INVESTMENT FIRM CASE STUDY

Our client is a boutique investment bank founded in 2008 with three people. It quickly began experiencing consistent, 40% annual growth that required the ongoing addition of staff. Today, the successfully growing Firm has 30 employees.

The Firm founder and President was thrust into a new leadership role when faced with a growing business and number of staff. Rather than functioning within the core business where he was confident and experienced, he was now primarily managing a team of leaders—a new enterprise for him.

He began asking himself: How do I effectively manage these people? What are my strengths, weakness and leadership style that will best lead the organization forward? He discussed this with his HR director who suggested that he consider working with an executive coach.

The Firm’s President met with various prospective consultants and without much expectation, sat down with East Tenth Group. But after that first meeting, he chose East Tenth Group as his partner. “ETG gets it,” he says. “They are straightforward, tell you the way they see it, and though you may not like it, if you listen and take it to heart, you’ll learn from it.”

It began with a 360 evaluation of him that included the board, his bosses, subordinates, and clients. It revealed the areas of leadership he needed to address. “I became more self-aware of who I was, how I managed and where I was strong and weak,” he stated.

It also included several half-day team strategy sessions that let ETG evaluate individual team members and observe team dynamics. ETG applied its proprietary, balanced leadership framework to create individualized action-based plans to enhance and align the Firm’s overall thinking as enterprise-wide leaders.

To further drive positive change within teams, ETG implemented weekly and monthly strategic meetings along with customized coaching plans.

“ETG recommended specific steps for us to take and held us accountable for seeing them through,” he says. “But more than that, they were a sounding board we bounced ideas and problems off of.”

Through ETG’s coaching, the President addressed and corrected areas in his personal leadership that were problematic. He became more effective in leading team strategy sessions and as a people manager.

“Because of ETG’s coaching, our business is more focused today,” said the President. “They helped us find common ground and develop a strategic plan for the future. We’re enjoying better reception and retention of employees and an increased sense of cohesiveness as an executive team as we move forward.”

“It’s rare to find executive coaches who understand the realities of effective leadership and help you practically apply it in your workplace,” he says. “If you work towards the steps ETG identifies, you will ultimately see results. They may not always be monetary, but it will definitely build a stronger organization.”