TEAM PERFORMANCE: “The business has better leadership and a braver culture”

Client: John Ryan

Location: Brisbane, Australia

Occupation: Group CEO of technology services business 4impact Group

foundher partnership: Strategic coaching with 4impact Group leadership team and private coaching

In 2019, Brisbane-based technology services business 4impact Group was gearing up for a major transformation.

Under the guidance of CEO John Ryan, the business was evolving from a labour-hire model to a managed project services organisation working with a wider range of industries. The strategic change also involved expanding the business’s reach from regional to national and beyond.

“That’s a pretty big identity shift as well as an operating model shift,” says John.

He knew the success of the transformation hinged on three key elements: navigating the disruption of changing the business model while maintaining operational effectiveness; recruiting a new leadership team to guide the transformation; and supporting that leadership group, as well as the rest of the 4impact team, to undergo significant change within what is already a volatile industry.

John wanted to approach the strategic transformation differently to the traditional routes he’d followed in the past. Referred to Elana Robertson at foundher through his network, John connected with her for support in defining the transformation strategy and guiding the new leadership group through this period of decision-making in complexity.

“The business that Elana is building in foundher, which is very much based in understanding complexity and decision models and organisational change, leadership change and growth, was a perfect correlation to what I needed,” John says. “I knew that what I wanted to achieve and how I wanted to do it wouldn't occur unless there was that individual and collective growth of leadership capability.”

A journey into the unknown

John admits that he wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when he engaged Elana’s support in a strategic partnership.

“It was a little bit of a journey into the unknown,” he says. “It’s not the sort of coaching and advisory services that I had engaged in any of my prior professional career roles. And it wasn’t just for the business, it had to be for myself too. So it was going to be a collective learning exercise.”

John’s courage in opening up to a new approach resonates deeply with the foundher method, which is about equipping leaders with the tools they need for the future, rather than relying on old, outdated processes.

This learning curve can be steep, but Elana is skilled at pacing the journey for optimal growth.

“I have no doubt that part of Elana’s challenge was getting the size of the steps right,” admits John. “If she put it too far ahead of me, there was probably just too much of a gap that I had to grow into to actually ‘get’ what she was telling me.”

Similarly, John found that some key stakeholders in the organisation, who had a traditional business background, were initially resistant to adopting a new way of thinking and doing. But he found that for the team over time, the benefits of this work far outweighed the discomfort of growth.

“I equate it to when you first start going to the gym, and everything hurts for days afterwards, it's a painful process,” says John. “But once you get into the rhythm of it, the feeling you get after the gym becomes the reason you go. It goes from being painful, to actually, that's why I'm going – because I want that feeling.”

Collective growth

Elana’s remit at 4impact included both individual and team coaching. This two-pronged approach allowed Elana to support each person in the leadership team to grow personally so they could bring their best self to the business challenges.

“When you combine the two, it’s a really powerful combination,” says John. “Everyone has challenges, both in their own growth and in what they’re facing professionally. Collectively it’s about bringing our team together to create a trusted, safe environment with really good ways of interacting and being in conversation with each other.”

Elana’s work with the team as a group allowed them to stay open and curious to each other’s perspectives, which led to more effective problem-solving, John adds.

This involved developing good questioning and listening techniques. And, crucially, Elana equipped them with tools that helped the group self-assess how they’re working together and identify ways in which they can improve their collaboration.

“I wanted a very flat, equal space,” explains John. “The methods and practices Elana brought support how we communicate with each other – not just bringing our own viewpoints and hammering each other until everybody gives up and says ‘we’ll go with yours because you’re the noisiest, or you’re the CEO’.”

Private practice

The ability to work effectively as a group is enhanced through individual self-awareness – which is why the foundher Ripple Effect Framework starts with Awareness.

“If you understand both yourself and others, you can be more accommodating to them, while understanding what others need,” explains John. “Some people are good at making decisions in the moment, others need to take it away and really think it through.”

For John, private coaching with Elana presented an opportunity to work on his ability to critically assess how he shows up in group sessions – and how he is perceived – in the moment.

“I can be quite certain of my viewpoints at times,” he explains. “That can mean that others feel they can't put an alternative viewpoint forward, because what they hear from me is really certain – and that's counterproductive to what I was trying to achieve. Sure, I wanted to be able to present my viewpoint and perspective. But I needed to do it in a way that left the space open for others to feel comfortable to put their ideas forward, which may be quite different.”

While John says he was aware of this tendency, Elana helped him to take the next step – to stay open to alternative views and possibilities in the moment.

“The simple question that Elana teaches you to ask yourself is, ‘How could I be wrong?’” John explains.

“Knowing that you should ask yourself the question is one thing. Asking it of yourself honestly – and being open to the honest answer that you come up with – is another. Then extending it to asking it of those around you in an open way that says it’s OK to tell me – that’s extra powerful.”

Developing this skill is an ongoing practice, but John is grateful to Elana for holding him in the discomfort of his growth zone.

“The good thing about Elana is that she can see when a message might be a little bit uncomfortable to receive, but she doesn’t shy away from it. And I think that's critical,” says John.
“It’s hard to grow as an individual, because you're forced to confront things that you are naturally not confronting because they feel confronting! So if you’re not able to take yourself there, then you need to have somebody who is willing to take you there and live through the consequences with the belief that it'll be better on the other side. I think too many service providers avoid that, but thankfully, Elana doesn't.”

A new culture

The result of 4impact’s work with Elana over the past two-and-a-half years is clear to John: “I have no doubt that it's been a better strategic transformation and a better leadership, development growth than would have been achieved without Elana,” he says.

The partnership with foundher has resulted in a senior group who are more comfortable being strategic leaders themselves. “And, in addition to that, I see them working together in ways that I couldn’t believe they were capable of when they first joined [4impact],” says John.

“Through the work with Elana, they come together, they acknowledge each other's different strengths, and the work they do together now is infinitely more beneficial to the business, and more responsible, more robust, more considered.”

The flow-on effect of this change? “The business has better leadership,” John says simply. And, he adds, the company as a whole has a “braver, more sophisticated” culture.

“The culture is more open to change,” John says. “One of the things I never wanted to see as part of the transformational strategic change was to set a plan and just follow the plan, because that doesn’t work. You set the plan, but then you constantly question whether that’s giving you the outcome that you’re planning to get, and if not, you adapt.”

As for his own personal results? John says: “I'm now a more rounded leader and a better equipped leader for this generation of leadership and the emerging needs of leadership, because I've been through what I have with Elana over the last few years. And I know through practice and experience that it works.”

If you’d like to explore a private or strategic partnership with foundher, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note today.