Case Study

Tim is a newly promoted team leader at a bank after three years of committed work as a bank teller. Apart from being the captain of his U-12 Rugby League team, Tim has not had any leadership experience before. Lisa is Tim’s direct boss and is therefore focussed on helping him become a great leader.

Tim opens up deBa on his iPhone and immediately he is presented with all of the bank tellers names that work for him.  From his deBa training, Tim knows that he should be communicating regularly with each of his team members, ensuring to focus on behaviour rather than outcomes, asking open-ended questions and showing empathy. Tim also knows that his conversations should be balanced in content and quantity, that is, he should converse with each of his team members equally (not showing favouritism) whilst also ensuring that they get an even balance of coaching, supporting and recognition style conversations . Tim also knows that he should be incorporating individual goals for his team members to help them improve and progress on their careers! All of this is a little overwhelming for Tim to start with.

Understanding that this is Tim’s first leadership gig, Lisa calms him down and suggests that he just starts the process with a few ‘recognition’ conversations with each team member. This will enable him to get around the team and to establish the start of the relationship whilst giving each of the team members a pat on the back. Tim takes this advice on board and makes an effort to chat to each of his team members every second day to get to know them better and also to provide a pat on the back. Tim dutifully records each conversation in deBa and is pleased with how his dashboard is starting to look.

After a couple of weeks, Tim is becoming adept and comfortable with conversing with his team members regularly. Lisa suggests that it is now time to start to build up some focus on individual and team improvements by setting some goals with each team member. Lisa gives Tim her advice on how she would go about this and together they come up with a plan on how Tim will develop goals for each individual and define what they are and how he can coach them. Each of these goals are recorded into deBa for each person, providing Tim with a quick recall of each of the goals that the individuals are trying to achieve.

Over the ensuing months, Tim continues his regular conversations with his team members, asking open-ended questions and providing coaching and mentoring where appropriate. On occasion, Lisa will review Tim’s dashboard to identify if any red flags are appearing in his leadership journey which may be identified by a reduction of conversations with a particular individual or a significant change in the type of conversation that is occurring. When Lisa identifies these red flags, she will immediately raise the concern in one of her regular conversations with Tim and together, that may determine if there actually is a problem that requires resolving or if indeed the leadership has been appropriate.

Lisa’s regular and transparent oversight of Tim’s leadership via his communications with his team members ensures that Tim is getting real time, practical leadership coaching which fast tracks his leadership development. Additionally, Lisa’s coaching of Tim is being supported by Chris, Lisa’s leader. The interconnectedness between leaders ensures a consistent approach throughout the organisation as well as a maintained focus on company values and continuous improvement.