As his coach I used the D.I.C.E. Coaching Model that I had developed to work with Neel.
During the DISCOVER stage Neel got insights into Self Vs Others perceptions with regard to key cultural dimensions in the organization. This enable him to accept the reality without any justification or rationalization.
We worked together using the Appreciative Inquiry framework to discover the positives of Neel’s style and his achievements as a leader. This enabled Neel to draw out an action plan on areas that he felt he could reinforce and perform even better. He accepted some of his fallibilities for what they were and consciously stayed away from allowing himself to get overwhelmed or affected by them especially in the light of his strengths.
The third phase of challenging self was very exciting as Neel set his goals towards making changes. Two key actions that I distinctly remember Neel taking were:
- Delegating the task of leading the weekly team meetings to his team members on a rotation basis
- Setting up a cross functional jury to review new ideas and suggestions that were presented by his team & seek for feedback from them
Both these actions, were pivotal since it allowed Neel to ‘let go’ and step back. The team felt engaged and empowered. The involvement of the cross functional jury brought down some of the silos in working with his peers and they responded with a renewed vibrancy to ‘make things happen’ rather than oppose Neel just because they disliked him.
Over the last 20 months, that I have been coaching Neel, I have witnessed both major and minor shifts in him. He is an empowered and an engaged individual now but he still does have his occasional bad days which he does manage to snap out of rather quickly …..Just being human I guess.