Case Study 1: Advancing to executive level

Sudi is a 34 year-old professional who works for a member-based organisation.

He could see opportunities on the horizon for promotion to executive level because key executives were leaving the organisation. He had internal conversations and was told there was support for him to step up but he needed to improve his leadership skills to demonstrate he was ready to step up.

Sudi was very excited by the opportunity for a promotion however, he knew he had to develop his strengths in some key areas, including:

1. How to build his presence (or personal brand) within the broader organisation. He was well known and respected by the team he led but not well known the rest of the organisation, especially the executive team.
2. Understand how to use skills and share success stories to “build his case” as the best candidate for the role.
3. How to sharpen his interview skills, so he was ready to present himself as the best candidate to the interview panel.

Working together to assess and priortise his needs, Future U Coaching supported Sudi with:

• A bespoke leadership and personal branding coaching program to help Sudi understand executive behaviours, characteristics & work style so he could show the senior leadership team he was ready to step up.
• A breakdown of the executive role position description by its key components. This helped Sudi to understand exactly what the selection panel were looking for and what he needed to demonstrate to be successful in the interview process.
• A career audit, that helped Sudi connect his work experience and successes to the key selection criteria.
• A recorded mock interview that Sudi could watch it back to see how he responded to the questions and observe his body language and identify areas to improve.

The mock interview was an extremely powerful part of the coaching program because Sudi was able to review his interview performance, as the panel would see it. His response to the first mock interview was “Gee! I look terrible”. It really opened his eyes to understanding how to improve his interview technique and present himself as a good fit for the role.

Sudi went into the interviews with a game plan, feeling confident he could answer curly questions and present well. After two rounds of interviews, Sudi was successfully appointed to the role. The interview panel told him it was one of the most comprehensive interview performances they had ever seen, further boosting Sudi’s confidence that he was ready to step up into an executive position.

Rob was a fantastic coach and mentor, who provided me with clear vision and actionable plans for professional growth and development. Rob’s methods in developing interview skills and techniques were effective and powerful. I look forward to working with Rob again this year.