The Situation
The CEO of a 500+ person high-tech development organization hired a very strong CTO. He was wondering if he was perhaps “too strong?” The CTO was doing the right things that needed to be done, however, in doing so he was upsetting many of the employees.
In talking with Alan, the CEO knew that he had to make a change or he would lose key engineers and they would be followed by others. In firing the CTO he would lose a valuable resource and a significant amount of time and money.
The CEO and Alan worked out a mentoring plan for the CTO.
What Alan Did
There were four critical things Alan did for the organization. 1. He showed the CEO and COO that there are a number of different models to work together. The CEO and CTO were surprised to discover they were working with two completely different models and mindsets. Getting their models aligned helped them and the organization immensely. 2. Alan did a leadership team 360-degree feedback. This included the CTO but also added others in. This enabled the next two critical steps. 3. Alan mentored the CTO on how to use his marine background in a way that worked in the world of high tech development. 4. Alan mentored other key players in how to work with the CTO and how to help him achieve his objectives and keep organizational morale high.
The Results
The CTO became a beloved leader in the organization. People really respected that he held a high bar for achievement that was needed by the organization.