When Peter D was nominated as a Director, the HR department offered him coaching. As his work sessions with the BPI consultant went on, Peter D measured himself up to his new responsibilities. Here's the story&

Context
Handling Complexity
The 450 senior executives of this large international transport company were faced with extremely complex economic, technical and social issues. To encourage their skills development, the HR department established an executive coaching agreement with BPI - LEROY. Coaching for Peter D was prepared in the context of this agreement.

Task
Coached, Coach, Coaching
At 34, Peter D already had a rich, high-potential history with the company under his belt. He had successfully led a huge reorganisation project for the an entity of 1200 employees which he was then to head. The position was particularly exposed and delicate. Peter D's coach had solid professional experience gained through different positions of responsibility. In ten years, he had coached almost a hundred managers. The meeting organised by the HR department enabled the main points of the coaching to be clarified - the challenge for the company and for Peter D was to accelerate the transition from responsibility for the project to responsibility for the entity. This, for Peter D, meant becoming "boss" to his former colleagues and personal development of authority through charisma and not just competency.

Stepping Back to get the Big Picture
Meetings took place at BPI's offices twice or three times a month. At each meeting, the manager quickly summarised his preoccupations and the coach separated a particular theme to cover in detail. Through prior definition of the working methods and the expected results, they established a session contract which the coach guaranteed. Their exchanges thus became experimental - together, they explored all the aspects of the theme in order to clarify vague areas and to test possible solutions. During one session, Peter D realised that he could improve on his public speaking - he often prepared presentations in too strict and rigid a fashion. Using a filmed simulation, he experimented with his coach to test the confidence he could have in his memory and his intellect. Without any specific preparation, he easily sequenced his ideas on a current topic. Using notes, his approach was too analytical. Preparation time could therefore be reinvested and used to clarify communication objectives.

Perspectives
Personal and Flexible Management Methods
At the stopover point organised half-way through the coaching, the Managing Director highlighted the concrete results of the approach. Each session breathed success into Peter D's progression. At the end of the scheduled six months of coaching, he had built a personal management style that he was also able to adapt to his environment. The coach played the role of accelerator at a key point in Peter D's career.