect! – Part 3

One leader’s story of how accepting he is not perfect led to stronger working relationships

<This story is about one of ACG’s coaching clients, the name of the leader as well as other information that may identify the leader or the organization has been changed. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the story.>

Jack’s Action Plan

Jack presented his boss with his action plan.  First, he would schedule the following get-togethers/meetings:

• Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with each direct report
• Schedule monthly meetings with each direct report and their team
• Schedule quarterly meetings with the entire department

He also was going to reach out informally to get together with peers – either inviting peers to lunch or meeting them for coffee. Additionally, he planned to ask each peer to attend a quarterly meeting to share about happenings in their department and to learn more about what was going on in his own department.

Jack was going to work with a coach to build his emotional intelligence overall. This would address his tendency to manage poorly and lash out at others when under stress or pressure as well as his tendency to push blame to others when a problem arose. While Jack also felt that he did not have favorites in the group, he did recognize that the perception of his team was that he did have favorites and that perception needed to be changed.

Jack also had a number of other initiatives that were going to take a bit longer to implement, including:

• Developing and implementing a strategy to enable for increased autonomy among his direct reports (in particular as it relates to decision making, goal setting and operational strategic plans.)
• Work with peers to determine cross-functional areas of improvement where Jack’s group and peers’ groups could collaborate.

Jack’s boss accepted his plan and together they prioritized the actions as follows:

• Schedule all meetings (one-on-ones, team meetings, quarterly meetings) within one week for the entire year.
• Reach out to each peer within two weeks to schedule informal get-togethers – either morning coffee or lunch (his boss allocated him a budget of $200 for him to treat peers to coffee/lunch.)
• Search for an external coach. His boss allocated him a budget for coaching services for an initial six month period. It was decided that Jack would work directly with his coach to determine training and other avenues for professional development and growth.
• Develop a draft strategy and action plan of how to reorganize his group to enable for increased autonomy (due within two months.)
• Within two months, schedule a planning session with all peers to strategize how to evaluate areas for cross-functional improvement. His boss asked Jack to take the lead on this initiative and that he would reach out to his peers’ bosses to give them a “heads up.”

Jack and his boss agreed on the plan and that he would report on progress on a monthly basis during one-on-one meetings.

Part 4 will focus on: 6 Months Later – Jack’s Progress and Next Steps