THE DOWNSIDE OF CHARM

Robert Chalmers - his positive attributes

Rob was a senior manager with a successful career to date, a very sociable person who enjoyed being the centre of attention. He was also self-assured, decisive, composed and independent in his views. He was described by his colleagues as good fun and entertaining.

Robert Chalmers -problem areas

In spite of his general affability, Rob was not a good teamworker. He frequently failed to meet deadlines, being unprepared to change his own timetable or his work strategies, even when things became urgent. He also had a tendency to ignore his mistakes and was unwilling to listen to negative feedback but was always ready to take the credit for any success. Although in normal circumstances he could inspire his colleagues with his charm and confidence, when stressed or under pressure he increasingly came across as manipulative and superficial and as having little regard for others. His desire for constant attention and his impulsiveness were also causes for concern. It was apparent that his speedy decisions were frequently made without really thinking things through. Robert was persuaded to consider the company’s Executive Coaching programme and, as a part of this process, completed the Hogan Development Survey (HDS).

Using the HDS

The Hogan Development Survey (HDS)was used to explore Rob ’s interpersonal skills and to provide a framework for his personal development through the executive coaching sessions. The HDS has been designed to identify self-defeating patterns of behaviour that are likely to interfere with working relationships, team effectiveness and the achievement of the organisation ’s objectives. These are all behaviours that have been shown to undermine the commitment, loyalty and trust of peers and subordinates. The 11 scales of the HDS identify an individual ’s most distinctive characteristics –often the reason for their career success. However under times of pressure these positive characteristics are likely to become increasingly dysfunctional and may ultimately interfere with working relationships and with career and life goals.

Rob ’s HDS profile

Three of the HDS scales highlighted key issues:

• HDS Focused-Passive Aggressive –Rob had very effective work strategies and high personal standards;characteristics that had undoubtedly been a reason for his career success. However, his tendency to cling stubbornly to these strategies and to become ever more committed to them when under pressure effectively eliminated any flexibility of approach. At this point his once successful strategies were proving self-defeating and a source of strain with colleagues.
  
  
• HDS Charming-Manipulative –Robert has highly developed social skills which would stand him in good stead at interviews and in dealing with staff or clients. However, under pressure, the erosion of this effective style of self presentation revealed a more manipulative agenda which threatened to undermine the loyalty and commitment of colleagues.
  
  
• HDS Vivacious-Dramatic –This scale picked up Robert ’s desire for attention and enjoyment of the limelight, a feature that can be very attractive in many social and work situations. However, in pressure situations where solutions are urgently needed, such qualities may seem shallow and self-serving.

HDS based coaching

The long term coaching aim within the HDS framework is to recognise, at first in principle and later at a personal level, that our strongest and most effective features may also be the cause of our downfall. If a seed can be sown that this is at least a possibility, life experience will become the main agent for change. This "seed" becomes a hook around which a wide variety of life incidents can be grouped. Behaviours previously viewed as unrelated can increasingly be seen as expressions of the same disposition. As the individual develops an awareness of the self defeating aspects of such dispositions, they are able to initiate strategies for change.

The development process

The role of the coach is to guide Rob towards greater self-awareness and to explore a number of achievable development strategies, to be followed up between sessions. One suggestion, designed to curb his dramatic tendencies, was for Rob to keep a check on the amount of time he spent talking in meetings or talking with colleagues;the idea being that he should remember to allow other people the time and space to have their say and not to try to impress others all the time. Other strategies helped him to appreciate the limitation of some previously successful approaches that had become too inflexible and to recognise how his casual approach to risk taking could be unnerving to others and counterproductive. In all of this, the coach focused on day-to-day life events which were persuasive. This articulation of Rob ’s situation gave him a very sound basis for restarting processes of personal development that had been dormant since his early twenties.

home