Case Study: Equipping New Leaders with the Tools to Lead

Supporting the transition from Individual Contributors to Team Leaders in a fast-growing Event Services company.

Training and coaching a cohort of newly-promoted Team Leads in the U.S. branches of a multinational organization.

“I feel more confident in approaching difficult or confrontational situations. I’m also feeling stronger in my confidence as a leader having new tools, but also having a better connection to my leadership peer group.”

—Program Participant

The Challenge

A European-based organization expanding into the U.S. had recently promoted a group of 8 new Team Leads. Transition support for these rising leaders was desired to ensure that they had the skills and attitudes to support their rapidly-expanding branches of the organization.

Key areas for growth included:

Confidence and awareness of their strengths as leaders
Skills for holding difficult conversations
Communication and collaboration among the Team Leads
Decision-making and prioritization skills

What We Did

In partnership with my colleagues, Annemarie Estess at 20Rock and Katy Craig at Pavo, we shaped a customized 6-month program with 2 offsite workshops and 1:1 coaching for the Team Leads.

Core aspects of the program curriculum included:

Increasing awareness of their style + impact as leaders
Adapting their leadership roles to the situation
Navigating difficult conversations with intention
Practicing coaching skills with peers and direct reports
Managing stress and enhancing self-care

The Impact

Internal self-assessments and program evaluation metrics were collected before, midway, and after the program.

86% of the Team Leads reported the greatest improvements from the program in these areas:

Confidence in their leadership
Ability to hold challenging conversations
Strategising
Stress management
Trust and collaboration with peers
Managing their team resources

100% of participants strongly agreed that they would recommend the program to their friends or colleagues.

“Without their help, I don’t believe we could or would have been able to open up to each other as a team as well as we did. This program allowed us to truly focus on our value and development as leaders […] without being distracted or pulled away by our daily responsibilities and external work related influences. I feel I have learned skills I can apply to both my work and personal relationships and development.”

—Program Participant