HBR Guide to Coaching Employees (HBR Guide Series)

Chapter 3

Earn Your Employees’ Trust

by Jim Dougherty

When I took over as CEO of Intralinks, a company that provides secure Web-based electronic deal rooms, the company was hemorrhaging so much cash that its survival was at stake. The service was going down three times per week; we were in violation of the contract with our largest client; our chief administrative officer had just been demoted, and so on.

So what did I do on my first day? I spent more than four hours listening to client support calls at the call center. I shared headsets with many of the team, moving from desk to desk to speak to the reps. To say they were surprised is an understatement: Many CEOs never visit the call center, and virtually none do it on their first afternoon ...