Embedded coaching at Microsoft

Citation

Rose, P. (2012), "Embedded coaching at Microsoft", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2012.37211daa.008

Embedded coaching at Microsoft

Article Type: HR at work From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 11, Issue 4

Short case studies and research papers that demonstrate best practice in HR

Phil RoseBased at Clarity Leadership.

Most top performing athletes and teams have a coach to support them in their quest for excellence, so why should that not be the case for all top performing executives? For some, inspiring a team and moving them towards a shared goal comes naturally, but for most senior executives, developing a compelling strategy and motivating their team to deliver can be some of the hardest and most frustrating elements to being a leader.

One company that has first-hand experience of the benefits of leadership coaching is Microsoft Windows Embedded. Established in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions for business and consumers. A business division of Microsoft, Windows Embedded offers a comprehensive suite of operating systems and tools that provide the flexibility to build and manage a range of devices, including kiosks, point-of-sale, digital signage and communication devices.

When a new regional director joined Microsoft Windows Embedded in the USA in 2009, he was required to establish new processes and increase profitability. To do this, he needed to develop a clear vision that would resonate through the organization and into the sales channels.

Coaching with Clarity

Having worked with Clarity Leadership successfully in the past, Microsoft appointed the company again to provide a combination of coaching support and team development. Clarity Leadership worked closely with the new regional director of Microsoft Windows Embedded, Doug Follett, to develop and communicate a brand new vision for the team. Follett comments: “I had already worked with Clarity Leadership from our European headquarters, where the team had experienced significant success. We were recognized internally as an outstanding team and were consistently meeting our sales targets.”

Although Follett clearly had a good reputation within the company, in his new role he was aware that he needed to build relationships and stakeholder buy-in quickly. The most effective way to do so was to work closely with his senior leadership, and to explore a new vision, provide an opportunity for feedback and work with them to develop a strategic three year plan.

The program used the Clarity Framework as a foundation for helping Microsoft Embedded to plan and turn high level strategy into action and business success. It is a relatively simple model, which asks the following five provocative questions designed to set objectives and to review and re-align over a two to three year period.

1. What is this organization looking to achieve?

This is simply the goal and should be tantalizingly out of reach but, importantly, achievable. A goal that would provoke the reaction – “I’m not sure if we could, but wouldn’t it be just great if we did!”

2. Why is the goal important?

This question is essential, as team members will need to know why they should bother to strive towards the company goal. If it is important enough, the leader and the team will find a way to make it work. If it isn’t, the team will often fall at the inevitable obstacles, barriers and difficulties.

3. What are the specific measures of success?

Measurement is essential to know that you have reached your goal. The measures must include numbers, milestones and dates. In terms of the longevity of the goal, any more than three years and the team may struggle to have a real sense of ownership for the goal to the end.

4. What are the consequences of not achieving it?

This is the negative form of “Why is this important?”, so it is another motivational question. Some leaders and teams are drawn towards the positive, some are drawn away from the negative. There is no right or wrong, just a preference.If the goal is important there will be some consequences to not achieving the goal, so make it crystal clear as to what they are.

5. What does success look like?

To answer this question is essential for engaging the senses. What will success look like, feel like and sound like? Creating an engaging and compelling picture of success is a proven technique for making it become reality.

Preparing the vision

Using the above leadership model, initially with Doug Follett and at a later stage with the rest of the Embedded team and wider stakeholders, a concise outline of the company’s vision was developed, taking into account the following four key elements:

1. 1.

   The overall sales targets for Windows Embedded for the following three year period.

2. 2.

   Special emphasis on the highest value partnerships.

3. 3.

   A model of business excellence.

4. 4.

   How to make the plan the highlight of everyone’s career.

Follett comments: “It was very important that the message I communicated could be easily translated across the organization to my immediate team, our internal stakeholders and our external stakeholders. Undoubtedly, the time spent in planning was time saved in execution.”

Delivering the vision to the team

With a simple, yet effective vision in place, the next stage was to communicate the vision to the senior leadership team. This was done via a two-day workshop called “Leading Unstoppable Teams,” where Clarity Leadership acted as facilitator and coach to provide a highly engaging program that challenged and supported the leadership team.

The purpose of the workshop was to examine the vision and, by the end of the workshop, have a clear plan of how to get there. It consisted of the following:

• •

  Day one of the workshop set expectations for the session and included a review of the importance of leadership. This was followed by delivery of the new vision for Windows Embedded and an opportunity for questions. The afternoon focused on the critical success factors required to make the vision a reality and included a review of how well the team worked together and areas for improvement.

• •

  Day two allowed the senior leadership team to agree their critical success factors and develop an action plan that would embed the team’s vision through the organization. The senior leaders left the workshop feeling equipped to communicate the new company vision with their teams and had a clear plan of action.

Toby McAuliffe, US channel sales manager, was a member of the senior leadership team and attended the two-day workshop. He found the session provided many benefits to the team, but two stood out more than any other. He comments:

We got so many things out of the workshop, but there were a couple of areas that were clearly the most important. First was to understand the company vision, getting to quiz the managing director on all aspects of it and to come out of the meeting as one team with a unified vision. We’d never had this before and you could clearly see the effects and how this pulled us together around a common idea.

The second most important piece was the feedback time around the room where we communicated what we needed from each other and how we all needed each other to step up. This drove a very deep feeling of accountability on the team and it helped us to realize that we contributed to everyone’s success on the team, not just our own.

A few months later, Clarity re-visited the team to ensure the critical success factors that had been previously identified were becoming embedded into their organizational behavior. Following are some of the results achieved:

• •

  The team is meeting its annual targets, following a period where they had not reached their targets for three consecutive years.

• •

  Stakeholders can clearly articulate the Microsoft Windows Embedded Vision.

• •

  The Windows Embedded Team scores 6 percent higher in the company’s Work Health Index than the average Microsoft score.Prior to this program, the team was scoring 2 percent lower than the company’s Work Health Index.

• •

  Microsoft Windows Embedded is forging new partnerships with high value global organizations.

• •

  The company has run effective pilot schemes that are being rolled out as worldwide best practice.

• •

  Team performance management is now closely aligned to overall business objectives.

About the author

Phil Rose is Managing Director of Clarity Leadership, a leadership and team coaching company. He is a leadership coach with more than ten years’ experience working with high level executives in companies such as Microsoft, Vodafone, Pfizer, BP, Nokia, Speedo, GSK, Baxter Healthcare and Bayer. Phil Rose can be contacted at: phil.rose@clarityleadership.co.uk