What is the purpose of this coaching program?

To grow better leaders in your tech company. Good leaders wants to be better leaders.  Leaders who lead themselves — and their people — more effectively.  Leaders who build better relationships to grow the business beyond their current success.

Does this sound like you?

You're a founder, executive or senior leader in high growth tech company at the scale-up stage.  You have a great mission and a good team.  To scale, you need to grow leaders — from within and new.  Leaders who are capable on the people side, not just the technology side.  And perhaps that’s you, too.   

You have a full plate.  You are focused on deliverables, deadlines, growing the business. You don’t have enough time to devote to leadership development.  And you know from experience that leaders really need to pay attention to the human side of the equation – or they won’t achieve the deliverables.

You recognize that leaders in tech are on a steep learning curve: they are competent on the technical side of the business, but still learning on the people side. They are are keen to learn and grow their effectiveness as a leader but may not know what they need to know or how to grow.  Data shows that up to 70% of first-level managers fail to be effective.

Why is this coaching program needed?

Most founders, executives and senior leaders in high growth companies lack the time to coach and mentor, and they may not even have these skills themselves.  You may simply be too busy to provide sufficient coaching and mentoring to shorten the learning curve. You may not have a leadership framework to coach and develop other leaders.

Most high growth companies lack the people development infrastructure to support their leaders. Your organization may have essential HR functions, but the business is not yet set up with leadership development programs. You don’t have time to source resources to support the development of your managers. An external partnership with my coaching services can accelerate the development and effectiveness of leaders.

Leaders need support to step up to lead themselves and their team beyond their previous experience and comfort zone.  Growth as a leader takes a willingness to reflect, to look inside, to see what’s possible, to make changes in order to lead effectively.  This is necessary work that is done best with a strong and supportive partner.

Common challenges for emerging leaders:

• Lack of clear vision for the team or the lack of ability to communicate it

• Lack of self-awareness and impact on others

• Inadequate team engagement and performance

• Need to improve people skills, communications skills i.e. so-called “soft skills”

• Failure to adequately deliver on significant deadlines or project quality

• Lack of conscious leadership behaviour and decision-making

What are the outcomes the program leads to?

• Coaching leaders to step outside the fray of the day-to-day to reflect and consider their leadership impact and development — and put it into action.

• Coaching leaders to clarify their vision and values for themselves as a leader and for their team — and to gain alignment and engagement.

• Coaching leaders to be aware of their own “stress default settings” and to make conscious choices to change with clear action items between coaching sessions.   

• Coaching leaders to develop their listening and communications skills to enable stronger relationships and to have courageous conversations.

• Coaching leaders to grow themselves and their teams beyond their current success to new and measurable levels of achievement.

What can you expect when you work with me?

Unwavering support from a trusted partner.  I have been told by virtually every client that working with me feels like I really “get” them.  I co-create the trust with clients to have coaching conversations that get real.  Clients feel my unwavering belief in them and tools that support them, along with my challenging questions that invite them to take courageous actions and grow.

A partner who led high performing teams as a former Co-Founder and Co-CEO, who lived deadlines, deliverables and business accountability — and knows they can be achieved with respect, integrity and positivity for the humans in the organization. A partner who has walked the walk of growing a team and a business, and supported other leaders to do the same.

A partner who brings 15 years of coaching experience with leaders in tech companies. I’ve coached leaders at Polar, PlateSpin, Mozilla, Novell, Genesys, Slack, Collabora, Stantec and more.  I am a certified CPCC and customize my approach drawing on both Co-Active Coaching and the Leadership Circle models.

A partner who sees beyond the tasks to the real human being with respect and empathy.  I coach with a mindful presence that I bring from years of meditation and yoga, offering these approaches where clients are open to them.

How do I work with my clients?

I work with clients to assess their leadership development needs, and develop a custom program for their organization. Often that means working one:one with several leaders. Or just with you.

A typical Leadership Coaching program looks like this:  we start with an assessment of their current leadership effectiveness, using the Leadership Circle®Profile — a self-assessment and/or a 360° view.  We identify creative competencies and strengths to leverage for success.  We identify reactive stress tendencies to become more aware of and self-manage.

With coaching over a 6 month period, we support shifts in behaviour that lead to better leadership with clearer vision, stronger relationships, better decision-making and achievement of deliverables .

What does this program help you avoid?

With leadership coaching, here are some of the things my clients avoid:

• Excessive focus on tasks and micro-management at the expense of leadership and relationships

• Lack of clear vision for the team’s work

• Being out of alignment with values

• Ineffective communication

• Lack of alignment and follow-through from the team

• Team performance issues

• Unnecessary delays and missing deadlines

• Not growing next leaders to expand the organization

What this program is not?

Not a one-size-fits-all program.  Every individual has a unique personality, style and beliefs they bring to leadership —  coaching is a customized approach that addresses individual leader’s needs, beliefs, growth and behaviours – as well as the organization’s priorities for that leader.

Not a one-off management training. Instead of teaching concepts that don’t get implemented, coaching supports real application of learning on the job.   

Not an assessment, but a development program. The Leadership Circle model is not merely an assessment, but provides a very clear path for the development and growth in effectiveness for the individual leader.

What’s the next step?

If you think working with me might be for you, let’s set up a 30-45-minute meeting to answer any questions you may have and make sure the program is the right fit for you and your business.  In our conversation, I will mostly ask you questions to better understand your situation, challenges, and goals.  You will have a clearer sense of what it would be like to work with me.  And by the way, it’s not my style to use heavy-handed sales techniques or to pressure you to work with me. 

If you’re interested in talking further, please email me

csylvester@beyondsuccessleadership.com to set up a time for a conversation about the challenges you are facing.

Or feel free call me at 416.557.1648

I would love to speak with you!