Case Studies

• Client's cross-functional copy group was charged with approving direct-to-consumer advertisements. In copy sessions, there was role confusion, lack of focus and unnecessary rewriting. Socol Associates facilitated two half-day problem-solving meetings. The group became a team and was able to understand their own and each others roles. Subsequent meetings were collaborative and productive, and the team approved many successful advertisements more efficiently.
  
  
• Socol Associates coached a newly-promoted executive with excellent tactical skills who lacked big-picture skills to assume the role of vice president/executive team member position. He became a creative member of the team, and introduced many innovative improvements to the company's operations.
  
  
• Socol Associates created a Coaching Continuum^© program to train a sales management team which consisted of newly-promoted as well as long-time sales managers. We conducted trimester sales management sessions with emphasis on how to coach and motivate staffs. Following each trimester meeting, observed and coached the managers to apply and/or hone their competencies. They became more sensitive to their staffs, more motivated, and improved morale and sales.
  
  
• Three functional areas responsible to overseeing Payroll, were getting sidetracked by personal issues. Initially met with the principals involved. Then as a group, we worked to identify roles, time frames, and pass-over points. All future interactions were smooth and principals respected each other and their roles.
  
  
• A current director applied for a promotion which would expand her scope of authority and more than double her staff. The director was very competent in her field and well-qualified functionally. She was also well liked by her peers. However, there had been several reports of her not being respectful of her staff and those of her colleagues. Through executive coaching the director realized that she became impatient and intolerant when people were not performing to her level of expectation. She was able to listen to what people were saying without reacting and just focus on accomplishing the work. She worked on building her team, creating more occasions to interact with her staff, and generally being more approachable and responsive.
  
  
• A seasoned account manager was not being successful in handling his workload. He was working long hours and experiencing turnover in his area. Through executive coaching he came to realize that by not delegating work, he was creating a situation where he was carrying a heavy workload and his staff was not being challenged. Through better planning and building in accountabilities, he was able to feel comfortable delegating more responsibility to his staff. This resulted in his managing the responsibilities more efficiently, having a more motivated staff that was doing challenging work, and stabilizing the turnover. He was so successful that he recommended we offer a time management program for the rest of the company.