Stepping into the C suite

Thought I might share an anonymised copy of a follow-up email I sent to someone I was coaching?a few years ago because I think the conversation we had illustrates some of what the transition often involves for talented people.

I often ask people I'm coaching to summarize our conversation, their take-aways, and actions, but sometimes I think my own summary might also be useful to them. It depends.

In this instance they’d recently been promoted to the Executive Team, and I felt I could use it to add some additional follow-up questions and points for further reflection. I was told it was helpful, so I'm sharing it primarily for anyone who is seeking to empower their team and is finding it challenging, or who is aiming / preparing for the C suite.

"Good to speak with you yesterday. Here’s a quick summary of what I heard, and some reflections –"

You’re feeling increasingly positive about the way you’re adapting to your new role. You feel that you’ve created a good team, especially in terms of their technical / professional capabilities and capacities.

One area you’re aware of is that your team tend to come to you for decisions that you believe they could make themselves, and you want to empower them to do more on their own initiative so that you can step away appropriately from the operational aspects of your role and do more in terms of the strategic thinking, prioritising, and planning. You feel you could (should, perhaps?) be more forward-looking to help the business prepare for the future.

We discussed some important questions that might indicate what’s at play around this, e.g.:

Do your team members feel motivated to take these decisions? What do they want from their jobs and their time at work? What are the benefits to them of taking on this additional responsibility? Where do these benefits and risks fit in their list of needs, wants, and aversions at work? They’re not you, and they’re individuals, so it likely varies.

Do they believe they have permission to take these decisions? (which types of decision are they uncomfortable with, from a long list of different types of decision, and why?) What evidence do they have to support their beliefs?

What might the consequences be if they overstep and take a decision you believe is only yours to take? Do they believe they know where that line is? Do they know what the consequences of overstepping might be?

Do they feel it’s safe to make mistakes within those new, “empowering” guidelines? What are the consequences for them, their colleagues, their families, even? What experiences have they had, or witnessed? You know that you’re valuable to the business; how valuable do they feel? How dispensable?

To what extent might you unknowingly be contributing to your team members’ seeming preference for you to take responsibility for decisions? If this is happening, why is it happening?

• Are you unconsciously dipping back into your comfort zone to avoid new, nebulous “strategic” concerns (with their long-off horizons and rewards), choosing to tackle instead the familiar, practical problems that deliver a more immediate dopamine hit of taking action + satisfaction?
• Given that the status and power provided by a successful career is one aspect of what makes it desirable for many, does using that power and status fuel something at an unconscious level for you? Does it confirm for you that you’re achieving something, or are smarter or more powerful than others? Hierarchy and power are an incredibly prevalent aspect of our human condition, and these desires exist within the vast majority of us to some extent or other. It would be unusual if, having worked so hard to create a successful career, you were completely immune to the rewards it offers in terms of feeding our egos. What would the consequences be?
• Is it that in an incredibly busy life at work and home it’s just simpler, easier, and quicker to tell people what to do? If so, perhaps fully calculating the long-term costs might help prioritise your investing in coaching your people to be empowered people?

Who else needs to be on board with your intention? How might you ensure XXX (for example, but there will be other stakeholders) is fully on board with the consequences of the XXXXXX team undergoing this cultural transformation?

Who might be able to act as a sounding board or mentor around this subject? Is there an opportunity to get a two-for-one by building your network in YYYYY (or beyond)? Who in your network has a reputation for creating and empowering high-performing teams?

We also talked for a bit about how you might approach this challenge. We discussed you sharing your vision of the future with them – explaining how much you value them and see them as integral to that journey, and also -?

• What the business will look like as it pursues its strategy (you might even share a table showing which decisions you expect the team members to start picking up, by when, and ask for input on what they’ll need from you to be able to do that)
• What the journey (probably? certainly? ) means for the team, its priorities, their roles, and the way they will be expected to work (a rotating chair, for example? Buddying up to discuss and generate options with pros, cons and risks set out for you (or actually make some decisions as a pair/group without you)?
• What they would like this to mean for them, and how (whether?) their needs and wants can be met, and their aversions minimised. What they might find difficult but, with help, can perhaps embrace and excel at. What plan B looks like for them.

We didn’t mention this but how HR might be able to help this organisational culture change

Happy to chat more, obviously, by email or conversation.?

Martin