Coach Me! Your Personal Board of Directors

31 Coaching the Team Leader

Peter Hawkins

Peter Hawkins has been coaching senior executives and their leadership teams for over 40 years across many sectors and in many different countries. He has been a global pioneer in Systemic Team Coaching. He is Emeritus Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School and Chairman of Renewal Associates, United Kingdom.

When I first met Phillipe, he had just become CEO of a financial services firm that was growing fast. It was his first CEO role having previously been a COO elsewhere. Phillipe was a young very bright CEO who when I first met him was looking exhausted and haggard. Frustration and impatience poured out of him.

“So many of my direct reports just are not stepping up….I can’t rely on them….I have to rewrite their reports before they go to the Board, ….they keep telling me what is wrong with their colleagues and blaming each other,” he complained.

I listened deeply and could feel in my body both the frustration and the anxiety.

“How much longer can you last going on like this?” I asked.

“I will either be exhausted or crack before the end of the year unless something shifts.” He replied, “Will you sort this team out for me – because I have heard that you are good at sorting teams out.”

“I am certainly very open to supporting you and working with you and the team to discover the gap between where you are today and where you need to be in a year’s time and then find out whether I can help you on that journey. I can’t sort THEM ...