Alex was struggling to adapt to life in a new company. The sector was a complicated one and to be successful he needed to bring expert knowledge of his role and quickly understand every element of the organisation and the industry it operated in.
As an introvert, Alex valued thorough research and having the time to consider all angles. Responding quickly to issues he was still getting to grips was proving difficult.
His thinking was clouded and he needed guidance to help develop his self-awareness and gain clarity on how he could play to his strengths, build on areas for improvement and deliver results for the organisation.
To protect client confidentiality, all names have been anonymised in this case study.
Building self-awareness and self-belief
Creating Dynamic founder Adam Johnson was brought in to work across the entire Leadership Team. He ran sessions focused on Insights Discovery, Belbin Team Roles, Psychological Safety in the Workplace, and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Instrument, but before those started he spent a number of months conducting personalised one-on-one mentoring sessions with each member of the team, including Alex.
These sessions allowed the group to privately open up to Adam and build a relationship with him based on trust – something Alex found particularly useful. While he’d initially been concerned about Adam’s introduction, Alex realised that he wasn’t going to be a domineering coach who would ‘whip him into shape’, but rather a mentor who he could confide in.
There were highly challenging moments though. The first group session focused on Insights Discovery and Alex found some of the results of his personality profile difficult to process. Adam spotted this discomfort and contacted Alex to talk through his feelings directly after the session. The discussion lasted for about 30 minutes and was continued when they met up again at the next one-to-one.
Understanding that Alex needed time and space to express himself, Adam threw the floor open to him during this session and subsequent meet-ups. It was clear that Alex felt vulnerable discussing his weaknesses with the rest of the SLT and that he was having to confront some issues he wanted to avoid. Adam’s patient approach helped him work through these problems and restored his faith in the process’s value and potential for delivering significant results.
Further group sessions followed, covering Belbin Team Roles, Psychological Safety in the Workplace, and the Thomas-Killman Conflict Instrument, and they helped Alex further get to grips with his approach to life and the workplace, and develop self-awareness. While previously he’d seen his introverted nature as a weakness, he now understood that it made him empathetic, compassionate, detail-oriented and precise, and that he could use those qualities to positive effect within a business.
This positive self-belief was vital in helping Alex turn things around when work was proving difficult and deadlines were piling up. He and Adam met for a one-to-one session and Alex admitted that he was feeling ‘hopeless’ about the session. Again, Adam provided Alex room to express his emotions and explain his thoughts. This helped untangle some of Alex’s thinking, but didn’t entirely solve the problem.
Following the session, Alex continued to think about his problem and the frameworks for tackling challenging situations that Adam had introduced him to. He realised that he was retreading old ways of thinking and to solve the problem he needed to think of his personality traits as strengths and not weaknesses. The next day, he talked his new-found thinking through with Adam and was able to implement an approach that solved the problem and creating a successful path forwards.
Alex had always envied those with more direct ‘alpha’ personalities, but through Adam’s group and one-to-one sessions, he understood that businesses had just as much chance of failing if they lacked someone with his qualities, and could use that self-awareness to make a significant impact.
Continued self-development
Alex has gone from strength-to-strength since his sessions with Adam came to an end. One of the biggest changes he’s seen is to his health and well-being, having implemented a weight-loss plan shaped by his new self-awareness and work with Adam.
“Armed with the knowledge that my emotions are key to me, I knew I needed to make going to the gym something I actively looked forward to,” Alex says. “So I bought a new phone, downloaded every streaming service I had access to, and watched all the films and TV shows I love. Suddenly, going to the gym wasn’t a chore, it was an opportunity to catch up with whatever I was watching.”
“My meticulous nature informed my approach to weighing myself, which took place once a week on the same day, a Friday. In doing this, I could review the results of my efforts that week, analyse what I’d done at the gym or eaten at meal-time, and tweak things (if necessary) during the forthcoming week. Eventually, this became second nature and I relished analysing and improving my process.
“Finally, knowing that I prefer the slow and steady approach, I didn’t rush things. This allowed me to perform the aforementioned analysis and improvement, but also avoid feeling despondent if the week hadn’t delivered the success I’d hoped for. It also meant that the processes became positive and enjoyable habits that are now firmly embedded in my day-to-day life.”
“I’d taken on a challenge, mastered it and felt the resulting confidence boost. The most important part of the process was Adam: his empathy and compassion, his patience and understanding, his boundless knowledge of his subject, and his ability to communicate that knowledge clearly and in language that resonated with me.”
Contact us today to discover how Creating Dynamic can help your people develop greater self-awareness and bring their best to your organisation.
