Leadership & Performance

David, a finance leader at a multinational company, reached out mid-crisis. Five colleagues, none of whom reported to him, all kept skipping meetings critical to a project tied to his own performance rating. His manager's response: that's on you. David was furious, then second-guessing himself.

The real work started with a question: what else might explain five people skipping meetings, besides indifference? Maybe only one of the five was actually needed. Maybe none of them understood how the meeting benefited their own work. From there, we traced David's whole career: the military, where following orders replaced any need for influence, a large organization under one roof where walking down the hall solved most everything, a global, remote, matrixed company where neither approach worked anymore. His real takeaway: no matter how sharp your influence skills get, you start from zero credibility every time you need buy-in from someone new who hasn't already bought in.

He began studying his own disappointments by considering other causes. David started having conversations in advance of these meetings to find common motivations and link his intentions to the same outcomes others were after. And he began looking for ways to build influence by earning higher degrees of trust.

As a result, David began to experience far less stress on the job while enhancing his credibility.

Hector, a senior manager in an industrial company, had watched leadership shift above him repeatedly, and each time, he carried the same assumption into the next relationship: he had to earn credibility all over again, from nothing, no matter what he'd already proven. Nearing retirement, he wanted one more real climb, enough to launch a consulting practice on solid ground when he stepped away.

The work started with questioning that assumption. What did Hector's track record actually say to a new boss who hadn't lived through it? What credibility was already there, waiting to be leveraged for results instead of rebuilt?

We worked on building real influence with his new boss, sharpening his credibility as a leader, and experimenting, carefully, with putting his expertise in front of people outside the company, starting with LinkedIn.

Priya, a VP at an international pharmaceutical company, was burned out after years of travel, relocations, and a genuinely cutthroat environment. She wanted less responsibility, and she needed language to ask for that while not sabotaging her future should the ask be perceived poorly.

Our work centered on defining what leadership meant to her outside of scope and title. From there, we built a strategy that she could use when she was ready to share with her leadership about what she wanted for her future, while addressing the assumed perceptions she was afraid  her honesty would create.

Priya began exploring what leadership would look like in the community, with the intent to transition from corporate life to making a difference in the non-profit space when the timing makes more sense. With a solid plan for her future, she was able to better manage being in the present.

Angel, a programs director in higher education, reached out to me for help with feedback from her leadership: build more credibility and influence. Neither were specifically defined, which was part of the challenge. Underneath that assignment sat two assumptions she'd never questioned. She believed she wasn't the kind of visibly enthusiastic leader others wanted to see, especially now, with a political environment that had worn down motivation she once had. And she believed she lacked the creativity needed to deliver the more innovative deliverables she was being asked to produce.

Neither of her assumptions turned out to be true. The work focused on tapping into what she genuinely found fun, and building work product from that authentic place, rather than manufacturing an enthusiasm that wasn't hers or forcing creativity she didn't believe she had. What emerged connected with the population her department served precisely because it wasn't performed.