Case study 2
Coaching – change definition and delivery
Issue
The Private Client Director of a financial services distributor was experiencing increasing workloads within his sales support and new business administration function. At the same time, staff efficiency and morale were decreasing, all against a background of tight budgets and narrow margins.
The nature of this challenge was such that business-as-usual refinement of the existing operational model was unlikely to deliver the scale of improvement needed. The client had already identified the outline of a solution involving greater segmentation of the tasks undertaken by the administration staff, and the consequent revision of roles and re-alignment of relationships with sales consultants.
The need for a full definition of the proposed change and careful analysis of options, and the potentially sensitive nature of the change, all pointed to the requirement to establish a formal project.
The two regional Operations Managers were proficient and capable, but had no experience of running, let alone initiating, a major project. However the Director was reluctant to ask his Operations Managers to relinquish responsibility for the initiative, and saw the opportunity to develop two key members of his team.
He also recognised that the challenge of running the project alongside the day-job would be significant. Therefore the input and support required by the Operations Managers, while being focussed on their development, also needed positively to encourage progress.
Approach
One of our directors, Jon Cook, proposed an approach that was a blend of coaching and facilitation of the project process.
The initial interventions were to
- agree a coaching contract with the Operations Managers
- run tutorial sessions covering the basics of projects and project management
- facilitate workshops to define the vision and the terms of reference for the project
Once the project was established Jon’s further involvement included
- periodic coaching and tutorial sessions, built around the issues and challenges of the moment, introducing further project management techniques as needed
- facilitation of working sessions with the Operations Managers, including for example
- production of project plans
- analysis of options for resolving issues
- identification of risks and the actions required to mitigate them
- review and quality assurance of project outputs at each stage
- regular updates with the project sponsor, identifying issues requiring his attention
When requested, where timescales were tight or some hands-on expertise was required, Jon also produced some of the project outputs, using the opportunity to act as a role model and demonstrate best practice.
Results
The project succeeded in creating more effective job roles with immediate benefits to employee morale, and established a solid platform for efficiency and quality improvements.
Just as importantly, the assignment achieved its objective of building the skills of the Operations Managers. Jon provided an understanding of, and confidence in, managing change – a skill which is increasingly crucial for every manager.
Not only did he help to build technical project management skills, he also strengthened the client’s team through the transfer of knowledge and experience about what it feels like to run a project, and what it takes to drive it to a successful delivery.