✨Once upon a time…
in a beautiful coaching session… I was horrified!
Firing people is just the simplest way
I was listening to a leader saying:
“In my industry, the machinery requires so huge investments that personal costs are marginal. So, with low performers, I used to correct them, punish even yell, now I simply fire them and find new people. But it is draining to keep searching and training people, so many have left.”
As a leadership Coach, my duty was to stop this disastrous talent bleeding.
And it needed to start with adjusting the leadership style so at least we could retain the high performing people and then uplift the other ones to create thriving teams.
With frozen recruitment, change needs to happen
Though personal costs are supposedly marginal in this industry, in times of crisis, we discern these trends:
– stop investments
– drastic cut-down in manpower
Unemployment figures all over the world speak by themselves.
With frozen recruitment, leaders need to make the most with the people they have available, uplifting each of them for all to perform together well within the given constraints.
The only choice becomes to enhance leadership skills.
Is it at all possible to shape a different culture?
The C-suite leader I was coaching spent all her career in the same industry, surrounded by leaders behaving the same way. Hence, when I asked about alternative ways to lead people out of low performance, she genuinely had not much to share.
Yet, leaving a cemetery as a leadership legacy is not a fatality.
Some brilliant leaders manage to guide their teams to thrive, to enjoy working together and performing well despite the challenges.
It was hard for this C-suite leader to believe it possible at all!
Hence, I shared how I had witnessed amazing leaders’ transformations in coaching, sharpening one leadership skill at a time until they turn into role models themselves.
Sometimes, all we need to start is…
Hearing from others’ success gave hope to the C-suite leader who trusted me to embark on her own coaching journey with an amazing courage and humility.
In a year time, she completely switched her relationship with her team members and the whole team dynamics. People were finally taking initiatives, reaching targets, supporting and holding each other accountable. Collaboration had become the keyword and the C-suite leader was blossoming.
Shee concluded our coaching with:
“If only I had known all that 15 year ago… I’d have so many talents available now!”
Where to find your own inspiring role models?
I’ve compiled 24+ coaching stories of inspiring role models in the book ‘Leading with HUMANITY’ for all leaders eager to confidently lead thriving teams despite challenges and beyond cultures.
Each leader brings a story depicting a leadership trait that any leader can implement to make a difference for their teams and their own career. And beyond deriving inspiration from these amazing leaders, you learn techniques to spot these traits in other leaders too, so you have an endless flow of inspiring leaders to role model.
Get the book Leading with HUMANITY here!
About the Author
Marianne Dupuis
Coached 900+ global leaders to thrive with multicultural teams.
Her secret recipe: easy connection with leaders, joy in cultural diversity, trust in humanity and a slice of irreverence.
“Pragmatic and direct, simple and flexible, committed and caring” they say!
Give her a call, who knows? You may even succeed too 😉
