Paying attention to the little clues will help you get ahead of situations better.
Customer Journey Series: Jim
This article is part of a customer journey series following “Jim,” a VP of Research and Development in a multi-national pharma company navigating shifting organizational demands, rapid leadership changes, and pressure to adapt and keep his team functioning.
His journey explores leadership presence, empathy, decision making, managing low performers, and helping talented employees grow.
Each post explores a real coaching conversation or leadership challenge from that journey.
This is the first post in Jim’s series.
Jim impressed me from our very first meeting. He was smart, focused, and spoke at a fast clip that matched the pace of change at the Fortune 500 pharma company where he worked. It was a good fit for him.
Jim, a VP of Research and Development, was very clear about his coaching goals.
“My goal is better leadership presence. I’ve been here for five years and I’ve just been promoted. I used to have a team of five and now manage a team of 20. We have constant change and pressure from above. I need better leadership presence to keep them performing highly while shielding them from the chaos and constant changes that come down from corporate.”
Yet, over the course of the months we worked together, Jim came to see that effective leadership is not all about presence. It’s more about the fundamentals of dealing with human beings, giving people what they need to succeed, tuning into their state of mind, understanding their problems, and making decisions and communications more personalized.
Together those fundamentals often result in a leadership style that exudes a polished executive presence.
Moving From Logic to Empathy
When I started with Jim, he admitted that emotional intelligence wasn’t a strength. “I’m a scientist, so I’m very logical. Empathy is my weak spot.”
After our first session, I asked him to keep a journal for 2 weeks noting emotional shifts. What is happening when you feel your emotions go from negative to positive or the other way around? Try to articulate what you are feeling and what made your feelings shift.
Jim approached this exercise like a scientist. He kept a small journal with him for two weeks and noted every time he felt his emotions shift.
“The first thing I noticed was that I was getting annoyed with one of my direct reports, Abishek. It was just little things, but it was a clear pattern that built up. I looked back at the journal and noticed a pattern. With an external partner we have on one project, he always put me and my boss on email communications.
Jim explained that it was inappropriate to cc his boss. At a company of this size, it was important to limit emails to the people impacted. Otherwise, everyone’s email boxes would be unmanageable.
He had a talk with Abishek and pointed out the pattern. He noted that Abishek didn’t do that with other projects.
Abishek replied that Jim’s boss had a vested interest in the project and had asked about it.
“I let Abishek know that he was right, but still, if everyone emailed Charlie with every detail about the things he’s interested in, what would happen to his inbox?”
Abishek noted it would blow up. Jim explained that it’s better to include Charlie only when we have resolutions or results. He and Abishek both agreed that Jim would give Abishek the opportunity to email Charlie when they had results.
Abishek agreed and understood.
Jim was pleased that the problem was resolved in one conversation.
“I realized that when I thought about it from the other person’s perspective, it made sense. So, I helped him see it from Charlie’s perspective. Then we agreed and aligned on how to include Charlie when there was real news.
“What helped was taking time to figure out why I was annoyed. I was able to take care of the annoyance when it was a small thing, and before Charlie got annoyed. I think paying attention to those little clues will help me get ahead of situations better.”
This would be a theme that we would come back to throughout his time coaching. Jim paid more attention to little clues and spent more time thinking about things from the other person’s point of view.
In the posts that follow, you can read how Jim used this insight to:
- Manage up better
- Manage a low performer better
- And manage a second low performer better
- Develop leadership values
- And encourage growth in a direct report.
Jim’s Leadership Values
One of the first things I ask coaching clients to do is define their leadership values. Leadership values become a compass during difficult decisions and help leaders consistently show up the way they want to be remembered.
Here are Jim’s leadership values:
- Slow down and be patient, take a breath
- Be self-aware of my own emotions, be aware of my impact on others
- Listen first, empathize, have an open mind
- Collaborate, solve problems together, be curious
- Use a coaching approach to management: use the GOOD model of conversation
Continue the Journey
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