Case Study: Aligning Leadership Style for Sustainable Team Success
Challenge
Cory, a highly driven leader in a fast-growing organization, prided himself on his high-energy, quick-turnaround approach. While this style had fueled his personal success, it was creating unintended challenges:
Team members felt pressured and reactive, leading to errors and rework
Important projects were rushed to completion without adequate planning
Cory’s pace was creating friction with other departments who worked on different timelines
From an HR perspective, this is a common scenario with high-performing leaders: their speed and ambition drive results, but without alignment, it can also lead to team burnout, reduced quality, and cross-functional tension.
Coaching Approach
Cory’s coaching engagement focused on sustainable leadership—maintaining high standards while improving team alignment and collaboration:
Increase Awareness of Leadership Impact
Assessed how Cory’s pace and decision-making style affected his team and peers
Identified which situations required speed and which needed deeper collaboration
Implement Strategic Pausing
Introduced a “pause to plan” step before launching new initiatives
Built in team input checkpoints to catch issues before they escalated
Strengthen Communication Across Departments
Shifted from last-minute requests to proactive timeline setting
Improved relationships with peers by respecting their work rhythms
Within three months, Cory reported that his team was more confident, more accurate, and more engaged—and he maintained his strong performance without sacrificing quality or relationships.
Organizational Impact
Coaching leaders to balance drive with alignment creates:
Stronger cross-functional collaboration
Higher-quality deliverables with fewer costly errors
Reduced burnout risk in high-performing teams
Improved morale through better planning and communication
Next steps for your organization
If your high-achieving leaders are driving results at the expense of team alignment, coaching can help them sustain performance while strengthening collaboration.
→ Let’s explore how leadership coaching can balance speed with strategy in your organization.