Challenge
A multinational bank was receiving persistent complaints about a senior executive within their U.S. operations. Fellow Executives and managers found it difficult to work with him, and key partner organizations refused to work with the bank if he was involved. The bank had tried numerous interventions aimed at correcting the problem, including directives to the executive from the CEO, without sustained results.
Consensus Solution
Consensus began the engagement by meeting with the CEO and with other members of the executive team to define specific objectives for our involvement. We then met with the CEO and the senior executive in question, and facilitated a dialogue between them to ensure that there was mutual understanding and buy-in to the defined objectives (which were added to and refined through this process). The engagement continued with a due-diligence phase in which we gathered data from bank executives and managers, as well as from third parties that had dealings with the subject executive. We compiled, analyzed, and codified the data such that identities were protected; we presented the findings to the CEO and to subject executive both individually and collectively, and helped them process the feedback, both verbal and emotional. The engagement proceeded with a series of meetings between Consensus and the subject executive in which we offered alternative means of confronting specific contexts and challenges in the workplace (Consensus executive coaching). Our professional helped evoke paradigmatic shifts in the executive that opened him up to alternative behaviors. We also introduced conceptual frameworks for communication and collaboration, and reinforced them through role-playing simulations. A second round of feedback was gathered from the original sources which identified where further improvement was needed. The engagement continued with individual meetings, and concluded upon overwhelmingly positive feedback from colleagues and business partners.
Results
- The client avoided the need to take more extreme action, which in turn could have had adverse results to its operations and bottom line (the subject executive runs a key business practice.
- The client has reestablished relationships with key business partners.
- The client reports an improved work environment.
- The client reports increased cooperation on matters involving the subject executive.
