Advancing to the executive level often requires more than operational excellence, it requires developing leadership presence and strengthening how leaders show up with others. This case study highlights how one executive worked on developing leadership presence by learning how to improve relational skills, from emotional intelligence and self-awareness to more effective communication.
About the Engagement
Richard was preparing for a promotion to Vice President and General Manager after 15 years with the company. He had built a strong track record of performance, led a capable team, and was highly respected by clients and senior leadership. Colleagues consistently described him as “a good guy.” From our first meeting, I understood why so many people enjoyed working with Richard. He was intelligent, committed, and genuinely motivated to succeed. However, stepping into an executive role would require developing leadership presence beyond operational excellence.
Problem: High Performance, Limited Leadership Presence for Executive Success
One of Richard’s defining traits was his passion. He cared deeply about results and about the business. At times, however, that intensity came across as overly forceful. Prior to confirming his promotion, his leaders requested a 360° assessment. The feedback was clear: developing leadership presence for the executive level, he needed to strengthen his communication and relational effectiveness with direct reports and key stakeholders.
Richard led a team with varying levels of experience. Over time, consistent concerns had surfaced. The feedback was specific and aligned: he delivered results and excelled with clients, but his relational impact internally was mixed. He was not hostile or cruel, and he genuinely cared about his team’s dynamics, performance, and development. In fact, he could be warm and supportive, and he invested in helping others grow. However, when under pressure or frustrated, his intensity could escalate. At times he would raise his voice, become visibly upset, or react sharply. While these moments were not constant, they were impactful enough to create caution within the team. His communication style, particularly in high-stress situations, could feel abrupt and emotionally charged rather than steady and measured.
As a result, team members hesitated to bring forward questions, ideas, or emerging problems early. This created avoidable tension and limited opportunities for growth and collaboration.
Senior leaders valued Richard highly and believed in his potential. They saw this as a developmental inflection point. Coaching was positioned not as remediation, but as preparation—an opportunity to build the self-awareness and leadership maturity required at the General Manager level.
The coaching engagement began with a clear premise: the strengths that had carried Richard this far would not automatically carry him forward. To step into the next role successfully, he needed to focus on developing leadership presence and learn how to improve relational skills for operational excellence.
Solution: A Focused Approach to Improve Leadership Presence and Relational Effectiveness
The client’s goal—fully aligned with the organization’s expectations—was to strengthen Richard’s self-management and effective communication in preparation for his expanded role. Specifically, the development priorities were to:
- Increase emotional self-regulation, particularly under pressure.
- Become more consistently approachable and supportive, especially with direct reports.
- Reduce micromanagement tendencies and build greater trust and delegation.
- Elevate his strategic focus by reassessing where and how he invested his time and attention.
The overarching objective was to help Richard transition from a strong operational leader to a more strategic and relational executive.
Project Execution
The engagement was structured over six months and included bi-weekly coaching sessions anchored by a rigorous feedback and action framework.
Step 1: 360 Assessment (qualitative, interview-based) & Hogan Assessment
An interview-based, qualitative 360 assessment (11 interviews across direct reports, peers, and senior leaders) and Hogan Assessment Leadership Forecast Series provided a comprehensive view of Richard’s leadership profile.
His High Intellectual Potential (HPI) revealed his high ambition, strong interpersonal sensitivity and social awareness with low prudence. His Hogan Development Survey (HDS) revealed high excitability and boldness this combined with low adjustment in his HPI would need some development
The core message of the 360 assessment aligned with the promotion trigger: Richard’s expertise and strong work ethic were highly respected, but advancing further required greater interpersonal effectiveness, stronger empowerment of his direct reports, and the ability for developing leadership presence at the next executive level.
Step 2: Development Plan with a Behavioral “Proof Point”
To support meaningful and sustained behavior change, we began by strengthening Richard’s self-awareness. He needed to understand how his passionate and intense communication—intended to drive results and urgency—was sometimes having the opposite impact. Instead of inspiring confidence and momentum, it occasionally created hesitation, defensiveness, or withdrawal.
Through reflection, feedback review, and real-time examples, he began to see the gap between his intention and his impact.
As part of this process, Richard read several books on emotional intelligence and leadership. He started to recognize that progressing to the next level would require more than operational excellence. He would need to regulate his emotional responses under pressure, pause before reacting, and communicate in ways that preserved psychological safety while still holding high standards.
He also began practicing more intentional listening, asking open-ended questions, and checking for understanding—shifting from driving conversations to facilitating them.
Step 3: Coaching and Practice of Communication Style With Direct Reports and Key Stakeholders
Coaching moved from insight to application across three main domains: communication & emotional intelligence, reducing micromanagement & improving time allocation, and operating at the General Manager level.
Communication & emotional intelligence involved Richard practicing the following:
- Identify emotional triggers and early signs of escalation
- Anticipate high-risk conversations and prepare for them intentionally
- Implement daily reflection and journaling practices
- Develop practical regulation techniques (pause, breathing, reframing)
Richard went to work immediately. He knew which individuals and situations triggered his frustration most frequently. He began preparing in advance for difficult conversations. When he sensed escalation, he practiced simple techniques—counting to ten, taking three intentional breaths, or pausing before responding. Over time, his team noticed. The emotional spikes became less frequent and less intense. Staff members reported appreciating his visible effort.
Reducing micromanagement & improving time allocation involved Richard practicing the following:
- Clarify top priorities and align time accordingly
- Delegate more deliberately, with explicit expectations and accountability
- Hold courageous conversations about ownership and standards
- Communicate deadlines clearly to reduce reactive follow-up
- Reduce overwork by stepping out of operational detail
- Empower direct reports
Richard began having more direct conversations about delegation rather than quietly redoing work himself. As expectations became clearer, his micromanagement decreased. This shift not only empowered his team but also reduced his own workload, creating space for higher-level thinking.
Operating at the General Manager level involved Richard practicing the following:
- Prioritize major strategic objectives
- Strengthen data-driven storytelling in executive presentations
- Build greater fluency in financial and IT oversight
- Increase approachability without lowering standards
- Polish Executive Presence
Toward the end of the engagement, his focus increasingly shifted to strategy. He invested more time preparing analyses, deepening financial insights, and crafting more compelling narratives when presenting to peers and senior leaders backed by data and analysis.
The identity shift became evident: from a leader who personally delivered results to one who built capability, alignment, and strategic clarity.
Outcome
Client’s takeaways:
Richard’s most significant learning was realizing that he could change a behavior he once believed was fixed. He developed greater control over how he coached and delegated and learned to step away from micromanagement. In doing so, he recognized that empowering his team not only strengthened their growth and ownership but also created the space for him to operate more strategically in his role.
By the end of the six-month engagement, Richard had successfully:
- Strengthened his self-management and improved how he related to his direct reports
- Learned to channel his passion in a constructive and steady manner
- Empowered his team, enabling them to take on stretch assignments and increased responsibility
- Significantly reduced micromanagement
- Improved his organization and structure, creating space for deeper data analysis and more thoughtful strategic preparation
- Focused his time more intentionally on peers, senior stakeholders, and key clients
- Improved his work–life integration
- Positioned himself to assume greater responsibility in his new role
Ultimately, his ability to improve leadership presence came from consistently applying strong relational skills in high-pressure, real-world situations.
Coach’s takeaways:
1. Strengthening Self-Management and Emotional Regulation. Richard first needed to address a longstanding leadership pattern: managing his emotional intensity under stress. Well-liked and respected, he nonetheless benefited from recognizing when pressure was building and learning how to self-regulate more effectively.
He began by identifying his triggers and noticing early signs of frustration. He practiced pausing before responding—counting to ten, taking a few breaths, or preparing in advance for difficult conversations. Over time, he learned to channel his passion with greater steadiness, which reduced emotional reactions and increased his credibility with the team.
2. Reducing Micromanagement and Empowering the Team. A critical step was helping Richard distinguish what truly required his involvement from what needed to be delegated and developed in others. We conducted a thorough review of his task list, calendar, and role responsibilities—clarifying what was his to own and what belonged to his direct reports.
Through this analysis, he identified what to stop doing, what to start doing, and where to say no. More importantly, he clarified the conversations he needed to have—setting clear expectations, defining deliverables and deadlines, and shifting from controlling work to coaching performance. As delegation improved, so did empowerment. His team gained greater ownership, and Richard gained the space to lead at a higher level.
3. Executive Presence, Data Analysis and Strategy. As a coach, I asked Richard more strategic, sharper questions to help him strengthen how he formulated and articulated strategy. I pushed him to clarify priorities, anticipate stakeholder concerns, and support his recommendations with stronger data and deeper analysis.
We worked on how he prepared for high-level meetings with senior leaders and clients. I encouraged him to think intentionally about how he wanted to show up—not only as a “great guy,” but as a respected and credible executive. With more rigorous preparation, clearer framing, and stronger storytelling with numbers, his executive presence became more deliberate, confident, and strategic.