Are you ready to lead your team with the approach of a leader?

Thomas is in his 40s and has been working with full commitment for an international hotel group for 15 years. He is valued in his company for his professional competence and loyalty – nonetheless he has not yet managed to rise above the middle management level.

With our help, in coaching, he first wanted to get clarity for himself on how he could get closer to his career goals and develop from manager to leader. But right now, during the crisis that the corona pandemic is causing, he feels under pressure, overwhelmed and left alone.

On the one hand, Thomas has to implement the radical cuts that the company is forced to take to counter the current financial crisis. On the other hand, he also has to follow up on the appropriate strategy to keep the business operational while reducing the resources by 1/3.

He has become aware that the situation is very stressful for him personally and that his strength and confidence are disappearing, as much as he wishes to be at best for his team and his company. What he has to do is often in conflict with what he feels. This leads to inner tension and frustration, which also manifested physically causing back pain / headaches and insomnia.

He realised that before he could take care of his team, he had to first change how he dealt with himself.  If he lacked drive and determination, how could he be credible towards is superiors and have a positive influence on his own team?

With us as independent, neutral sparring partners, he was able to speak openly, reflect and, above all, feel the connection between body and mind again. Step by step, the correlation between inner posture, physical aspect and behaviour / external perception became clear to him.

Away from his usual work environment, away from numbers, strategy and instructions, towards acknowledging his own needs and expressing his own vision.

Our program was especially designed to work on his resilience, adaptability and attitude / non-verbal communication.

• He has finally taken the time to perceive the tension and disappointment that slumbered in him and managed to release it.
• Through the coaching his focus has become sharper
• He put the challenges into perspective and looked at them from different point of views: This led him to new creative solutions. He was also able to set new goals.

We accompanied him for 4 weeks, with 2 intensive units per week and stood by him with feedback for another 4.

Result:

He now perceives his body differently, he feels stronger, determined and full of energy. His team and superiors also start to involve him in the strategic decision-making process because of his drive and positive, creative approach towards the challenges at hand. Its goals are more specific – they can be named, visualized and tracked. Thomas takes action: his team respects his decisions and pulls in the same direction.

Work patterns and leadership requirements are changing, especially now when the Corona crisis is cornering many companies and teams’ into new realities.

So, our 3 top tips for managers who are currently struggling with frustration and fear at the workplace are:

1. Take a break, take distance; many people have their best ideas when they do something that has nothing to do with work.
2. Be curious and open, broaden your perspective and consider whether you can approach upcoming tasks differently. Take a new perspective by putting on a different hat: How would that manager I so admire do? What if I had more time or resources? What if suddenly I didn’t have any? How could I solve the problem otherwise? What other scenarios can I imagine?
3. Get into action – leadership develops by acting, by growing into new situations and continuously improving yourself and your approach.

With martial arts and HR business partnering expertise, we offer impulses for managers who want to go from mere execution to entrepreneurship. Are you ready to lead your team with the attitude of a leader?