Case Studies

Here are some quick sketches of the kind of work Smith & Friends does.

PROFESSIONAL COACHING

PROMOTION
A manager, heading a successful department, had been turned down for a promotion. He believed he had "One more promotion in him". We worked together three times, pinpointing and building on skills he already had and learning how to apply them in new ways. We're still in touch - he has been promoted twice since then.

FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
A manager who was technically highly skilled had a reputation for rubbing people up the wrong way. The result was his staff avoided communicating with him. This reduced the quantity and quality of information available to him, impacting on his decision-making. We worked together three times, exploring motivation, thinking styles, communication skills and mental rehearsal. His line manager reported a great improvement in his ability to build co-operative relationships - and my client experienced a dramatic improvement in his game of golf! He is now a much more senior manager.

ROUGH DIAMOND
A supervisor who was respected for his hard work and reliability and known for his bluntness and rigidity spoke harshly to a team member who was not pulling his weight. The team member made a formal complaint that resulted in disciplinary action. My task was to help the supervisor to change his approach to his team without de-motivating him.

We worked together three times. His enthusiasm for learning more people skills grew rapidly. Now he takes pride in using the minimum effort to motivate his team to want to co-operate by being flexible in his approach.

SOLVING PEOPLE PROBLEMS

SCIENCE IS GOLDEN

A highly specialised scientific department of an international corporation had developed, over many years, poor relationships with their internal clients and factional discord within the team. A culture of pessimism and blaming had developed. Management had already changed their approach to the department and were offering support, which was met with cynicism and resistance.

I designed this programme:

	One Day observing the team and meeting each individual
	One Day working with them in a workshop format at which they agreed on a list of changes in behaviour that they could achieve between themselves
	Half A Day follow up meeting to identify and evaluate evidence of changes.
	I also met three times with their new manager and a manager from HR to agree outcomes and monitor progress towards them.

At our final meeting the team reported that they were pleased with their mutually agreed behaviour and were prepared to work with their new manager to create a better future.

Three months later they were firmly in the habit of co-operating on improving their working relationships. They were also proud of their achievement.

ALL TOGETHER

CRASH COURSE
A corporation approaching a merger needed to comply with European legislation by arranging representation for two strata of employees not included in the staff association.

They had one month. I designed a two day programme for the selected representatives that worked on several levels simultaneously. They needed to:

• Learn skills in communication, consultation and representation.
• Gain confidence rapidly in themselves in their new roles.
• Plan their strategy and liaise with senior management.

My role shifted from trainer to facilitator to individual coach. They succeeded in their task.

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