LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR A CEO ENTREPRENEUR

Executive Coaching to Resolve Performance and Turnover Issues in an Energy Sector Start-Up

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Overview

The founder and CEO of an entrepreneurial start-up in the energy sector was facing frequent regulatory and legislative changes.  Despite making the Business Review Weekly’s (BRW) ‘Fast 100’, business results had been affected by variable staff performance and higher than the desired turnover in key roles.  The entrepreneur approached us for a leadership development and executive coaching program to help him improve the people side of his company and increase business performance.

Client Objectives

• To resolve performance and employee turnover issues.

• To determine the most effective way to structure the company and key roles to prepare for the initial public offering (IPO) of the company on the ASX.

Solution

Our psychologist provided executive coaching as part of an ongoing leadership development program to the CEO entrepreneur.  The leadership development focussed on defining his values, role in the business, and management style, as well as the identity and vision of the company as a whole. The executive coaching then helped the entrepreneur to identify discrepancies between his personal vision and goals and those of the company. He was relieved to acknowledge that, longer-term, his skills and interests would ultimately serve the business better if he could plan to replace himself, drive strategic business development and the IPO, then move on to pursue different ventures. This realisation left him feeling freer to take on a more defined and effective CEO role in the short-term..

Our executive coaching and leadership development program facilitated these changes for the CEO through redesigning the organisational structure to meet the immediate needs of the business as well as position it for future growth.  In particular, new General Manager and CFO roles were created and filled to make better use of the CEO’s time and attention in the medium-term. We also tailored a range of standard systems and process to improve staff recruitment, selection, training, and retention.

Outcomes

The results of the leadership development and executive coaching program were:

• an immediate and positive cultural shift for the entrepreneur, who no longer felt ‘trapped’ by his role of CEO and could focus on the big picture.

• clearer vision, values, and identity for the business.

• replacement of unstructured and instinctive people decisions with a clear organisational structure, role definitions for staff and board, and job descriptions that aligned with employee life cycle processes.