Post his self-rating and with his permission, I administered the same questionnaire to the same participants from his 3600 survey. The results were as follows:
The data moved Neel since it reflected the gaps between self and others’ perceptions regarding his style within the organization’s cultural dimensions. He asked for time to introspect about the ratings as well as some of the qualitative comments. Neel dialed my phone after two weeks and set up our meeting in his office on a Friday afternoon.
He wanted direction on how to improve himself as against these gaps in perceptions and he did admit that he was unaware of the impact his leadership style and behaviour especially on his immediate team. Neel also emphasized several times that afternoon that since he held a very critical portfolio, it had become even more vital now more than ever for him to make a few amends in himself.
Neel wanted to focus on only 2 dimensions (Fun at Work & Entrepreneurship) at first. He wanted to make improvements in these 2 dimensions since he believed that they were critical to him. Some of the coaching questions that I used with Neel were:
- How do you define ‘Fun at Work?’
- If you were to undo some of the work processes currently what would they be? What would be the likely impact of undoing these processes on you and on the output of the team?
- What can you do to drive a higher level of risk taking & entrepreneurship within your team?
- How will you acknowledge and reward new ideas, designs or independent initiatives taken by your team?
- How will you communicate your changed outlook to your team? What actions will you take to support your words?
- What kind of work environment will you build and sustain to foster innovation while having fun at work?
Neel being very systemic and objective in personality, was very comfortable when he was able to measure his progress. He requested me to conduct another survey after completing 10 sessions of coaching and the results were as follows:
There was a shift in the ratings and Neel was happy that his efforts to make changes had positive impact on both himself and his team. In fact Ajay was quick to notice the change and acknowledge Neel in a Management meetings readily reinforcing Neel’s self-esteem and confidence. In addition the other members of the management team also made positive remarks about some of the changes made by Neel and his team members that had impacted their teams as well. Overall Ajay seemed calmer at the state of things and believed now that he could move forward with the renewed energy. Neel said that he was more empowered now than he was before and that he had started enjoying his work even more.
So what really did Neel do?