A Coaching Case Study By Ghadeer Alsulami, Transformational Coach, SAUDI ARABIA
Undermining Authority: How to Deal with Difficult Employees
Case Study – The Beginning
As an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioner, I support clients with workplace disputes by providing them options on how they can deal with their concerns. However, after several repeat clients, I decided that my work may have more significance if I taught my clients “how to fish rather than giving them a fish”. And so, I embarked on a journey to learn to coach and put it into practice in my ADR work.
Who Are the Main Players in This Case Study?
Two key players are Mary Stewart, Team Leader, and John Smith, Director.
What Is the Core Problem or Challenge You Applied Your Coaching Skills Too?
Mary is concerned that John is planning to fire her for alleged incompetency as he openly expresses his view that he does not consider Mary qualified for her position. This view has been reinforced by her supervisees’ complaints to him that they cannot work under her. Mary is feeling frustrated that John is undermining her authority as a supervisor by entertaining the complaints from her supervisees.
Why Is It a Problem?
The situation is problematic because Mary has lost confidence in her team and is unable to discharge her responsibilities as team leader and supervisor. The team has become dysfunctional and is unable to deliver on its objectives and produce the planned results.
How Long Has It Been a Problem?
The situation has been ongoing for fifteen months.
What Is the Worst Thing About This Problem?
The worst part about the problem is that Mary feels responsible for the situation. She believes that she deserves John’s derogatory comments and attitude. She also feels guilty that she pushed her supervisees to behave the way they are behaving towards her.
Why Has No One Been Able to Solve It So Far?
Mary has not reached out for support, and no one seems aware of the bad work relationship with John.
What Specific Coaching Skills or Approach Did You Use in This Case?
I see many similarities between the GROW model (goals, reality, options, and will) approach and that which as an ADR practitioner I use (principles of engagement, issue, options, way forward) and this informed my choice of the approach.
Explain Your Process in Detail
Mary looked very distressed when she came for the first session, so I started with small talk to allow her time to enter the session when she was ready. I explained the principles framing the conversation emphasizing confidentiality to reassure Mary that she was in a safe space, and she could speak her mind. I then invited Mary to tell me about her reason for coming to see me. After a recap of the issues, I discussed some options with Mary on how she could resolve the situation. She decided on a facilitated conversation that I conducted for her and John. As an outcome, they agreed to have a weekly check-in to discuss any issues.
A few weeks later Mary asked to see me as it seemed John was still intent on firing her. It would seem that the mediated conversation had only been a smokescreen to make John look good and collaborative. In the ensuing session, Mary opened up that she dreaded going to the office because of the renewed situation with John. I did some probing as I wanted to better understand what Mary meant by dread, how she felt, and how it was affecting her. Recalling the power tools, I felt it may be worthwhile to explore shifting perspectives with Mary to help her move from her negativeness to a more positive mindset. Using visualization, Mary’s perspective shifted from the significance of dreading the office to looking forward to going to work. Next, we talked about what Mary needed to do to make the visualization a reality. She decided that she would start each morning with meditation to help calm her spirit and focus on the positive.
What Were the Results of Your Process? Was Your Coaching/Program Effective?
Mary continues to do meditation therefore I would assume that the coaching helped lift her out of self-blame. She has recently decided that she would resign from the job as she still harbors some misgivings about the team, and she does not want to associate with John’s negative energy.
If You Could Approach This Problem Again, What Would You Do Differently?
I would have used a coaching approach to empower Mary to manage herself and craft her options on how to deal with John and her team.
What Are the Things You Learned From This Experience?
- There are many coaching models which can be used to enrich my ADR practice with my clients which would empower them with life skills to deal with issues within their reality.
- Coaching is a continuum, and the coach needs to readjust their approach to match the client and the situation when they change.
Case Study – The Next Level
Who Are the Main Players in This Case Study
There is only one player, Martha, who approached me because she was concerned that there was no duty-of-care at her duty station which was jeopardizing personnel safety and putting them at risk of getting infected with COVID-19.
Why Is It a Problem?
While getting infected with COVID-19 is a major concern for all personnel, the bigger problem is that the country has poor health infrastructure with only 0.1 ICU beds/100,000 people and any person who gets seriously ill from COVID-19 would need to be airlifted to a neighboring country if they could afford the cost.
How Long Has It Been a Problem?
It has been 12 months since the first case of infection was detected in the country however the last three months have seen the emergence of new variants which have contributed to a surge in cases.
What Is the Worst Thing About This Problem?
Staff had sought discussions with the Head of the Office to express their concerns about the duty of care, but she kept excusing herself on the pretext of last-minute urgent requests from the Head Office.
Why Has No One Been Able to Solve It So Far?
Martha does not know whom to contact.
What Specific Coaching Skills or Approach Did You Use in This Case?
I again used the GROW model process (goals, reality, options, and will) which resonates with the approach I use in my sessions (principles of engagement, issue, options, way forward).
Explain Your Process in Detail
To initiate the session, I am required to share with the client the principles that espouse my work so I explained this putting emphasis on confidentiality to reassure Mary that she was in a safe space, and she could speak freely.
I then invited Martha to talk about the purpose of her visit and what she wanted as an outcome of the session. Martha was concerned about the absence of duty of care procedures for the Office. There had been one meeting with management, but the meeting only provided general information about the pandemic with nothing specific to the immediate situation of the staff.
During Martha’s recount of the situation, I jotted down what I considered as key issues which I shared with her to check if they were indeed her major concerns and if there were any additional issues that I may have missed. Generally, the purpose of identifying these issues is to facilitate a deeper exploration of each issue to be able to generate possible solutions. However, as we progressed in the session, I observed a shift in Martha’s narrative from what the shortcomings of management were to how management had supposedly mishandled one case of infection. When I shared this observation with Martha, she acknowledged my observation and confirmed that this was the bigger issue for her because it had a direct bearing on her situation. Martha had an underlying condition that had been listed as a major risk factor for serious illness.
This new information brought a new perspective to the reason why Martha had come to see me. While I consider myself experienced and have worked with numerous clients to help them resolve their issues, this was a first-time experience. I felt out of my depth and intimidated by the unknowns around Martha’s medical condition. I quickly decided that this was the ideal situation to apply my new learning from coaching to help the client find their solution as the true master of their reality. The thought was simpler than putting it into practice as it was contrary to years of practice. The little advice monster in my head was rearing to go. It took a lot of willpower to contain the little monster and to do it I took a minute to center my thoughts on what I was trying to do which was to teach Martha how to fish not give her a fish. I clamped my teeth together to remind myself to not open my mouth and instead listen. Listen and let the client explore their thoughts about what is a realistic way forward in the space they are occupying. With a little encouragement, Martha came up with three courses of action which were (i) to contact the Head Office to inform about the absence of duty of care situation; (ii) continue to lobby for a meeting with the head of the office and prepare her plan on how to cope with the situation. After discussing and ruling out the first two which Martha agreed she had no control over, she chose to prepare her response plan should she get infected. I checked in with Martha a week later and she had her plan.
What Were the Results of Your Process? Was Your Coaching/Program Effective?
I got feedback from Martha several weeks later that she had implemented her plan as she had contracted Covid. Helping Martha come to the root of her concern and the realization that she was not helpless and could assume responsibility for her wellbeing given the situation was an important step in my journey.
If You Could Approach This Problem Again, What Would You Do Differently?
This was the first time I applied the principles of coaching to a case. I need to shift to let the client generate their options and only share my options if the situation requires that. That way the client learns to take responsibility for resolving their concerns.
What Are the Things You Learned From This Experience?
- A client’s issue can evolve into another issue during the coaching session.
- Sometimes a client is not aware of the real issue and therefore using a non-directive approach with the right questions is an important skill for a coach.
- It is more meaningful to help the person understand themselves as it empowers them to solve their issues rather than help them solve their concerns.